International illegal logging activity is worth an estimated $30 billion to $100 billion annually, at least double the value estimated just months ago, the U.N. Environment Programme and the international police organization Interpol have found.

The report's estimates are a significant update from a World Bank report released in May, which placed the value of illegal logging at $15 billion to $20 billion. The report used data from an older World Bank report from 2006.

"Since that time, however, the size of the timber industry has grown significantly, both in quantity and in value," said Davyth Stewart, team leader for Interpol's Law Enforcement Assistance for Forests (LEAF) project. "The growth in the amount of legal logging has also been matched by a growth in illegal logging."

Despite the global economic downturn, demand for both legal and illegal wood has continued to grow.

"During economic downturns, one would normally expect consumption to decline," Stewart said. The United States, the European Union, Japan and China together import more than 80 percent of the world's illegal timber.

"Overall demand for timber products amongst those countries has continued to increase in recent years," Stewart said. "Any reduction in demand by one country is likely to be offset by continual growth in demand in others."

The United States is currently the only one of those countries with a ban on importing illegal timber. In 2008, the century-old Lacey Act was amended to include plant products in addition to the illegal import of animal species.

Lumber laundering grows
Although illegal logging seemed to decline throughout the past decade, this was simply a move to more sophisticated measures, the report found. Crimes to quietly ship illegal wood to major markets include document fraud, hacking of government websites and funneling food through legal tree plantations. The criminal element of logging has also had an effect on associated crimes, like murder and violence toward indigenous communities, Interpol noted.

An international coordination of law enforcement is needed to curb this loss, the report concluded.

The report found that up to 90 percent of logging has ties to organized crime in some tropical countries. Globally, illegal logging now accounts for 15 to 20 percent of the timber trade. The trade also hampers efforts to control deforestation with the Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism, an international initiative to pay countries to preserve forests.

Curbing illegal logging could be a cost-effective measure to slowing the development of climate change. The British think tank Chatham House found that the cost of greenhouse gas reductions achieved through efforts to reduce illegal logging could be as little as 7 cents per metric ton of carbon. An incentive program like REDD+ costs $5 to $15 per metric ton.

Illegal logging depresses timber prices between 7 and 16 percent, according to the American Forest and Paper Association, flooding the market with cheap wood.

4 Comments

1. 1. vapur 05:40 PM 10/2/12

   Oh my god! The timber industry has to compete. How will we ever survive? No wonder why hemp is illegal.

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2. 2. dwbd 09:09 PM 10/2/12

   Yep, this is what greenie cultists cause. They demand expensive recycling, so people dump their garbage in the bush. They demand extraordinarily expensive "clean energy", and people will burn toxic garbage, cut down trees illegally for fuel and kill wildlife illegally for food. Greenies, I have often said, are the most eco-destructive people on this Earth.
   
   Remember that there wouldn't be a major Coal power plant in the Developed World today if it weren't for the Greenie led rampage against the Nuclear energy revolution in the 70's & 80's. And Green Party candidate, Ralph Nader caused the disastrous election of Big Oil's personal stooge - George "chimp" Bush in 2000. Thanks Greenies, thanks a lot.

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3. 3. Cees Timmerman 04:40 AM 10/3/12

   If anything, "greenie cultists" should endorse hemp and bamboo, superior products to cotton and wood.

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4. 4. ssm1959 06:49 PM 10/4/12

   As with most illegal markets in natural products the problem is one of demand not supply. The fashion demands of the elite drive the profitability of these activities. If you want to shut this and other illegal markets down, don't waste money on enforcement. A few well placed bucks can pay off anyone to look the other way. Instead go after the people consuming the product. Exotic hardwoods are not being purchased by the poor or middle class, they are bought by the wealthy as status symbols. Change the perception and the problem will go away on its own.

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