| | In many countries illegal logging now accounts for a large share of the harvest. Once cut, illegal logs feed an insatiable demand for exotic hardwoods in developed and developing countries. The result has been loss of both revenue and biodiversity, and consequently the issue has risen to the top of the global forest policy agenda as one of the major threats to forests, and donors and national governments are starting to develop initiatives to control illegal logging.
Yet for such a massive illegal trade, there is surprisingly limited knowledge available as to the major causes of illegal logging and its impacts on biodiversity, people and livelihoods and national economies, and thus plenty of speculation and action without evidence. It is clear that while illegal logging does have negative impacts, it also, controversially, and perhaps paradoxically, benefits many stakeholders, including local communities.
This book, written by the world's foremost experts, examines the key issues including law and enforcement, supply and demand, corruption, forest certification, poverty, local livelihoods, international trade and biodiversity conservation. It includes key case studies from forest-rich hotspots in North, South and Central America, equatorial Africa and Indonesia. While there are clearly no easy answers, this book sorts fact from fiction and explores the many dimensions of the causes, impacts and implications for forests, people, livelihoods and forest policy. | |
e-Alerts
Connect with us
Top
Email this page
