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Illegal logging - situation is improving |
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26 Jul 2010, 8:06 PM
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National policies around the world have helped to reduce illegal logging in some developing countries by as much as 75 percent, a new study by London based researchers has found. Yet illegal logging is still a major problem, especially when considered in the context of climate change: Deforestation generates up to 20 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions.
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National policies around the world have helped to reduce illegal logging in some developing countries by as much as 75 percent, a new study by London based researchers has found. Yet illegal logging is still a major problem, especially when considered in the context of climate change: Deforestation generates up to 20 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions.
Chatham House set out to study (PDF) the scale and effectiveness of how a dozen countries have responded to illegal logging. Five countries were timber-producing, five are timber-consuming, and two have timber trades mostly based on processing raw wood for export.
The analysis found that government response in timber-producing countries is improving, but overall laws and regulations remain poor in most areas. Timber-tracking regulations were defined as "weak" in most of these countries, which includes Brazil, Cameroon, Ghana, Indonesia and Malaysia, while the area of enforcement showed great opportunities for improvement.
Still, the policies that have been put in place have been credited with cutting illegal logging in Cameroon over the last decade by 50 percent, by between 50 percent and 75 percent in the Brazilian Amazon, and by 75 percent in Indonesia.
Processing countries China and Vietnam have achieved limited progress in limiting the flow of illegally-harvested timber, but the overall response of the two governments lagged those of the consumer and producer countries.
The study found consumer countries -- U.S., Japan, France, Netherlands and the United Kingdom, have shown "considerable" improvement in their response to illegal logging. The U.S., however, is the only country with legislation in place banning the import of illegally-harvested timber.
Overall, the flow of illegal timber into consumer and processing countries has declined 30 percent from their peak. Worldwide, illegal logging has fallen by nearly a quarter over the last 10 years, which translates to between 1.2 and 14.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions avoided.
Credits:: ClimateBiz
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