Green Carbon, Black Trade

Annual value of illegal logging Compared with other activities

Thousand million US Dollars

Illegal logging (lower estimate) Value of World sheries Illegal logging (higher estimate)

100

93 30 21

Illegal wildlife tra cking, 2005

Sources:WorldBank;WWF;TRAFFIC;FAO.

mid-2000s simply triggered a series of more advanced means to launder illegally logged timber or to conduct illegal logging under the cover of plantation development, palm oil establish- ment, road construction, redefinition of forest classifications, exceeding legal permit limits or obtaining illicit logging per- mits through bribes (Amacher, et al . 2012). While some success was achieved in Brazil and, temporarily, in Indonesia with national initiatives including joint security sweeps (Operasi Hutan Lestari (OHL) sustainable forest opera- tion), illegal logging activity has not declined. Indeed a large share, estimated from 40–80 per cent, of total volumes remains illegal (Luttrel, et al . 2011). Traditional law enforcement efforts limited to operations against illegal logging have been effective in protecting some national parks, but have also changed the nature of the illegal logging to more refined methods including widespread collusive corruption and laundering of illegal log- ging under fake permits, ostensible plantation establishment and palm oil development.

Illegal logging and black trade in illegally harvested wood prod- ucts has continued due in large part to a lack of coordinated international law enforcement efforts to combat the organized transnational nature of the criminal groups involved. Indeed, law enforcement has often been associated with “guns on the ground”, rather than full investigative operations examining tax fraud and laundering, which are essential for combating mod- ern illegal logging syndicates. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of how illegal logging takes place and describe common methods of how it is laundered and financed and its primary destina- tions. The report also reviews some of the current practices and initiatives to combat illegal logging and provides infor- mation about how illegal logging syndicates and black wood traders are evading many current law enforcement initiatives and trade incentives.

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