What is illegal logging?

Illegal logging includes all illegal practices related to the harvesting, processing and trade in wood. Illegality occurs when laws are broken at any point along the supply chain, for example: logging with an illegally acquired license or in protected area; harvesting above allowed quotas; processing of logs without the necessary licenses; employing illegal workers; non-payment of taxes; or exporting products without paying export duties.

Causes of illegal logging

There are various causes of illegal logging but it is often a symptom of wider governance problems, such as inappropriate legislation, weak institutions, unclear forest tenure, corruption and a lack of law enforcement. In addition, simple economic considerations also contribute to illegal logging. Illegally harvested timber is usually cheaper than legal timber but also difficult to differentiate from legal timber. This makes legal timber and timber products less competitive.

Impacts of illegal logging

  • Economic impacts
    When trees are cut without the right permits and are smuggled abroad, governments lose out financially in several ways including lost revenue from taxes and duties and lost revenue due to corruption. Illegal logging also distorts markets and pushes down the market price of timber, which creates unfair competition and hinders the effort to implement sustainable forest management in the long run.
  • Social impacts
    The social impacts of illegal logging are diverse. Illegal logging undermines respect for the rule of law and is often associated with corruption. It can undermine the legitimate rights of concession-holders. It may also entail lack of recognition of the land and resource use rights of forest-dwelling communities resulting in negative impacts on the livelihoods of local people and possible local resource use and tenure conflicts. The revenues from illegal logging may also fund national and regional armed or violent conflicts as has been the case in Myanmar, Cambodia, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and in many places around the globe.
  • Environmental impacts
    The environmental effects of illegal logging include forest degradation, the loss of biodiversity and the emission of greenhouse gases, which leads to global climate change.

 

Illegal logging case statistics

From the fiscal year 2014 to 2017, there have been 28,951 cases involving illegal logging,14,829 people were suspected and the volume of the impounded timber totaled 59,657 m3. Source : Forest Fire Prevention and Control Bureau, Royal Forest Department

Policy on Protection and Suppression of Illegal Timber Harvesting

The National Forest Policy indicates

Plantation area for usages from hardwood and for relaxing area as well as for learning and increasing green area not less than 55% within 20 years. The objective of this target is to:

  1. Conserve the environment: soil, water, plants, rare animal species, preventing natural disasters such as flooding and soil erosion, as well as ensure benefits from research and recreation for 35% of the population of the country.
  2. Ensure continued economic benefits by ensuring a local production covering at least 15% of the national wood and forest product.
  3. Relaxing area and park at least 5%

RFD has defined policy guidance on forest protection, forest development and forest resource management as follows:

  1. Building public awareness in support of nature conservation, sustainable and efficient natural resources use and increased participation in forest protection and conservation
  2. Promoting forest plantations on public and private lands, for household and economic use.
  3. Conducting forest research with academic institutions.
  4. Resolving various sector specific challenges including  shifting cultivation, wildfire and forest encroachment,
  5. Establishing regional centers for suppression, punishment of the corrupted officials and human resource management.