Illegal logging
Governments tend to underestimate the situation, given that high estimates of illegal logging may cause embarrassment as these to suggest ineffective enforcement of legislation or, even worse, bribery and corruption.
For companies in the forestry sector, publications making high estimates can be regarded as potentially threatening to their reputation and their market perspective, including the competitiveness of wood in comparison to other materials.
For example, the Republic of Estonia calculated a rate of 1% illegally harvested timber in 2003, whereas it was estimated to reach as much as 50% by the NGO "Estonian Green Movement".
The economic and social consequences disproportionately affect the poor and disadvantaged, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars in timber revenue annually.
[16] Furthermore, the illegal trade of forest resources undermines international security, and is frequently associated with corruption, money laundering, organized crime, human rights abuses, climate change and, in some cases, violent conflict.
In the forestry sector, cheap imports of illegal timber and forest products, together with the non-compliance of some economic players with basic social and environmental standards, destabilize international markets.
Often taking the form of selective logging, the trade has been driven by high international demand for expensive, fine-grained lumber such as rosewood and ebony.
Thousands of poorly paid Malagasy loggers have flooded into the national parks—especially in the northeast—building roads, setting up logging camps, and cutting down even the most difficult to reach rosewood trees.
Illegal activities are openly flaunted, armed militia have descended upon local villages, and a rosewood mafia easily bribes government officials, buying export permits with ease.
However, the expanse of marked forest lands has been gradually decreasing due to the rampant tree felling and activities of illegal loggers across the nation.
Regrettably, the government's attempts to implement effective measures to combat illegal logging have not yielded the desired results, with only 6% of the nation's land area designated as protected.
[23] In Nigeria, unemployment emerged as a pressing issue, particularly since the 1980s, a period marked by economic downturns due to plummeting world petroleum prices, devaluation of the Nigerian currency, rampant corruption, and a rapid increase in the country's population.
[26] Particularly alarming were the activities of illegal traders of forest products, often facilitated by foreigners seeking rare and hard wood species for European and American markets.
[29] The socio-economic losses to the nation, particularly concerning endangered species in the South-west and Mid-west forest zones of Nigeria (encompassing states such as Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti, Edo, and Delta), are immeasurable.
The rapid urbanization in Nigeria, coupled with escalating unemployment rates, persistent poverty, inequalities, inadequate social services, the presence of trans-national criminal organizations, widespread drug use and trafficking, and inadequately equipped security personnel and forest guards to combat illegal logging, lumbering cartels, clandestine markets, and sawmills for rare forest products, have driven many youths to explore opportunities in forest-related businesses.
[30] Illegal logging, lumbering, and sawmilling can be understood as a system with diverse individuals and institutions involved in meeting the industry's supply and demand requirements, whether legitimate or illegitimate.
Given the unemployment rate in the country, which currently stands at about 20.3 million jobless Nigerians (National Directorate of Employment, 2012), primarily youth, a crucial question arises: how are they sustaining themselves?
[31] The diversity and dynamics of crime and illegalities in the forest belt have received relatively little emphasis, often overshadowed by discussions about environmental degradation and climate change.
These agro-industrial companies often do not comply with the basic legal regulations by inappropriately employing cost effective yet environmentally inefficient deforestation methods such as forest fires to clear the land for agricultural purposes.
[36] In the social landscape, small-scale subsistence farmers in rural areas, who received minimal education, employ a basic method of slash-and-burn to support their agricultural activities.
In 2008, the acquittal of a proprietor for a timber firm, Adelin Lis, alleged for illegal logging further galvanised public opinion and drew criticisms at the Indonesian political institution.
[52] In March 2004, Greenpeace carried out actions against a cargo ship transporting timber from the Indonesian company Korindo, which was being imported into France, UK, Belgium and the Netherlands.
It is recognized as a world biosphere reserve by the United Nations and forms the largest protected area of swamp forest in South-East Asia.
The Europe and North Asia Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (ENA FLEG) Ministerial Conference was held in Saint Petersburg, Russia on 22–25 November 2005.
This marked the beginning of a long process by which the EU aims to develop and implement measures to address illegal logging and related trade.
The AFLEG conference, the second regional forest law enforcement and governance meeting after East Asia, resulted in endorsement of a ministerial declaration and action plan as well as a variety of informal implementation initiatives.
In 2014, the FAU-EU-FLEGT Programme[70] of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations published the study The Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) process in Central and West Africa: from theory to practice[71] to document and foster strategic reflection in partner countries already engaged in negotiating a VPA - or those who will be entering into such negotiations - by providing examples of good practices.
