Illegal logging

What is the problem?

Illegal loggers don’t just take wood quietly. They take it by force or by threat. They ride roughshod over local people’s rights and existing use of the land. And anyone who tries to stand up to them fears for their lives. Local people are not left to live in peace.

This is in addition to all the problems you’d expect from wiping out vast swathes of forest: lush ecosystems are destroyed leaving large tracts of bare land. The local water basin becomes exposed and dries up. What is left is like desert. It is hard for local people to feed their families and it increases their poverty. And the global impact? Deforestation generates almost a fifth of greenhouse gases: more carbon than the whole world’s transport system put together.

What are we doing?

Our partners in Latin America and the Caribbean are tackling illegal logging at the source – lobbying for strong laws and monitoring systems to regulate logging, introducing reforestation schemes, supporting local communities in gaining access to and sustainably managing natural resources.

We support this work by focusing on the role played by the EU and UK at the end of the supply chain: in other words, the market in the EU and UK for illegally logged wood. We aim to ensure that the EU and the UK have strong and robust legislation to prevent unscrupulous traders from selling illegally logged wood.

In cooperation with the leading global law firm Mayer Brown, we have also produced a Climate Change Legal Reference Guide which sets out key laws on forestry and water in the context of climate change. The guide aims to help organisations working on climate change to understand the key principles underpinning international environmental law. The guide is available to download in English (470k PDF) and Spanish (515k PDF).

What have we achieved so far?

In April 2010, following lobbying by Progressio, the UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) introduced tough new timber procurement guidelines for the UK public sector. These mean that wood imported into the UK to be used by public bodies such as local authorities, schools and hospitals must come from environmentally sustainable sources and have been produced in a socially responsible way – with respect for community tenure and forest management practices, and safeguards for forest workers’ employment rights.

Some 62% of tropical wood imports to the UK are potentially from illegal sources. If these criteria are rigorously implemented, the public sector will be setting a good example – one which could be a step on the path towards eliminating illegal timber from the UK market for good.
 
We have also been working to achieve stronger EU regulations. In May 2010, again following lobbying from Progressio supporters, the EU Environment Committee voted in favour of adopting an over-riding prohibition on placing or making available illegally harvested timber on the EU market. It also plans to extend traceability requirements throughout the supply chain, and set minimum standards for penalties, including criminal sanctions.

This step could pave the way for an EU-wide ban on illegal timber imports. It would demonstrate that finally EU legislators are taking concrete steps to combat illegal logging with solid action to help put an end to this devastating trade.

What challenges remain?

We need to keep up the pressure to ensure that the EU plans result in strong legislation, which is then implemented effectively.