Examining the Scale, Impacts of, and Response to, Illegal Logging in the Global Context

Cao Ngoc Anh

Abstract


Globally, illegal logging has been one of the most profitable and fastest-growing types of transnational organized and environmental crime. Its black market has created a large domestic public outcry and generated a great deal of detrimental impacts on economic, social, environmental, and political security. However, illegal logging has been frequently overlooked by researchers, leading to limited understanding about the crime and the harmful consequences. Against this backdrop, by employing the secondary analysis method, this paper is designed to evaluate the scale of illegal logging, its diverse impacts, and international efforts to deal with this type of crime. It is found in this study that illegal logging remains extensive and increasingly sophisticated, transnational and organized across the world demonstrated by very high illicit profits, timber volumes and destroyed forest areas with inseparable links to other examples of major criminality, especially corruption. Although the crime generates abundant and detrimental economic, social, environmental, and political consequences, on the ground, the impact of global efforts to address the crime is dwarfed by its scale.

Received 24th March 2020; Revised 17thAugust 2020; Accepted 26th September 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33100/jossh6.5.CaoNgocAnh



Keywords


Illegal Logging, Timber Harvesting, Environmental Crime, Transnational Organized Crime

Full Text:

 Subscribers Only

References


Alemagi, Dieudonne, and Robert A. Kozak. 2010. "Illegal logging in Cameroon: Causes and the path forward." Forest Policy and Economics 12(8):554-61.

Bennett, Oliver, and Elena Ares. 2011. "Illegally Logged Timber: EU and UK legislation, Standard Note: SN/SC/5858."

Bisschop, Lieselot. 2012. "Out of the woods: the illegal trade in tropical timber and a European trade hub." Global Crime 13(3):191-212.

Boekhout van Solinge, Tim. 2008. "Eco-Crime: The Tropical Timber Trade." Pp. 97-111 in Organized Crime: Culture, Markets and Policies, edited by Dina Siegel and Hans Nelen: Springer New York.

—. 2010a. "Deforestation crimes and conflicts in the Amazon." Critical Criminology 18(4):263-77.

—. 2010b. "Equatorial deforestation as harmful practice and criminological issue." in Global environmental harm, edited by Rob. White. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.

Boekhout van Solinge, Tim, and Karlijn Kuijpers. 2013. "The Amazon Rainforest - A green criminological perspective." in The Routledge international handbook of green criminology, edited by Nigel South and Avi Brisman: London: Routledge.

Brack, Duncan. 2004. "The growth and control of international environmental crime." Environmental Health Perspectives 112(2):A80-A81.

Brack, Duncan, Chantal Marijnissen, and Saskia Ozinga. 2002. "Controlling imports of illegal timber : options for Europe." The Royal Institute of International Affairs and FERN.

Casson, Anne, and Krystof Obidzinski. 2007. "From New Order to Regional Autonomy: Shifing Dynamics of Illegal Logging in Kalimantan, Indonesia " in Illegal Logging, Law Inforcement, Livelihoods and the Timber Trade, edited by Luca Tacconi. London: Earthcan.

Chan, Alda. 2010. "Illegal Logging in Indonesia: The Environmental, Economic and Social Costs." BlueGreen Alliance.

Chatham House. 2020. "Why Tackling Illegal Logging is Important." in https://forestgovernance.chathamhouse.org/publications/why-tackling-illegal-logging-is-important.

CIP, and EIA. 2005. "The Illegal Logging Crisis in Honduras: How U.S. and E.U. Imports of Illegal Honduran Wood Increase Poverty, Fuel Corruption and Devastate Forests and Communities." Washington, DC: Center for International Policy & Environmental Investigation Agency.

Contreras-Hermosilla, Arnoldo. 2001. "Law compliance in the forestry sector: an overview." Washington, DC, USA: World Bank.

Dauvergne, Peter., and Jane. Lister. 2011. Timber. Cambridge: Polity.

Dickson, Barney. 2003. "What is the Goal of Regulating Wildlife Trade? Is Regulation a Good Way to Achieve this Goal?" Pp. 23-32 in The trade in wildlife: regulation for conservation, edited by Sara Oldfield. London: Earthscan.

EIA. 2007a. "AttentionWal-Mart shoppers: HowWal-Mart’s sourcing practices encourage illegal logging and threaten endangered species." McKinleyville, California: Environmental Investigation Agency.

—. 2007b. "No question asked - the impacts of US market demand for illegal timber and the potential for change." Washington, DC 20009: Environmental Investigation Agency.

—. 2011. "Crossroads: The Illicit Timber Trade Between Laos and Vietnam." London: Environmental Invetsigation Agency.

—. 2012. "Appetite for Destruction: China’s trade in illegal timber." London: Environmental Investigation Agency.

EIA, and Telapak. 2001. "Timber Trafficking: Illegal Logging in Indonesia, South East Asia and International Consumption of Illegally Sourced Timber." Bogor & London: Environmental Investigation Agency and Telapak Indonesia.

—. 2009. "Up for Grabs: Deforestation and Exploitation in Papua's Plantations Boom." London & Bogor: Environmental Investigation Agency and Telapak.

Elliott, L. 2007. "Transnational environmental crime in the Asia Pacific: an un(der)securitized' security problem?" PACIFIC REVIEW 20(4):499-522.

Elliott, Lorraine M. 2004. The global politics of the environment. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

FAO. 2007. "State of the World's Forests 2007." Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Global Witness. 2003. "The Usual Suspects: Liberia’s Weapons and Mercenaries in Côte d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone, Why it’s Still Possible, How it Works and How to Break the Trend." London.

Goncalves, Marilyne Pereira, Melissa Panjer, Theodore S. Greenberg, and William B. Magrath. 2012. "Justice for Forest: Improving Criminal Justice Efforts to Combat Illegal Logging." Washington DC: World Bank.

Gorte, Ross W, and Pervaze A Sheikh. 2010. Deforestation and climate change: Congressional Research Service.

Graycar, A., and M. Felson. 2010. "Situational prevention of organized timber theft and related corruption." Pp. 81-92 in Situational Prevention of Organised Crimes, edited by Ronald V. Clarke and Nick Tilley. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.

Green, P., T. Ward, and K. McConnachie. 2007. "Logging and Legality: Environmental Crime, Civil Society, and the State." Social Justice 34(2 (108)):94-110.

Greenpeace. 2007. "CARVING UP THE CONGO - DESTRUCTION BY NUMBERS LOGGING ROADS TO CLIMATE RUIN." Pp. https://www.greenpeace.de/sites/www.greenpeace.de/files/CarvingUpTheCongo_Apr07_web_0.pdf. Amsterdam.

Hall, Matthew, and Stephen Farrall. 2013. "The criminogenic consequences of climate change - Blurring the boundaries between offenders and victims." Pp. 120-33 in The Routledge international handbook of green criminology, edited by Nigel South and Avi Brisman: London: Routledge.

Hewitt, Daphne. 2013. "Potential Legality Issues from Forest Conversion Timber." FOREST TRENDS.

Hirschberger, Peter. 2008. Illegal wood for the European market: An analysis of the EU import and export of illegal wood and related products: WWF-Germany.

Hoare, Alison. 2015. "Tackling Illegal Logging and the Related Trade - What Progress." The Royal Institute of International Affairs: Chatham House Report.

Human Rights Watch. 2009. "“Wild Money” The Human Rights Consequences of Illegal Logging and Corruption in Indonesia’s Forestry Sector." New York: Human Rights Watch.

Interpol. 2012. "Environmental Crime, It's global theft." INTERPOL - ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME PROGRAMME.

Interpol, and World Bank. 2009. "CHAINSAW PROJECT: An INTERPOL perspective on law enforcement in illegal logging." Rural Development and Natural resources - World Bank & INTERPOL.

ITTO. 2013. "What are illegal logging and illegal trade?", edited by International Tropical Timber Organisation. Bangkok, Thailand: International Tropical Timber Organisation,.

Kaimowits, David. 2007. "Forest Law Enforcement and Rural Livelihoods." Pp. 110-38 in Illegal logging: law enforcement, livelihoods and the timber trade, edited by Luca Tacconi. London: Earthscan.

Kaimowitz, David. 2003. "Forest law enforcement and rural livelihoods." International Forestry Review 5(3):199-210.

Khatchadourian, Raffi. 2008. "The Stolen Forests - Inside the covert war on illegal logging." The New Yorker.

Lawson, Sam, and Larry MacFaul. 2010. "Illegal Logging and Related Trade Indicators of the Global Response." The Royal Institute of International Affairs.

Liddick, Don. 2011. Crimes against nature: illegal industries and the global environment. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger.

Lynch, Michael J., and Paul. Stretesky. 2014. Exploring green criminology: toward a green criminological revolution. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.

Nellemann, Christian. 2012. "Green Carbon, Black Trade: Illegal Logging, Tax Fraud and Laundering in the Worlds Tropical Forests. A Rapid Response Assessment." Birkeland Trykkeri AS, Norway: INTERPOL Environmental Crime Programme - United Nations.

Nellemann, Christian, Rune Henriksen, Patricia Raxter, Neville Ash, and Elizabeth Mrema. 2014. "The environmental crisis - threats to sustainable development from illegal exploitation and trade in wildlife and forest resources." United Nations Environment Programme and GRID-Arendal, Nairobi and Arendal, www.grida.no.

OECD. 2012. Illegal Trade in Environmentally Sensitive Goods. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Oldfield, Sara. 2003a. "Chapter 12 Regulation of the Timber Trade." in The trade in wildlife: regulation for conservation, edited by Sara Oldfield. London: Earthscan.

—. 2003b. The trade in wildlife: regulation for conservation. London: Earthscan.

Ong, D. M. 1998. "The convention on international trade in endangered species (cites, 1973): Implications of recent developments in international and EC environmental law." JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW 10(2):291-314.

Pendleton, Michael R. 2007. "The Social Basis of Illegal Logging and Forestry Law Enforcement in North America." in Illegal Logging, Law Inforcement, Livelihoods and the Timber Trade, edited by Luca Tacconi. London: Earthcan.

Ravenel, Ramsay M., and Ilmi M. E. Granoff. 2004. "Illegal logging in the Tropics: A synthesis of the Issues." Journal of Sustainable Forestry 19(1-3):351-66.

Reboredo, Fernando. 2013. "Socio-economic, environmental, and governance impacts of illegal logging." Environment Systems and Decisions 33(2):295-304.

Richards, M., A. Wells, F. Dell Gatto, A. Contreras-Hermosilla, and D. Pommier. 2003. "Impacts of i llegal ity and barriers to legali ty: A diagnostic analysis of illegal logging in Honduras and Nicaragua." International Forestry Review 5 (3)(3).

Rosander, Mikaela Nilsson. 2008. "Illegal Logging: Current Issues and Opportunities for Sida/SENSA Engagement in Southeast Asia." Bangkok, Thailand.: RECOFTC & Sida.

Ruiz Pérez, Manuel, Jean-Claude Nguinguiri, Donatien Nzala, Benjamin Toirambe, Yves Yalibanda, Driss Ezzine de Blas, Robert Nasi, Jeffrey A. Sayer, Marieke Sassen, Claudine Angoué, Norbert Gami, Ousseynou Ndoye, and Grégoire Ngono. 2005. "Logging in the Congo Basin: A multi-country characterization of timber companies." Forest Ecology and Management 214(1):221-36.

Schloenhardt, A. 2008. The illegal trade in timber and timber products in the Asia-Pacific region - Research and Public Policy Series No. 89. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.

Scotland, Neil, and Sabine Ludwig. 2002. "Deforestation, the timber trade and illegal logging." in EC Workshop on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade. Brussels.

Seneca Creek Associates, LLC. 2004. " Illegal" logging and global wood markets: the competitive impacts on the US wood products industry: American Forest & Paper Association.

Skinnider, Eileen. 2011. Victims of environmental crime: Mapping the issues: International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy.

Solomon, Susan. 2007. Climate Change 2007: the physical science basis: contribution of working group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

South, Nigel. 2015. "Anticipating the Anthropocene and greening criminology." Criminology and Criminal Justice 15(3):270-76.

South, Nigel, and Tanya Wyatt. 2011. "Comparing illicit trades in wildlife and drugs: an exploratory study." Deviant Behavior 32(6):538-61.

Stahl, Johannes. 2010. "The rents of illegal logging: the mechanisms behind the rush on forest resources in Southeast Albania." Conservation and Society 8(2):140.

Stern, N. H. 2007. The economics of climate change: the Stern review. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Stewart, Davyth. 2014. "Project LEAF, and Interpol's Work on Illegal Logging and Forest Crime." Pp. 236-47 in Environmental Crime and its Victims: Perspectives within Green Criminology, edited by Toine Spapens, Rob White, and Marieke Kluin. Surrey: Ashgate.

Tacconi, Luca. 2007a. "The Problem of Illegal Logging." Pp. 1-16 in Illegal logging: law enforcement, livelihoods and the timber trade, edited by Luca Tacconi. London: Earthscan.

Tacconi, Luca, Paolo Omar Cerutti, Sina Leipold, Rafael Jacques Rodrigues, Annalisa Savaresi, Phuc Xuan To, and Xiaoxue Weng. 2016. "Defining illegal forest activities and illegal logging."

TRAFFIC. 2013. "Timber trade."

UNODC. 2013. "Transnational Organized Crime in East Asia and the Pacific." Bangkok 10200, Thailand: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime - Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Wells, Adrian, Filippo del Gatto, Michael Richards, Denis Pommier, and Arnoldo Contreras-Hermosilla. 2007. "Rural Livelihoods, Forest Law and the Illegal Timber Trade in Honduras and Nicaragua." Pp. 139-67 in Illegal logging: law enforcement, livelihoods and the timber trade, edited by Luca Tacconi. London: Earthscan.

White, Rob. 2013. "Guest Editor’s Introduction." Journal of Social Criminology Green Criminology Issue.

Wright, Glen. 2011. "Conceptualising and combating transnational environmental crime." Trends in Organized Crime 14(4): 332-46.

WWF. 2008. "Destruction of Sumatra forests driving global climate change and species extinction." in WWF

—. 2020. "Illegal Logging." in World Wide Fund For Nature. https://wwf.panda.org/our_work/forests/deforestation_causes2/illegal_logging/: https://wwf.panda.org/our_work/forests/deforestation_causes2/illegal_logging/.

Wyatt, Tanya. 2013a. "The Russian Far East’s illegal timber trade: an organized crime?" Crime, Law and Social Change 1(61): 15-35.

—. 2013b. Wildlife Trafficking - A Deconstruction of the Crime, the Victims and the Offenders. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


=====================================================

TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC XÃ HỘI VÀ NHÂN VĂN

Trường Đại học Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn

Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội

ISSN 2354-1172