A prestigious global network of forest scientists has
confirmed the scale and importance of illegal conversion of forests for
large-scale agriculture. In a major new report released on 3rd December on the
subject of illegal logging, the International Union of Forest Research
Organisations (IUFRO) highlighted illegal conversion as one of four major
‘trends’ in illegal logging worldwide. The study, which claims to be “the most
comprehensive scientific analysis of illegal logging to date” was the work of
an international team of more than 40 renowned scientists and was launched
at a conference of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
The scientists concluded that current approaches to
addressing illegal logging needed to be strengthened to take account of the
rise in trade of timber from illegal conversion of forests to agriculture,
which it stated may be responsible for almost one-third of all tropical timber
traded worldwide. It also noted the scale of the international trade in
commodities such as palm oil, soy and beef which originate from illegally
cleared forest land. A short summary, links to the summary briefing and full
report can all be found on the FLEGT
news site. The IUFRO press release regarding the report can be found on
the UNEP website.
