Social aspects of illegal logging

Not a black and white problem

Few will disagree that illegal logging is a bane that threatens some of the most valuable forests globally – from the Amazon to the Russian Far East. And yet, for many of the people that live in these forests, illegal logging is a vital source of income. Sometimes, it is the only way to survive. And at other times again, it threatens their lives.

Increased demand for forests products has certainly brought some financial benefits for poor people in forest. But there is also plenty of evidence to show that usually, poor communities who are completely dependent on forests lose out to powerful interests, logging companies and migrant workers who get most of the benefits.

Why is this happening? Around the world, many forest-dwelling communities have little control over ownership of their land. This makes them vulnerable to outsiders who try to gain access to their forest, which may cause repression and human rights violations. Or just plain exploitation.

US$1 for a villager, US$10 from your wallet

For example, a small community in Papua Province, Indonesia, may receive approximately US$11 for a cubic metre of hardwood. When the cubic metre enters a Chinese port for processing, its price has already reached US$240.

As a finished product, waiting to be bought on a furniture shop rack in a EU country or the US, this cubic metre will be worth 10 times that much. Meanwhile, back in Papua, the same community will be intently seeking buyers to sell more cubic metres – earning themselves a tiny income while they lose their forests.¹

Making wood legal requires more than good will

Where communities try to sell timber from their land, they often do not have the means to comply with management requirements for legal logging. Community ‘forest management plans’ are expensive and since local markets are flooded with cheap, illegal products, this makes legal produce uncompetitive.

When implementing the law can make things harder

Where strong laws exist on illegal logging, putting them in practice can still be ineffective because of lack of legal independence or because those enforcing the law may be corrupt. Too often, crackdowns unfairly single out poor people and small-scale operators and simply bypass well-connected and protected people.