Monday, November 9, 2015
The global market for wood and other forest products is changing quickly. The industry has long struggled to address the problem of illegal logging, which damages diverse and valuable forests and creates economic losses of up to $10 billion a year. Illegal logging not only leaves an obvious mark of destruction on forests – gaping holes where ancient trees once stood – it strips the economic livelihood of local communities and responsible companies.
Trees, the research project financed by the European commission for improving the EU Regulation fighting illegal wood trade, has reached the half way point and is now looking for operators to become involve and participate in order to unmask criminal activities and corruption cases. TREES Project Partners have therefore prepared a survey addressed to operators (private operators and law enforcement agency representatives), enabling them to reach a greater number of entities and consequently to draw stronger conclusions.
In this phase of the project, involving Italy, Albania, Bulgaria, Kosovo and Macedonia, TREES Project Partners are collecting data and information about criminal activities and corruption cases in forest and forest related sectors that, according to the European Parliament, create an illicit market for wood, amounting to 20% of the total imports in Europe.
The Trees project partners have already carried out a number of investigations and anonymous interviews with enterprises and some law enforcement agencies working in the five countries. These interviews show that illegal activities in European region concern mainly firewood, while some other countries (for example China) are problematic for controlling illegal logging regarding semi-finished wooden products.
Tags: economic loss, forest related sectors, illegal wood logging, illegal wood trade, TREES
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