Illegal logging
Introduction
Illegal logging is the harvesting of timber in violation of national laws. It is a global phenomenon. Its dimension is, by its nature, difficult to assess, but it is estimated that about thirty per cent of all timber imports into the EU stem from illegal logging. The EU Court of Auditors quoted sources in its 2015 Special Report, according to which there is estimates illegal timber trade which raises some 100 billion US-dollars per year. Large parts of this sum are taken from public income, thus further reducing states' capacity to finance general interest needs such as education, public health or infrastructure measures.
Illegal logging undermines the competitiveness of legitimate forest industry operations in both exporting and importing countries. It causes serious environmental damage which ranges from loss of biodiversity to deforestation and the vulnerability of forests to fire. It accelerates climate change and contributes to soil erosion and desertification. It undermines sustainable forest management and often has a strong negative impact on the livelihood of forest-depending people. Often, illegal logging is associated with corruption and organised crime, and sometimes the money raised contributes to the fuelling or prolonging of local conflicts.
The EU started to take action against illegal logging when it proposed, in 2003, an EU Action Plan (see also Council Conclusions, Document 13439/03). That plan aimed at differentiating, as regards trade, between legal and illegal logging, following the approach earlier been adopted by Asian and African countries; it did not intend to directly promote sustainable forest management which is a wider concept. Indeed, in a simplified way, sustainable forest management means that no more timber is taken from the forest than regrows. To illustrate the difference, legal logging might be highly unsustainable, when, for example, too many permits are given to cut trees for land use changes, for agricultural or for other purposes.
The EU action plan mainly provided for measures in timber-producing countries, in particular capacity-building, increase of transparency, verification system to differentiate between legal and illegal logging and partnership agreements with the EU. Although it did not have a specific budget, it also provided for financial support.