What is illegal logging?

Illegal logging is the harvesting of wood that is in violation of national regulations. This could include harvesting timber from protected areas, felling protected species, or exceeding logging quotas. Illegal logging often takes place in countries with poor governance and law enforcement capacity, especially in tropical rainforests and the boreal forests in Russia’s Far East. The impacts of illegal logging are varied, ranging from unchecked deforestation to the deprivation of sustainable livelihood opportunities for local communities. According to World Bank estimates, illegal logging also results in a loss of approximately 5 billion USD in tax revenue for governments annually. The lack of regulation also prevents as well as depressing global prices for timber by about 7-16%. Illegal timber floods the market without being subject to taxes and duties, and is cheaper than legal timber, which in turn drives down legal timber prices. The reduction in legal market prices results in a loss of 10 billion USD for the legal timber industry, while the loss of tax revenues costs governments an additional 5 billion USD. Besides economic costs, the scale of deforestation caused by in illegal logging is significant enough to contribute to the intensification of climate change via the reduction in carbon sequestration capacity.

Figure 1 Deforestration of Amazon (by fairplanet.org)

Recent research has identified illegal conversion of forests to agricultural land uses as one of the key drivers of deforestation around the world, with over 20 million hectares of forest were illegally converted from 2000 to 2012. In terms of spatial distribution, the most heavily deforested regions were Brazil and Indonesia, which accounted for 75% of illegally cleared tropical forestland from 2000-2012. In many countries, the process of issuing licenses for land clearing is compromised by corruption, while laws regarding procedure, such as methods of land clearing, consultation with local communities, compliance with logging concession boundaries, are also frequently breached.

Legislation in consumer markets like the US, the EU, Australia, and Japan, such as the Lacey Act in the US, have led to reductions in the volume of illegal timber imports into those countries. However, emerging markets that are less sensitive to issues of sustainability like China, Vietnam, and India are diminishing the impact of such demand-side legislation. One study (Chatham House, 2015) estimated that approximately half of the timber exported internationally (22.2 million m3 of roundwood equivalents) is derived from forest conversion, and of that number an estimated two-thirds is illegally harvested. Over the past decade, China has become a significant market for timber, accounting for half of global illegal timber imports. Efforts in industrialized countries have led to reduced illegal imports in those consumer markets, but the massive increases in China’s consumption of raw materials have offset any reductions in the illegal timber trade, with protected but high-value species like rosewood (Dalbergia spp.) being smuggled into the country.

Figure 2 Illegal Logging (by Greenpeace)

Illegal logging in developing countries is facilitated often by organized crime networks in conjunction with corrupt government officials, with many instances of selective logging taking place even in protected areas, due to the lack of forest law enforcement. As a result of weak forest governance, illegal timber accounts over 70% of some countries’ timber exports, such as Peru, Bolivia and the DRC. In Brazil and Indonesia, lower proportions of the total timber produced are from illegal logging (Brazil - 25%, Indonesia - 50%), but even those proportions represent huge volumes of illegally harvested timber. In some cases it is particularly difficult to distinguish between illegal conversion of forestland for agricultural purposes, and illegal logging solely for the sale of timber and wood products.

Illegal logging in countries like Cambodia or Peru is often carried out by local communities, which receive marginal economic benefits while timber operators and ringleaders receive most of the profits. The FAO emphasizes the need to acknowledge the importance of forest-based informal employment and subsistence when determining forest management policy, in order to maintain both livelihoods and ecological sustainability. However, financial and logistic barriers to the formalization of these small-scale loggers prevent monitoring and regulation of such actors. Forest certification is intended incentivize parts of the logging supply chain to comply with “best practices”, including processors of illegal timber. However, consumer-end interventions are less effective in developing countries’ markets. Various NGOs and development agencies point to the need for improved forest governance as the primary means of reducing the extent of illegal logging. Explore further to learn more about illegal logging in the Congo Basin and the Russian boreal.

The Underlying Causes of Illegal Logging Activities in Turkey

1- Economical Reasons

About half of the villages in Turkey have been settled in or next to forests. Within those small villages more than 7 million, approximately 10 % of total population, people have been living[5]. Those villagers become the poorest part of the public. In many regions forest villagers are too poor to buy even the smallest amount of firewood for heating and cooking. In brief, this part of population totally depends on forests resources to meet their vital needs.

According to official statistics, per capita fuel wood consumption is 0.273 m3 throughout the country. This amount is almost three times as much as within the forest villagers increasing up to 1.45 m3. Since forests villagers are to poor to pay for fuel wood, they cut down the amount of wood they need illegally. It is somewhat difficult to estimate the volumes of forest cuttings carried out by the forest villagers. By considering the data given above, our quite rough predictions say that the volumes are equal to some 5 to 8 million m3 of timber annually, which is not recorded officially.

Meanwhile, even 60 % of them have been unemployed for a substantial part of their life and the rest just have seasonal jobs and have considered those forests as the only income sources[6]. It can be said that those villagers get total yearly earnings from forests by cutting trees for subsequent sale. Since there existed a supply and demand imbalance in domestic consumption, the timber price has grown up and the deficit in timber has been supplied from probably illegal logging cheaply. Therefore, such an illegal cuttings peaked before 1990 having had forest villagers encouraged by forest industry. It is less likely to give accurate prediction of the annual volume of unsanctioned cuttings of this type. But, according to the expert foresters we interviewed some 150 000 m3 wood have been cut illegally and shipped to the lumber mills. Also, we can make a point that such kind of unsanctioned cuttings definitely target valuable and matured trees. Since then, such an unsanctioned cuttings have been dropping down, because of having given opportunity to forest industry to have imported trees they needed from particularly Russia and other Eastern European Countries.

2- Lack of Personnel, Infrastructure and Equipment to Cease Illegal Logging

Efforts to drop down illegal logging activities in forestlands are obstructed by lack of personnel, infrastructure and equipment. As mentioned above, Turkey has 20.75 million hectares of forestlands and all those forests are administered and managed by the state, The General Directorate of Forestry. That agency has only 5887 forest rangers and each ranger is held responsible for about 3600 hectares of forestlands to monitor and to prevent from illegal logging activities. Also, particularly in winter and bad weather conditions, substantial forestlands become inaccessible because of lack of roads and vehicles. Thus, the rangers try to access the forests by walking. This makes the protection inefficient and it becomes less likely to monitor the smugglers and to arrest criminals. Therefore, this shortage prevents effective protection and law enforcement.

3- Forestland Encroachment

Another reason to fell trees illegally is forestland encroachment. In Turkey, as happening in several countries, industrial plants and factories have been cumulated around metropolitan areas such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, and Bursa. This pattern has led domestic migration toward those locations. Since 1970’s settling around those cities have peaked up until present day. Since Turkey does not have enough infrastructures such as roads, electricity, housing lot, the migrants settled wherever they found available, even in the forests just next to those cities. Hence, substantial forestlands[7] have been occupied and settled by those migrants.

4- Legislative Deficiencies in Forest Code Numbered 6831

Turkish Forest Code of 1956 numbered 6831 has some provisions, such as article 2, encourages public, particularly forest villagers, to occupy and convert forestlands to other usage. According to article 2 of the Code the forestlands lost their plants and vegetations and become more profitable when having been allocated to agricultural usage than having been left as forests before 31.12.1981 are considered off forests and recorded on behalf of the Turkish Treasure Department and left to villagers for usage. If the forest is a private forest the lands aforementioned have been recorded on behalf of the owners and allocated to other usage. In reality, this provision aimed to make previous forestland occupations and clearance legal and cease those illegal logging activities. But, in practice, it could not stop such destructive practices. Up to now, approximately half a million hectares of forestlands have been cleared out and converted to settlements and farmlands.

The penalties prescribed in the Turkish Forest Code of 1956 No: 6831 are not severe and cannot make the people to deviate from committing forest crimes, particularly felling down trees. In some cases, a potential criminal can be coerced to pay only a small amount of fine. Hence, committing forest crimes, particularly illegal tree felling activities, has been kept continuing.

5- Government Subsidy to Forest Villagers by Paying High Prices for Agricultural Goods

As mentioned above forest villagers consider forestlands as an income source by converting those forests to agricultural usage as well. In other words, tea plantations and hazelnuts farms in Black Sea Region, olive farms in Marmara and Aegean Sea Region in Eastern Black Sea Region have been established in deformed forestlands by clearing all vegetation and tress. Particularly government subsidy prices have encouraged to those villagers for converting activities and made those converted forestlands more profitable than keeping them being into forestlands. Consequently, about a million hectares[8] of forestlands have been converted to other usage, particularly agricultural planting, and all vegetation and trees have been destroyed.

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