Illegal logging, governance effectiveness and carbon dioxide emission in the timber-producing countries of Congo Basin and Asia

Illegal logging is widely recognized as a major economic problem and one of the causes of environmental degradation. Increasing awareness of its negative effects has fostered a wide range of proposals to combat it by major international conservation groups and political organizations. Following the 2008 US legislation which prohibits the import of illegally harvested wood and wood products, the European Union (EU) is now discussing a legislation proposal which would ban illegal timber from the EU market. In this study we use the ICES computable general equilibrium model to estimate the reallocation of global demand and timber imports following the pending EU legislation. With this exercise our final objective is to assess the economic impacts and measure the potential emission reduction resulting from the introduction of this type of policy. Results show that while the EU ban does not seem particularly effective in reducing illegal logging activities, its main effect will be the removal of illegal logs from the international markets. In addition, the unilateral EU ban on illegal logs increases secondary wood production in illegal logging countries as their exports become relatively more competitive. Through this mechanism, part of the banned, illegal timber will re-enter the international trade flows, but it will be “hidden” as processed wood. This effect is, however, limited. Finally, given the limited effect on overall economic activity, effects on GHG emissions are also limited. Direct carbon emissions from logging activities can decrease from 2.5 to 0.6 million tons per year.

Indonesia has committed to reducing its emissions from land use, land use change and forestry - by 26% by 2020. One way the country plans to meet this target is by reducing its emissions from deforestation and forest degradation through the REDD+ mechanism. By implementing REDD+, Indonesia will become eligible to receive financial payments based on forest carbon credits. A substantial amount of Indonesia's carbon emissions are caused by deforestation and forest degradation from land conversion activities, forest fires and illegal logging, with the latter having significant impacts as a driver of deforestation. Therefore, initiatives to curb illegal logging will have to form a central part of any emission reduction strategy. REDD+ has the potential to help reduce illegal logging activities by creating financial incentives to encourage compliance with the law, changes in behaviour and wider governance reforms. Since 2001, several initiatives in Indonesia have attempted to address the problem of illegal logging. These include international initiatives such as the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) process; bilateral agreements between Indonesia and major importers of timber; and market instruments such as timber certification. National initiatives include joint security sweeps to combat illegal logging, anti-money laundering approaches to tackle illegal finance in the sector and the expansion of timber plantations to increase the supply of timber. This occasional paper explores ways in which the ongoing design of REDD+ mechanisms and institutions can benefit from these experiences.

Indonesia has committed to reducing its emissions from land use, land use change and forestry - by 26% by 2020. One way the country plans to meet this target is by reducing its emissions from deforestation and forest degradation through the REDD+ mechanism. By implementing REDD+, Indonesia will become eligible to receive financial payments based on forest carbon credits. A substantial amount of Indonesia's carbon emissions are caused by deforestation and forest degradation from land conversion activities, forest fires and illegal logging, with the latter having significant impacts as a driver of deforestation. Therefore, initiatives to curb illegal logging will have to form a central part of any emission reduction strategy. REDD+ has the potential to help reduce illegal logging activities by creating financial incentives to encourage compliance with the law, changes in behaviour and wider governance reforms. Since 2001, several initiatives in Indonesia have attempted to address the problem of illegal logging. These include international initiatives such as the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) process; bilateral agreements between Indonesia and major importers of timber; and market instruments such as timber certification. National initiatives include joint security sweeps to combat illegal logging, anti-money laundering approaches to tackle illegal finance in the sector and the expansion of timber plantations to increase the supply of timber. This occasional paper explores ways in which the ongoing design of REDD+ mechanisms and institutions can benefit from these experiences.

Cameroon's forests have experienced the development of a flourishing informal forestry sector. This case study was designed to provide detailed information on illegal logging in the East Province of Cameroon, Messok district and focuses on Forest Management Unit (FMU) 10 030. Between 1999 and 2000, 21,750 ha of the unit's 79,757 ha (27%) was logged illegally. In total, 162,255 m3 (7.46 m3 per ha) of timber worth approximately US$ 26.5 million were removed from this area. The area logged is equivalent to 8.2 annual cut blocks which should have generated US $7.5 million in tax revenues. Locally, no long-term investments were made and the employment generated by the logging operations lasted only 2 years. Imposing sanctions against companies responsible for illegal logging activities remains an untested approach in Cameroon. The company recently challenged the administration's decision at the administrative court, on the grounds of the lack of evidence, and won the case. There is a risk that the company will escape all legal charges because of a four-year statute of limitations on tax infractions. The FMU 10 030 case shows the extent of financial and environmental damages from illegal logging and gives an idea of the level of losses incurred in Cameroon and other countries in the Congo Basin.

A planet with two billion cars

Illegal logging is a global problem that causes serious environmental damage, ranging from deforestation, biodiversity loss, to increased carbon emissions. Indonesia, as one of the countries with the largest tropical forests in the world, faces great challenges due to this practice, especially due to weak law enforcement and not optimal stakeholder involvement. The problems raised are (1) What are the main factors that cause illegal logging to occur, and (2) How is law enforcement against illegal logging activities in Indonesia. The objectives of this paper are (1) to find out what factors cause the occurrence of illegal logging criminal acts and (2) to find out the law enforcement against illegal logging activities in Indonesia. The type of research used is normative juridical with statutory and conceptual approaches. The results of this study are (1) Factors that cause illegal logging criminal acts to occur are due to economic, social, and political factors, (2) Law enforcement against illegal logging activities is regulated in the UUPPLH and the Law on Prevention and Eradication of Forest Destruction as well as legality verification by KLHK. In addition to these regulations, other efforts are still needed to optimize law enforcement on illegal logging. Keywords: Illegal logging, law enforcement, environment, criminal offense

Illegal logging is a criminal act that occurs in the forestry sector which has become a national and international issue. Illegal logging is included in a special criminal offense. The legal basis governing the criminal act of illegal logging is Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 18 of 2013 concerning the Prevention and Eradication of Forest Destruction. The formulation of the problem in this study: (1) What are the obstacles faced by law enforcement in enforcing the law against perpetrators (illegal logging) in Malacca Regency?, (2) What is the impact of regulating the function of the Civil Service Police on public order? This research is an empirical legal research that is descriptive. Research location in Upt. Malacca District Forest Management Unit, Malacca Regency Resort Police and Atambua District Court Class 1 B Belu Regency. Management The type of data used includes primary data and secondary data. The data collection techniques used include interviews and literature research in the form of books, laws and regulations, documents, and so on. Data analysis uses qualitative analysis with interactive models. There are also factors that become obstacles to law enforcement against illegal logging crimes, according to Soerjono Soekanto, that the effectiveness or failure of law enforcement is determined by five factors, namely the legal factors themselves (laws), law enforcement factors (parties who form or implement the law), factors of facilities or facilities that support law enforcement, community factors. The results of research in this thesis show that obstacles in law enforcement against illegal logging crimes are minimal legal awareness, inadequate supporting facilities or facilities, insufficient operational costs, no forest police personnel, forestry civil servant investigators. The efforts made by law enforcement are preemptive, preventive and repressive efforts. By cracking down on reports from the public. The researchers' suggestions for the results of this research need to increase legal counseling to the community, procurement of supporting facilities, submitting applications for forest rangers and civil servant investigators, conducting routine joint operations in forest areas, and law enforcement commitment.

In the modern world, one of the key problems on a planetary scale is the disappearance of tropical forests. In addition, the state of these forest ecosystems is of serious concern. The fight against the disappearance of tropical forests, especially due to illegal logging, is an integral part of the decisions taken to prevent negative climate impacts, and the most important task for the implementation of programs for the socio-economic development and protection of forests in Central Africa. The article describes the state of forests in the countries of the Congo River basin. The reasons for the degradation of forests and deforestation of the territory of this region are given, as well as the consequences of anthropogenic activities that have a huge direct and indirect impact on forest ecosystems. The lack of balance between economic, environmental and social components in the formation of national and subregional forest policy is reflected in legislation in this area. As a consequence, grounds for delinquency and illegal activities are created, and illegal logging continues in all countries of the Congo Basin. The authors analyzed the situation with illegal logging. It is shown that illegal logging not only has a devastating impact on forest ecosystems, but also deprives the state of income from the export of valuable timber and, thereby, destabilizes the situation in this subregion. The development of illegal activities is explained by the peculiarities of the forest management system, which has created a situation with relative impunity for offenders due to corruption and the imperfection of the regulatory framework. Solving the problem requires a deep reform of forest legislation and the development of a more effective system of economic measures to counter illegal logging of tropical forests in the countries of the Congo Basin.

We used aerial photographs, satellite images, and field surveys to monitor forest cover in the core zones of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico from 2001 to 2012. We used our data to assess the effectiveness of conservation actions that involved local, state, and federal authorities and community members (e.g., local landowners and private and civil organizations) in one of the world’s most iconic protected areas. From 2001 through 2012, 1254 ha were deforested (i.e., cleared areas had <10% canopy cover), 925 ha were degraded (i.e., areas for which canopy forest decreased), and 122 ha were affected by climatic conditions. Of the total 2179 ha of affected area, 2057 ha were affected by illegal logging: 1503 ha by large-scale logging and 554 ha by small-scale logging. Mexican authorities effectively enforced efforts to protect the monarch reserve, particularly from 2007 to 2012. Those efforts, together with the decade-long financial support from Mexican and international philanthropists and businesses to create local alternative-income generation and employment, resulted in the decrease of large-scale illegal logging from 731 ha affected in 2005–2007 to none affected in 2012, although small-scale logging is of growing concern. However, dire regional social and economic problems remain, and they must be addressed to ensure the reserve’s long-term conservation. The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) overwintering colonies in Mexico—which engage in one of the longest known insect migrations—are threatened by deforestation, and a multistakeholder, regional, sustainable-development strategy is needed to protect the reserve.

The​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ Congo Basin, a globally significant forest with immense biodiversity, is gradually losing its continuous habitat due to the cutting down of trees, in addition to forest clearance, illegal logging, farming, and road and bridge construction activities. Over the last several decades, the Congo Basin has had a staggering loss of forest cover, with a rough estimate of 10 million hectares of forest being cleared between the year 2000 and 2025. The fragmentation interferes with natural processes and poses substantial difficulties to animal populations. Therefore, it is important to know how animals adjust and behave in fragmented areas so as to be able to conserve this ecosystem. This is research that makes use of Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) to investigate the behavioral changes of the key species in the Congo Basin, such as the western lowland gorilla, forest elephant, okapi, and chimpanzee, and to determine the effects that fragmentation has on the ecosystem's functionality. The present study will utilize an Agent-Based Approach (ABA) to simulate how habitat fragmentation will impact the daily routine, foraging behaviour, social interaction, reproductive success, The initial results reveal that fragmentation causes the movement range of forest elephants to be limited by 40%, group cohesion in gorillas reduced by 25%, and that breeding success in okapi has drastically gone down due to their being isolated. Additionally, the conservation model explores the impact of such conservation measures as wildlife corridors and protected areas to mitigate the harmful effects of fragmentation. The outcome of this research will be instrumental in improving the understanding of the intricate relationship between the animals and fragmented habitats in the Congo Basin. This knowledge serves as the foundation for conservation policy, making and planning to protect the rich biodiversity of one of the most vital ecosystems on the planet while tackling the escalating problem of habitat ​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌fragmentation.

The trees and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) of the Congo Basin play a key role in alleviating food insecurity among millions of people around the world. Although many studies have been conducted both nationally and regionally on issues of food insecurity in the Congo Basin, little is known on the effects of timber exploitation on household food insecurity statues of forest dependent communities in this region. This study focused on the determination of the principal indicators of household food security status of populations living around six selected forest concessions in the Congo Basin. We randomly surveyed 724 households in thirty-four communities living in six popular forest concessions around the Congo Basin. Food consumption pattern data was collected using a validated food-frequency questionnaire in 2012. Household Food Insecurity Access Prevalence (HFIAP) was assessed using the HFIAP indicator and households were categorized into four levels of household food insecurity status as follows: Food secure (HFIAS = 0); mildly food insecure (HFIAS 1–8); moderately food insecure (HFIAS 9–13); and severely food insecure (HFIAS 14–27). The majority of the households interviewed were headed by women (73.1 %, 76.6 %, and 58.6 % for Cameroon, DRC and Gabon respectively), most of them married (84.6 %, 100 %, 57.6 % for Cameroon, DRC and Gabon respectively) with an average age range of 30–49 years. Most of the household members were engaged in farming and/or illegal logging as the main revenue generating activities. Results of global household food insecurity categorized 63.8 % of households in Cameroon as fully food secure and 36 % as food insecure. In the DRC (92.9 %) and Gabon (92.7 %), almost all the survey households were categorized as either moderately or severely food insecure; clearly elucidating the existence of severe insufficiency in the quantity and quality of food meant for human nutrition in these areas. The means of household food insecurity scores for the DRC (17.40 ± 4.15) and Gabon (14.9 ± 5.87) were significantly higher when compared to the average score for Cameroon ((7.55 ± 6.62) at p < 0.0001. This literally means that many of the households especially in DRC and Gabon face enormous difficulties in obtaining an adequate dietary energy supply. Gender (female), educational level (illiterate), and age (young) were positively correlated to food insecurity levels. Our results revealed that, despite the potential contribution of the Congo Basin forests, through enhancing access to different forms of quality foods such as bush meat, wild foods, and medicine, not forgetting the provision of agricultural land, local construction material, and income generation resources, the prevalence of food insecurity among the population adjoining forest concessions in the region is severe. This prevalence is alarming around forest concessions of the DRC and Gabon and in one concession of Cameroon. Given that poverty and poor education were positively correlated to household food insecurity, they were considered the paramount determinants of household food insecurity in this region.

The Russian boreal zone supports a huge terrestrial carbon pool. Moreover, it is a tremendous reservoir of wood products concentrated mainly in Siberia. The main natural disturbance in these forests is wildfire, which modifies the carbon budget and has potentially important climate feedbacks. In addition, both legal and illegal logging increase landscape complexity and affect burning conditions and fuel consumption. We investigated 100 individual sites with different histories of logging and fire on a total of 23 study areas in three different regions of Siberia to evaluate the impacts of fire and logging on fuel loads, carbon emissions, and tree regeneration in pine and larch forests. We found large variations of fire and logging effects among regions depending on growing conditions and type of logging activity. Logged areas in the Angara region had the highest surface and ground fuel loads (up to 135 t ha−1), mainly due to logging debris. This resulted in high carbon emissions where fires occurred on logged sites (up to 41 tC ha−1). The Shushenskoe/Minusinsk and Zabaikal regions are characterized by better slash removal and a smaller amount of carbon emitted to the atmosphere during fires. Illegal logging, which is widespread in the Zabaikal region, resulted in an increase in fire hazard and higher carbon emissions than legal logging. The highest fuel loads (on average 108 t ha−1) and carbon emissions (18–28 tC ha−1) in the Zabaikal region are on repeatedly burned unlogged sites where trees fell on the ground following the first fire event. Partial logging in the Shushenskoe/Minusinsk region has insufficient impact on stand density, tree mortality, and other forest conditions to substantially increase fire hazard or affect carbon stocks. Repeated fires on logged sites resulted in insufficient tree regeneration and transformation of forest to grasslands. We conclude that negative impacts of fire and logging on air quality, the carbon cycle, and ecosystem sustainability could be decreased by better slash removal in the Angara region, removal of trees killed by fire in the Zabaikal region, and tree planting after fires in drier conditions where natural regeneration is hampered by soil overheating and grass proliferation.

Eighty-six EU policy options for reducing imported deforestation

Dispatches

The objective of tis paper is to investigate the Effects of Banditry and Illegal Logging on Conservation in Kainji Lake National Park, North Central, Nigeria using standard procedures by distributing one hundred and ninety four (194) questionnaires, of which one hundred and thirteen (113) were completed and returned. The result of demographic characteristics of respondents indicates that the male respondents were dominant (75.7%). Furthermore, 51.4% of the sampled populations’ falls between age group 35-44 years, followed by 25-34 years with 30.8% and age group 45 and above were the least (17.8%). The finding further revealed that majority of the respondents was married (71.0%) and 59.8% of the respondents had tertiary education while 40.2% had secondary education. Also, majority of the respondents are Muslims (71.0%) while 29.0 are Christian. Majority of the respondents (52.3%) had worked between 11-20 years. The respondent’s monthly income of the majority (55.1%) respondents is between N50, 000-99,000. The species of tree and animals that are mostly affected by illegal logging includes; Adansoniadigitata, Afzelia africana, Milicia excels etc. The animal species includes Grim duiker, Guinea fowl, Bushbuck, Rabbit etc. The effects of banditry and illegal logging on wildlife conservation in Kainji Lake are destruction of habitat (45.1%) and decline in wildlife population (38.1%) recorded the highest percentages, followed by loss of biodiversity (11.5%) while climate change is the least with 4.4%. The management strategies to proffer solution to the menace in the study area in which adequate field equipment for staff recorded the highest with 31.9%, followed by adequate staff training with 30.1% while demarcation of Park boundary recorded the least with 15.0%. The study concludes that there are banditry and illegal logging activities in Kainji Lake National Park.