[/caption]An in-depth study carried out by the Chatham House reveals that illegal logging has considerably reduced during the recent years. Illegal logging in countries such as Cameroon, Brazilian Amazon and Indonesia are believed to have fallen by between 50 and 75 percent.
The report released on Thursday further stated that imports of illegally sourced woods have also fallen by almost 30%, when compared with 2004.
This reduction in illegal logging is thought to have protected 17 million hectares of forest from being degraded and at the same time reduced carbon dioxide emission by at least 1.2 billion tones. It is estimated if these trees are legally logged it could help bring an additional US$6.5 billion to the concerned countries.
These reductions are the result of actions taken by the government, private sector and the civil society in general. Non Governmental Organizations have also helped a lot when it comes to raising awareness among members of the population.
Although this reduction seems to be good news it is important that we do not rest on our laurels. There is more work that needs to be done to make sure that we continue on the same trend. Chatham House suggests that greater focus should be placed on smaller-scale concessionaire and also on the illegal issuance of license to clear forest for agriculture.
In order to tackle these specific problems there should be some deeper changes in the legal framework of producer countries. It is also important that countries such as Japan also implement some effective regulations to limit the import and sales of illegally logged timber. The US has already implemented such a law and the EU is also on the verge of doing so.
The reduction in illegal logging has shown that with some proper legal measures and awareness campaign we can really bring about change. It is important that we do not stop the good work if we want to bring illegal logging to an end.
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