{"id":2769,"date":"2022-04-25T10:13:25","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T10:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/?p=2769"},"modified":"2022-06-17T07:13:58","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T07:13:58","slug":"what-is-illegal-deforestation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/what-is-illegal-deforestation\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Illegal Deforestation?"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Forests play a crucial role for many countries around the world in terms of environmental impact, food security and social wellbeing. The World Forestry Congress held in Durban in 2015 highlights their importance, as well as the UN\u2019s 2nd<\/sup> and 15th<\/sup> Sustainable Development Goals\u2014respectively, \u201cend hunger, achieve food security \u2026 and promote sustainable agriculture\u201d and \u201cprotect \u2026 terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, \u2026 and halt biodiversity loss\u201d. Stopping deforestation is one of the main aims in this regard<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.<\/span> However, to this day many land-use protection policies face challenges to their enforcement. One of the causes for this is the staggering part of illegal deforestation in the total global deforestation.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The importance of illegal deforestation<\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Half of global deforestation is due to commercial agriculture<\/a>: in other words, through logging and farming<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.<\/span> This is different to some forest fires where in Australia, for instance, they are due to arson rather than for commercial logging purposes<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The percentage for commercial agriculture is higher in tropical countries: there, it accounted for 71% between 2000 and 2012<\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. <\/span>Of that 71%, as much as half was due to illegal deforestation<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Additionally, a big percentage of the illegal deforestation is intended for exportation. In short, that means the people buying illegal timber or wood products either do not have information about their supply chain, or do not care much whether their products are legal or not.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Forest areas are cut down for pulp, plantation wood and timber trade as well as for agricultural commodities such as soy, palm oil and beef. A 2015 study showed that more than 30% of the wood supplied for Indonesia\u2019s Industrial Forestry sector was illegal wood. It likely came from trees unsustainably harvested during the clear-cutting of forests for palm oil plantations<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Illegal logging<\/a> is a complex issue that involves not only sellers, but also governments and timber buyers, whether they be local or international<\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. <\/span>Indeed, in this case, if there was no demand of wood to illegal loggers, they would not be harvesting as much timber.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Why and where is there illegal deforestation?<\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Deforestation happens on the largest scale in countries which have the most forest cover: that is, in tropical rainforests. Many countries in this geographical area lack good governance and clear policies in terms of land-use: the regulations are often complex, contradictory, and implemented with great difficulty<\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>In some cases, forestry companies have also had a hard time respecting them. The three most deforested countries, which as a result also have the highest part of illegal deforestation, are the following:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    \r\n
  1. Brazil <\/strong>lost 30.6 Mha (million hectares) of the Amazon forest from 2000 to 2012, mainly for soy and beef farming. As much as 79% of that deforestation was illegal.<\/li>\r\n
  2. Indonesia <\/strong>accounted for 15.5 Mha of forest loss, due to palm oil and timber, of which 80% was illegal.<\/li>\r\n
  3. Malaysia <\/strong>lost 4.7 Mha of forest because of palm oil monocultures. 43% was illegal logging. Additionally, 90% of the deforestation was intended for exportation.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    This means that a major part of the palm oil that other countries import from South-East Asia is sourced illegally\u2014according to these numbers, as much as 39% of the Malaysian palm oil.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    \r\n
    \"illegal
    Palm Oil Plantation, Malaysia<\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    But then, why do we focus on illegality of logging?<\/span>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Does the legality make a difference in terms of land-use?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    How is illegal logging aggravating environmental degradation?<\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    In countries where the most deforestation occurs, illegal loggers are the biggest obstacle to the implementation of sustainable land-use policies. Additionally, initiatives that companies take to obtain legal wood and timber may also fail<\/span>9<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Efforts to search for legal timber are in vain when there is lack of information, and when there is so much illegally harvested timber and wood on the market.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    In the past, Brazil has worked to reduce deforestation, but the country has an opportunity to do more<\/span>10<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    Action taken by the Brazilian government have led to a 70% decrease in deforestation from 2004 to 2012<\/span>11<\/sup><\/a><\/span>, <\/span>targeted specifically at illegal deforestation–for instance, the illegal clearance of private areas of forest. Namely, they increased the area of protected Brazilian Amazon and, at the same time, protected indigenous communities. An increasing amount of deforestation data<\/span>12<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/span> and public support helped trigger these new measures<\/span>13<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. <\/span>However, illegal land-grabbing still is not completely prevented and it contributes to current Amazon deforestation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    To conclude<\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

    It is clear then that governments can halt deforestation if they aim to solve illegality problems. Since deforestation leads to loss of biodiversity<\/a>, reduction of oxygen emissions and soil degradation, illegality can be considered as one of the main drivers of an important environmental degradation<\/span>14<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Forests play a crucial role for many countries around the world in terms of environmental impact, food security and social wellbeing. The World Forestry Congress held in Durban in 2015 highlights their importance, as well as the UN\u2019s 2nd and 15th Sustainable Development Goals\u2014respectively, \u201cend hunger, achieve food security \u2026 and promote sustainable agriculture\u201d and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":3223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,27],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is Illegal Deforestation? - Climate Transform<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Illegal deforestation represents a big part of global deforestation. Government policy changes show that reducing it can effectively reduce deforestation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/what-is-illegal-deforestation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is Illegal Deforestation? - Climate Transform\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Illegal deforestation represents a big part of global deforestation. Government policy changes show that reducing it can effectively reduce deforestation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/what-is-illegal-deforestation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Transform\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-25T10:13:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-17T07:13:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/pexels-pok-rie-3374065-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"22agency\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lila Sakata\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is Illegal Deforestation? - Climate Transform","description":"Illegal deforestation represents a big part of global deforestation. Government policy changes show that reducing it can effectively reduce deforestation.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/what-is-illegal-deforestation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is Illegal Deforestation? - Climate Transform","og_description":"Illegal deforestation represents a big part of global deforestation. Government policy changes show that reducing it can effectively reduce deforestation.","og_url":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/what-is-illegal-deforestation\/","og_site_name":"Climate Transform","article_published_time":"2022-04-25T10:13:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-06-17T07:13:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/pexels-pok-rie-3374065-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"22agency","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lila Sakata","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/what-is-illegal-deforestation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/what-is-illegal-deforestation\/"},"author":{"name":"22agency","@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec510ba3c0575283e1e381c7370830c4"},"headline":"What is Illegal Deforestation?","datePublished":"2022-04-25T10:13:25+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-17T07:13:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/what-is-illegal-deforestation\/"},"wordCount":971,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Blog","Deforestation"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/what-is-illegal-deforestation\/","url":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/what-is-illegal-deforestation\/","name":"What is Illegal Deforestation? - Climate Transform","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-04-25T10:13:25+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-17T07:13:58+00:00","description":"Illegal deforestation represents a big part of global deforestation. Government policy changes show that reducing it can effectively reduce deforestation.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/what-is-illegal-deforestation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/what-is-illegal-deforestation\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/what-is-illegal-deforestation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What is Illegal Deforestation?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/","name":"Climate Transform","description":"We transform views about Climate solutions","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/#organization","name":"Climate Transform","url":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/","sameAs":[],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/clim.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/clim.png","width":400,"height":100,"caption":"Climate Transform"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec510ba3c0575283e1e381c7370830c4","name":"22agency","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2ddfac2e0d097e053e5b16e5772e678?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e2ddfac2e0d097e053e5b16e5772e678?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"22agency"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2769"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2769"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3221,"href":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2769\/revisions\/3221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}