New Zealand policy to address illegal logging and associated trade
About illegal logging
What is illegal logging?
Illegal logging takes place when timber is harvested, transported, bought or sold in violation of national and/or international laws. It is difficult to give a more precise definition than this because much depends on the specific laws of an individual country. In this respect, New Zealand accepts that sovereign nations are best placed to confirm the legality of timber operations and timber trade.
Some examples of illegal logging activities include:
- logging protected species, or in protected areas;
- purchasing logs from protected areas;
- logging outside concession boundaries;
- extracting more timber than authorised;
- logging without authorisation;
- obtaining logging concessions through bribes;
- transporting illegally harvested timber;
- exporting timber in contravention of national bans;
- declaring lower values and volumes exported.
Why are we concerned about illegal logging?
Illegal logging has serious negative environmental, social, and economic impacts.
In environmental terms, illegal logging undermines measures to protect and sustainably manage forests. This can impact on some of the world’s most ecologically valuable forest ecosystems such as tropical rainforest, with resulting losses for global biodiversity and the habitats of endangered species. Depletion of forests due to illegal logging can also cause soil erosion, landslides, aggravate flooding, and alter the local climate.
Illegal logging is also increasingly becoming an issue around climate change mitigation and adaptation policy. Forests represent carbon sinks which are needed to mitigate and adapt to global climate change.
Illegal logging also has some less obvious impacts. For example, illegal timber harvesting can remove a source of income and employment for local communities and is often associated with corruption, organised crime and sometimes violent conflict.
New Zealand has particular concerns over the effects of illegal logging on the world’s forestry trade. A recent report estimated that illegally harvested wood depresses global timber prices by between 7 and 16 percent, causing significant loss of revenue for the forestry industry1. For New Zealand’s forestry sector, which operates to some of the world’s highest environmental standards, forest companies that bypass the costs of legal compliance represent unfair competition.
The impacts of illegal logging on economies, governance, communities and the environment include:
Social impacts
- weakened indigenous resource management institutions;
- marginalisation of those without access to resources and little political clout;
- environmental degradation resulting in inability to use land or sustain livelihoods;
- social conflict;
- decreased access to forests or land;
- reduced government expenditure on welfare, community spending and environmental management.
Environmental impacts
- biodiversity reduced;
- habitats degraded or lost;
- alteration of watershed and ecosystem functions;
- carbon emissions;
- erosion;
- ecosystems degraded;
- marginalisation of wood products.
Economic impacts
- loss of government revenue;
- loss of company profit;
- distortions through rent-seeking;
- competitiveness of industry affected;
- small companies and individuals may be marginalised;
- existence of perverse incentives.
Governance impacts
- erosion of the rule of law;
- weakened general and environmental governance;
- corruption;
- conflict;
- loss of progress towards sustainable forest management.
What are the causes of illegal logging and associated trade?
Causes of illegal logging include:
Governance
- weak judiciary;
- lack of consultation/involvement with forestry stakeholders;
- lack of transparency/accountability;
- lack of money/funding;
- unclear allocation of competencies between government departments;
- lack of recognition of indigenous rights;
- weak/absent property rights;
- limited capacity to develop and enforce laws.
Legislative and policy
- weak penalties;
- money laundering legislation weak;
- weak financial/tax laws;
- conflicting and unclear legislation;
- transport and trade laws difficult to understand and apply;
- limited capacity to make efficient and effective laws;
- inappropriate/discriminatory regulations;
- absence of national criteria and indicators in forestry.
Market
- forests not an economically superior land-use;
- perverse market/non-market subsidies exist;
- cost of sustainable forest management compared to conventional logging high;
- difficult to change business-as-usual approaches to extracting/trading timber;
- tension between private and social values;
- little market for environmental goods or services;
- lack of producer knowledge about marketing;
- consumer demand for hardwoods;
- consumer demand for cheap wood products;
- lack of consumer knowledge.
Capacity and technical ability
- inadequate resources;
- poorly paid forest departments;
- under funded and resourced customs officials;
- weak identification of illegal products;
- remote places that are difficult to monitor;
- lack of expertise and/or resources in sustainable forest management and sustainable livelihoods-focused policy.
Finding ways to address illegal logging is difficult and will require co-operation between countries.
1“Illegal” Logging and Global Wood Markets: The Competitive Impacts on the US Wood Products Industry (2004). See http://www.afandpa.org/Content/NavigationMenu/News_Room/Papers_Reports1/AFPAIllegalLoggingSummaryFINAL.pdf
Contact for Enquiries
Senior Policy Analyst
Forest Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0678
Fax: +64 4 894 0745
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