Does boycotting products from certain countries help combat illegal logging?
No, bans and boycotts could actually exacerbate the problem because this approach removes any financial incentive to grow and sustainably manage the forest, resulting only in destructive land-conversion to agriculture and other uses. A publication by the U.N. Environment Program, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and World Wide Fund for Nature agrees, “Blanket boycotts of tropical timber are likely to favour forest clearance for low-grade shifting cultivation, because they remove economic incentives to keep even modified forests.”4 1 “Special Report: Down in the woods – The logging trade,” The Economist, March 25, 2006 2 “Why is the Brazilian Amazon being Destroyed?” Mongabay.com 3 “’Illegal’ Logging and Global Wood Markets: The Competitive Impacts on the U.S. Wood Products Industry,” Seneca Creek Associates, LLC, November, 2004 4 “Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living,” International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Reso
