What is the impact of illegal logging?
Illegal logging is having a devastating impact on the worlds forests. Its effects include deforestation, the loss of biodiversity and fuelling climate change. This creates social conflict with indigenous and local populations and leads to violence, crime and human rights abuses. Between August 2003 and 2004, the deforestation rate for the Amazon, the worlds largest tropical forest, was the second highest ever recorded. An area of 26,130 square kilometers around the size of Belgium was destroyed, most of it illegally. Source: www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/forests/threats/illegal-logging The World Bank has estimated that the loss of revenue to governments due to illegal logging is US $5 billion annually, with a further US $10 billion lost to the economies of producing countries. The Presidents Initiative Against Illegal Logging extends a much needed helping hand to developing countries that are struggling to curb a crisis that is decimating wildlife habitat, driving species
