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Illegal logging takes place in many forms, from illegal logging in protected areas or
large-scale illegal logging without permits in remote areas, conflict zones and border
areas, to advanced laundering operations mixing legal with illegal logs through bribery,
re-definition of forest classification, forged permits, exceeding legal concessions and
clearing or laundering through plantations, biofuel production and ranching establish-
ments. In this chapter, an overview of the most common methods of illegal logging
is provided. Methods used to launder the illegal cuts and funding the operations are
explained in the following chapters.
ILLEGAL LOGGING:
HOW IS IT DONE?
How logging operations work
For any forestry operation to log an area, there are three ba-
sic considerations: 1) Deciding on the type of logging to be
done i.e. selective cutting for valuable rare woods or clear-
cutting of areas typically for timber and pulp; 2) Extraction
of the wood to a road or river by skidders, tractors or other
machinery, for temporary storage before longer transport by
road or river; 3) Transport by truck, river barges or floats to
the nearest mill, harbour or border crossing for domestic or
international export.
The costs involved are a function of the terrain and acces-
sibility to logs, cost of cutting and extraction, distance by
roads, rivers or ships to buyers and mills domestically or
internationally, and the price (demand) of wood extracted.
As will be seen later, companies operating illegally may also
have to bribe officials for logging permits, pay off local vil-
lage heads or “security” staff to threaten or drive away villag-
ers and local indigenous people, and bribe police, military or
customs officials.
The processing recipients
The timber buyers for processing, whether in saw mills,
pulp mills or board factories, will pay according to the spe-
cies, quality, size and composition of the wood. The speci-
fications depend on the purpose, use and processing of the
wood. Any buyer for a wood corporation or mill will require
detailed information on the wood purchased. Wood product
prices are set according to manufacturing needs, market de-
mands and costs of acquisition, which is typically a function
of distance and transportation costs. There are sometimes
premiums for certified timber, which offer additional oppor-
tunities for fraud or forgery. The more valuable and exclu-
sive the end-product is on the market, the more expensive
the transport can be.
A large mill will have large-scale fixed costs related to staff
and production machinery. Hence, not only will processors
need detailed knowledge on the type and quality of the wood
they buy, they also need a consistent flow and supply of wood
to their mills to avoid having a period of unused capacity in