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A key challenge in combating the global illegal wood trade is the fact that illegal wood
crosses borders as a laundered “legal” product. Transnational crime, or the transnational
trade in laundered products, provides a particular law enforcement challenge as national
law enforcement has no international jurisdiction unless through specific operations or
special agreements.
EXPORT AND TRADE IN
ILLEGAL LOGS
Furthermore, domestic law enforcement efforts in a region
or locality may simply result in companies closing down lo-
cal operations and increasing illegal logging elsewhere in the
country or abroad. Crack-downs on illegal logging in Indonesia
in the mid-2000s resulted in increased logging in other parts
of the country, a shift towards more advanced laundering and
cover operations, and an increase in demand of timber prod-
ucts from other countries, such as the Central Africa region.
Indeed, Chinese companies increased imports of timber from
the greater Congo Basin and Central African region substan-
tially during the 2000s (UNEP-INTERPOL 2011; Hiemstra van
der Horst 2011).
China is probably the largest importer of wood products with
illegal origin. Other primary importers of illegal logs or wood
products are Japan, the EU and the US.