Logging and the Law

The report examines the clandestine industry of illegal logging, which the World Bank estimates costs governments and businesses $10 billion to $15 billion annually. It details how illegal logging depresses global timber prices by approximately 16%, harming the U.S. hardwood industry and causing severe forest degradation in producing countries. The author highlights the 2008 Lacey Act amendments as a landmark law that prohibits the trade of illegally sourced plant products in the U.S., thereby reducing financial incentives for illegal logging. The document advocates for full implementation of the Act alongside law enforcement, market-based, and incentive-based policy recommendations to protect tropical ecosystems and support legal forestry producers.

• Illegal logging and associated trade result in significant global financial losses, with the World Bank estimating costs to governments and businesses at $10 billion to $15 billion in lost revenue per year.
• Illegal logging creates trade distortions by depressing worldwide timber prices by an estimated 16%, which negatively impacts the U.S. hardwood industry, particularly in the East and Southeast.
• The 2008 amendments to the Lacey Act established the first law in the world to prohibit the trade of illegally logged wood products, making it unlawful to trade plant products in the U.S. that were sourced in violation of any country's laws.
• Unsustainable selective logging causes significant environmental damage, including a 17 to 70 percent loss of carbon storage in forest ecosystems due to tree species loss.
• In the Brazilian Amazon, forests that have undergone selective logging are four times more likely to be completely deforested than undisturbed areas.
• Illegal logging is often linked to organized crime, including human and drug trafficking and arms smuggling, and can be accompanied by violence and the intimidation of indigenous people.
• Processing countries like China and Vietnam play a major role in the illegal wood trade; 20 percent of China's overall imports are estimated to be of illegal origin, and illegal timber imports in Vietnam tripled between 2000 and 2007.
• Economic modeling suggests that eliminating illegal logging would benefit the U.S. economy by increasing revenue for domestic wood producers, with a projected 13 to 30 percent decrease in sawn wood imports being replaced by domestic supplies.

APA

Elias, P. (2012). Logging and the Law. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/illegal-logging-and-lacey-act.pdf

Chicago

Elias, Patricia. Logging and the Law. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2012. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/illegal-logging-and-lacey-act.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Elias |first1=Patricia |title=Logging and the Law |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=April 2012 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/illegal-logging-and-lacey-act.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{elias2012logging, author = {Elias, Patricia}, title = {{Logging and the Law}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2012}, month = apr, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/illegal-logging-and-lacey-act.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }