The Lacey Act Effectiveness in Reducing Illegal Wood Imports

The study finds that U.S. imports of illegal wood declined by 32% to 44% since the 2008 Lacey Act amendments, with China accounting for two-thirds of this reduction. While the law contributed to this decline, it has not eliminated illegal imports, which were estimated at $2.8 billion in 2013. The report highlights that the reduction was driven more by U.S. buyers avoiding high-risk products and countries rather than discriminating between legal and illegal wood within the same product category.

• U.S. imports of illegally sourced wood products decreased by an estimated 32% to 44% in roundwood equivalent (RWE) volume between 2007 and 2013. The 32% figure represents a baseline analysis of total imports from high-risk countries, while the 44% figure includes assumed discrimination by buyers in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
• China was the primary driver of the overall reduction in illegal wood imports, accounting for approximately two-thirds of the decline. This was largely due to a shift in China's own sourcing; the proportion of Chinese imports of logs and sawn wood from high-risk countries dropped from over 80% in 2007 to 45% in 2013.
• Despite the overall decline, significant volumes of illegal wood still enter the U.S. In 2013, these imports were estimated at 4.7 million cubic meters RWE, with a value of approximately $2.8 billion. China, Indonesia, and Vietnam combined for 78% of these estimated illegal imports.
• The proportion of U.S. wood imports originating from high-risk countries actually increased from 19% in 2007 to 27% in 2013. This trend is attributed to the housing market collapse affecting low-risk imports more severely and the growth of China as a supplier, rather than a failure of the Lacey Act to reduce illegality within those flows.
• U.S. importers showed significant discrimination against high-risk product types from China. Specifically, imports of tropical plywood from China—perceived as higher risk—fell by nearly 90% between 2007 and 2013, dropping from 25% of Chinese plywood imports to just 4%.
• The impact of the Lacey Act varied by country and product. In Indonesia, the proportion of paper imports likely coming from illegal natural forest conversion fell from 34% in 2007 to 2% in 2013. In Peru, tropical lumber imports decreased by over 70% between 2007 and 2010. Conversely, estimated illegal imports from Vietnam doubled due to a surge in wood furniture imports.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2015). The Lacey Act Effectiveness in Reducing Illegal Wood Imports. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/10/ucs-lacey-report-2015.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. The Lacey Act Effectiveness in Reducing Illegal Wood Imports. 2015. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/10/ucs-lacey-report-2015.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=The Lacey Act Effectiveness in Reducing Illegal Wood Imports |date=October 2015 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/10/ucs-lacey-report-2015.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2015lacey, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{The Lacey Act Effectiveness in Reducing Illegal Wood Imports}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2015}, month = oct, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/10/ucs-lacey-report-2015.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }