03-01-2017 - This report entitled "Illegal Logging and Related Timber Trade – Dimensions, Drivers, Impacts and Responses" presents the results of the fifth global scientific assessment undertaken by the GFEP initiative.

The report set out to gain deeper understanding of the meaning of illegal logging and related timber trade, its scale, drivers and consequences. It provides a structured synthesis of available scientific and expert knowledge on illegal logging and associated timber trade while adding to existing studies and reports by sharing new insights, including a criminology perspective and new information about timber and timber product trade flows as well as exploring future policy options and governance responses.

This assessment report and the accompanying policy brief provide an authoritative source of information for policymakers and stakeholders involved in the fight against illegal logging and associated timber trade, in order to support effective action in tackling this pressing global problem.  

Illegal timber trade continues to have implications for the environment, people and livelihoods, and national economies. Therefore, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) has recently asked the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) to initiate and coordinate a global scientific assessment on illegal timber trade in the frame of CPF’s Global Forest Expert Panels (GFEP).

While numerous scientific publications and studies are available on illegal timber trade, the scientific information has not yet been systematically assessed and synthesized. Furthermore, future political decisions on the topic would benefit significantly from independent scientific input. In terms of the "level of political attention", the topic "illegal timber trade" is just about to reach the "peak" (e.g. taking into account the resolutions adopted by the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) and the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on international wildlife crime).

The new assessment will follow a slightly different format compared to the previous full-scale scientific assessments and will be carried out as a Rapid Response assessment. The goal of the new GFEP Rapid Response on Illegal Timber Trade is to produce a high-quality synthesis report on the topic by December 2016, thus providing a scientific contribution to ongoing discussions on illegal timber trade in international policy fora. The assessment will address all main aspects of the subject matter, including: timber flows; socio-economic drivers of illegal timber trade; social, economic and ecological impacts; as well as possible responses at political and management levels. 

GFEP Rapid Response will build on the expertise of up to ten selected experts as the main authors, who will prepare and present the various aspects of illegal timber trade during a scientific conference. Those presentations will follow the outline of a synthesis report and provide the basis for a Policy Brief, which will be produced as follow-up to the conference.