The G8 Commitments On The Environment Must Address Illegal Logging As An Environmental Crime
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09 July 2008: The G8 Commitments On The Environment Must Address Illegal Logging As An Environmental Crime
Amongst the important international development issues on the agenda at the ongoing G8 summit in Japan, which requires firm commitments from G8-countries in 2008,is the threat of illegal logging. This was first put on the international agenda by the G8 in 1998 when the G8 Foreign Ministers launched the Action Programme on Forests which featured illegal logging as one of the five issues of particular importance to be addressed. The G8 Action Programme on Forests was formally completed in 2002 when the G8 member states committed themselves to retain forest-related issues as a high level concern on the domestic and international agenda and to combat illegal logging and the use of illegally harvested timber and related products. At their 2005 meeting, the G8 Environment and Development Ministers made several commitments relating to illegal logging, including cooperating with partner countries to support law enforcement and governance, enhancing transparency, halting the importation and marketing of illegally logged timber and taking action through bilateral and trade related arrangements. These commitments and undertakings were endorsed by the G8 leaders at the Gleneagles summit, where the G8 leaders adopted the Gleneagles Plan of Action: Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development.
It is important for the G8 to fulfill its commitments on illegal logging as an environmental crime because illegal and unsustainable legal logging contribute to deforestation directly by opening forests up to other destructive activities, destroying the world’s greatest reservoir of biodiversity, threatening species such as the great apes in Eastern and Central Africa and hastening climate change. Illegal logging as an environmental crime is also directly implacable in such natural disasters as landslides and flooding. The World Bank estimates that countries where illegal logging happens lose up to 15 billion dollars annually from the practice and that it also contributes to fueling and funding of civil wars in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Since the Gleneagles summit, the G8 leaders and the countries they represent have taken several steps to fulfill their commitments, especially as they relate to illegal logging of timber as an environmental crime. Actions taken include for example the partnership between the United States and South Africa in 2002 that saw the launching of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership. The other actions taken by the G8 have included a resolution adopted in 2007 by the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice on international cooperation in preventing and combating illicit international trafficking in forest products. This tool, along with the follow-up resolution planned for 2008, are important for engaging the law enforcement community internationally to address forest and wildlife crimes, in line with the UN Commissions’ priorities to promote the role of law in protecting the environment.
However, in spite of the efforts and several actions that have been undertaken by the G8, illegal logging and environmental crimes still remain a big global challenge. A report by the U.N suggests that 8% to 10% of global production in timber products, as well as a similar proportion in trade, are illegal, with the total value of suspicious timber products up to $23 billion per annum. The house of Commons Environmental Audit Committee reported that the EU, the U.S and Japan continue to provide the main markets for illegal and stolen timber products worth up to $15 billion a year.
Dr Rose Mwebaza: Senior Legal Advisor, Environment Security Programme, ISS Nairobi
