Illegal logging has devastating impacts on forests and communities that depend on them: the practice often removes precious hardwoods from forest areas, reducing the value of forests. This also lowers the barriers to deforestation or conversion to agriculture. Illegal logging and trade make up a significant portion of global trade, and the trade of illegal timber remains the most pervasive type of environmental crime based on value and volume.

Better forest management and trade requires greater transparency and an understanding of international regulation. The FGP team engages with the private sector, enforcement agencies, the scientific community and multilateral organizations to:

  • Raise awareness of policy developments among forest product supply chains at the domestic and international level.
  • Train small- and medium-sized forest enterprises to increase their capacity to comply with legal regulations and better demonstrate their legal compliance to international buyers.
  • Support the development and uptake of innovative technologies that can detect and prevent illegal logging by identifying the origin and species of wood products.
  • Build the capacity of civil society organizations to monitor and document illegality within the extraction and trade of forest products.

The FGP team also developed a set of tools to help buyers make more informed sourcing decisions:

  • The Open Timber Portal is a web platform that promotes compliance with legal requirements in timber harvest and trade by compiling information from government, private sector and third-party forest monitors in producer countries. It brings transparency to timber operations by making public previously inaccessible information about on-the-ground management practices and compliance with timber legality requirements.
  • The Risk Tool is a resource presenting key information about the sourcing of forest products  by country to support supply chain research and due diligence.
  • The Sustainable Procurement Guide provides a general overview of the key issues related to sustainably procuring  wood and paper-based products, as well as sources to promote sustainable practices.
  • The Logging and Export Ban Overview provides a list of producer country legislation limiting the harvest and export of logs and minimally-processed timber.