2010 Bad Year for Illegal Loggers

Last year brought "encouraging news" on both ends of the supply chain in the battle against illegal logging, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI) (Washington, D.C.), an environmental think tank. To make its point, the group pointed out a July 2010 report from the Chatham House that said illegal logging fell by 50-75 percent during the past decade in Indonesia, Cameroon, and Brazil's Amazon region; the group attributed this feat to better law enforcement, improved forest monitoring and increased media attention. WRI also noted that efforts in wood-consuming countries are serving to curtail illegal logging; in 2008 U.S. lawmakers amended the Lacey Act in order to fight illegal logging abroad, and European Union (EU) lawmakers approved a similar measure in 2010.