Forestry crime: targeting the most lucrative of environmental crimes
Channel: INTERPOL
Date: 2020-12-15

Worth almost USD 152 billion a year, the illegal timber industry accounts for up to 90% of tropical deforestation in some countries and attracts the world’s biggest organized crime groups. It causes serious economic, environmental and social damage and fuels conflict in forest regions where criminal gangs compete for available markets.  

Tax evasion, corruption, violent crime, fraud and money laundering, and even the hacking of government websites to obtain permits, are commonplace on the forestry crime landscape.

Human encroachment into forested areas, driven by illegal logging and agricultural expansion, is increasing human contact with wildlife’s infectious diseases. This drives their transmission to humans, particularly when the demolition of forests displaces disease-carrying species out of the forest and into urban areas.