Predatory loggers prey upon civil unrest and economic deprivation.
Liberia provides a troubling example. Devastated by years of civil war, its rich rainforests may offer the last best chance to recover and develop sustainably. Instead, the Asian logging mafia has its teeth deep in the nation's jugular, and is literally ripping the forests apart. Liberia's government and the countries that consume the timber are willing accomplices. There can be no political and economic recovery if previously biologically rich and luxuriant habitats are turned into desert wastelands.