Taxpayers don't even know they're footing the bill for these revenue-losers. In British Columbia, liquidation of all old growth forest is explicit government policy. Corruption is another major contributor to forest destruction. A recent audit by the International Monetary Fund found no money in the fund to fight the devastating fires because the money had been diverted to prop up the president's son's failing car company. In Cambodia, the prime ministers and military illegally control the forests and timber trade.
Profits bypass the treasury and fund their factions in the civil war.
Brazil, now the world's fourth largest timber producer, estimates that 80 percent of logging in the Amazon is illegal. In Russia, it is estimated that as many as 12 million hectares are illegally logged each year, compared to only 2 million hectares of legal logging by official estimates. Rising demand for forest products fuels the booming trade, with the developed world leading the way. Japan consumes almost as much paper as China, a country with nearly ten times as many people. In the next fifteen years, global demand for paper is expected to grow by half again.