Forest Crime in the Tropics

In many tropical countries noncompliance of forest-related laws and the poor governance are a main driver of forest destruction. Wrongdoing in forests can take a number of forms; poaching is one facet, illegal logging and associated trade another. It involves the ignorance of rules and regulations for forest conservation and forest management, harvesting of forest products, and broader issues, such as the application of corrupt practices and the abuse of power. The present chapter offers a holistic overview on forest crime by first structuring the term in four different categories and by briefly describing estimation techniques and trends in illegal logging. It also deals with policies addressing forest law enforcement and governance and the role of actors in enforcing forest laws and governance. The chapter concludes with a short forest sector law compliance outlook. Even well-designed SFM and REDD+ schemes will fail unless there is firm political commitment to address insufficient law compliance, corruption and the lack of transparency.