News & Blogs

The Forest Legality Alliance will be participating in several events at this year's Asia-Pacific Forestry week, including leading Thematic Stream 1: Pathways to Prosperity: Future Trade and Markets in partnership with ITTO. In addition, FLA will be presenting "Opportunities and challenges for market access" (Session 2 in Stream 1) and "Updates on Timber Trade and Timber Legality" (Session 3.7 in Stream 1).

The United States’ largest hardwood flooring retailer was sentenced on February 1, 2016 after pleading guilty in October to importing illegally harvested timber from areas including forests in the Russian Far East. Lumber Liquidators will pay $7.8 million in criminal fines, $1.23 million in community service payments and will forfeit nearly $1 million in assets for importing illegally sourced hardwood flooring.

Illegal logging is an enormous problem in Peru, as shown in recent studies and reports highlighting the phenomenon’s impact on the country’s forests, including an Al Jazeera documentary exploring the links between illegal logging and corruption. A recent government audit found evidence of timber laundering, where exporters make illegally logged wood appear to be legitimately harvested.

Forest defenders—from indigenous groups to government authorities—continue to struggle in stopping illegal logging. Faced with scant resources, rampant corruption and vast tracts of difficult terrain to monitor, being an effective forest manager is often an impossible task.

On October 7, Lumber Liquidators agreed to plead guilty to several violations of the Lacey Act, among other charges. The largest hardwood flooring retailer in the United States will have to pay a combined $13.2 million for importing illegally harvested timber from areas including forests in far eastern Russia and other compliance issues.

Illegal logging and trade in illegal wood is often hard to detect. Illicit loggers and traders will cut legally protected trees at night or in remote areas, disguise or mislabel wood, falsify documents, or work with corrupt law enforcement officers and smugglers in timber markets. Despite recent advances in laws to crack down on illegally sourced wood, for law enforcement agencies with limited resources and companies with complex, global supply chains, identifying illicit activity can be like trying to catch a shadow.

More than 1,700 leaders from governments, civil society, business and academia will gather next week in Durban, South Africa for the 14th World Forestry Congress (WFC). Hosted by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) just once every six years, the Congress is considered the most prominent gathering for discussions about challenges and opportunities facing the world’s forests.

A wood buyer from Washington State and his lumber mill, J&L Tonewoods, were indicted last week on charges of purchasing illegally harvested big leaf maples from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in violation of the Lacey Act. The act bans illegal wildlife and timber trafficking, and the seven counts of the indictment are the first alleging violations within the United States. J&L Tonewoods processes and supplies big leaf maple for the custom musical instrument industry

The killing of Zimbabwe’s iconic Cecil the lion has sparked media attention and outrage around the world. Zimbabwean officials and the public are calling for the extradition of Walter Palmer, the U.S. game hunter who reportedly paid $50,000 to guides who lured the animal out of its sanctuary and onto private land, where the lion was killed and its skin and head were removed.

Mongabay, RESOLVE’s Biodiversity and Wildlife Solutions program, and the World Resources Institute (WRI) have joined forces to develop an online platform to spark and share innovative, technology-driven solutions to address the alarming decline of Earth’s biodiversity.