Report Shows Advanced Illegal Timber Trade
Cambodia is among the tropical countries whose forests are being cleared using increasingly advanced methods to feed a growing global trade in illegal timber worth at least $30 billion a year, according to a new report. The report, Green carbon, black trade, a joint effort by Interpol and the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) released last week, sets out the methods used to extract timber illegally around the world, including in Cambodia. … Christian Nellemann, a senior officer in UNEP’s rapid response unit and the report’s editor, said there was “little doubt” this practice was the reason behind the huge number of cash crop plantations that have appeared since Cambodia banned logging concessions in 2002. …
