Trafficking in timber

Lorraine Elliott

Chapter 5 in Transnational Environmental Crime, 2026, pp 71-96 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter focuses on the international trade in illegally logged or stolen timber and wood-based products, a significant component of what is an otherwise legal though often unsustainable global industry. In global terms, an increasingly complex regime of national, bilateral, and multilateral laws, regulations, and guidelines creates incentives for rent-seeking and opportunities for deception in the pursuit of illicit financial gain. Timber-trafficking economies and their ecological impacts are embedded in ambitious supply chains and trade routes in both precious woods and commodity species. That trade relies on complex transactions and organizational frames on the one hand and informal recruitment, unfree labour, precarious safety conditions, and debt bondage on the other. The chapter also examines how legal and illegal economies and commodities – and actors – are heavily interconnected all along those supply chains and trade routes.

Keywords: Forest Crime; Illegal Logging; Timber Trafficking; Precious Timbers; United Nations Forum on Forests (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035374359
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