Year of publication 2005

This joint FAO/ITTO publication examines best practices for improving law compliance in the forest sector. It draws on case studies carried out in Bolivia, Cambodia, Cameroon, Ecuador, Honduras, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mozambique, Nicaragua and Peru, as well as from experiences in other countries and ongoing international initiatives. These studies point to a number of underlying causes contributing to the occurrence of illegal activities in the forest sector, including a flawed policy and legal framework and minimal law enforcement capacity in producer countries, insufficient information about forest resources and illegal operations and high demand for cheap timber. Corruption both in the public and private sector was also identified as intrinsically linked to illegal logging and associated trade. This publication has also benefited from background studies on legal and economic aspects. This book is mainly dedicated to government institutions dealing with forest law enforcement.