ABSTRACT
Timber is the third largest commodity in international trade. The overall value of international trade in wood products is estimated at over US$100 billion per year and timber is one of the main sources of international revenue for many countries. The timber trade still relies to a large extent on the harvesting of wild material and clearly dwarfs the scale of other forms of trade in wild plant or animal products. The international timber trade is characterized by a wide range of products derived from hundreds of different species. Systems for monitoring the international timber trade are weak and the data, where available, are imprecise. There is, however, increasing evidence that illegality in the international timber trade is rife, with estimates suggesting that half of all the international transactions in tropical timber are in contravention of legislation. The problems are by no means confined to tropical countries. Until recently this major global problem of timber illegality has been largely overlooked and ignored but the issue is now high on the political agenda and solutions are being tentatively sought.
