Alliance to prevent illegal logging

Washington, DC— A group has been formed that will work to put a stop to illegal logging in protected areas in regions of global environmental significance or where a significant proportion of global illegal logging is currently carried out.

The Alliance will support priorities in the President’s Initiative Against Illegal Logging (PIAIL), which emphasizes identifying and reducing threats to protected forest areas through good governance (including effective enforcement), community-based actions, technology transfer and harnessing market forces. As part of its strategy, the Alliance have identified a number of key areas in which it intends to work including:

• Harnessing remote sensing technology to combat commercial scale illegal logging in globally significant national parks and protected areas;
• Strengthening enforcement to suppress commercial scale illegal logging in protected areas and develop effective deterrents;
• Building support in producer countries among responsible, local forest sector companies and other interested parties to promote good governance in the forest sector; and
• Reducing illegal logging pressure by encouraging legal reform and targeting of development assistance to create livelihood alternatives.

The Alliance to Combat Illegal Logging was created by American Forest & Paper Association and Conservation International.