Illegal logging in Indonesia is destroying at least 700,000ha of tropical forest a year, an environment watchdog has warned.
Telapak, a private environmental group based in Bogor, West Java estimates that more than 70% of the timber circulating Indonesia comes from illegal logging.
Telapak activists have also seen Indonesian illegally-felled logs and timber smuggled to Malaysia from where they are processed for export to the US, Japan, Europe and China.
A spokesperson for Telapak Indonesia said that it is estimated that 5 million m³ of timber flows into Malaysia every year. ‘Serious action should be taken to immediately halt the illegal logging,’ he said.
