Reply #39: OK, I'll try to summarize the thread here: Background [View All]

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Background: Countries with large tropical rain forests have been plagued by illegal cutting for years. Typically, the wood goes through several middlemen, then to flooring, paneling, and furniture factories in China and Brazil. Others too. From there it ends up in your local big box store as a special sale item.

This trade is controllable. You can't easily smuggle a tree. Because of that, the trade is driven by gangs, criminals, and bribery of government officials. The logging is worse in areas where the local population is poorest and the people can't defend themselves. The local military often participates in this trade.

The final buyer is likely to be someone in a wealthy country. Consequently, the wealthiest nations, the G8, led by the UK and the EU, have tried over the last 8?? years to develop a standard of certified trees from sustainable forests to meet the demand.