"Report says illegal logging declining" by Associated Press | July 16, 2010
LONDON — Tougher enforcement and strict new rules have led to a dramatic drop in illegal logging, sparing woodland in Cameroon, national parks in Indonesia, and rain forests in the Amazon, a British think tank said yesterday.
Worldwide, an international clampdown on unlawfully harvested timber has helped protect up to 42 million acres of forest over the past few years — roughly the same area covered by the state of Illinois, according to a report published yesterday by the London-based Chatham House....
That’s good news for the fight to contain climate change, in part because forests help absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It’s also good news for cash-strapped governments in the developing world, which can recoup revenue lost to illegal logging.
And for the trees, right?
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