G8 agrees to take action over illegal logging

source: Financial Times | Mar 20, 05

The Group of Eight industrialised nations agreed to take action on illegal logging on Friday, a problem that costs governments and legal timber companies billions of pounds a year.

"Illegal logging by highly organised criminal gangs is a very serious problem right across the developing world," said Margaret Beckett, the UK's environment secretary. "It causes soil degradation and a vicious spiral of poverty."