Illegal Timber in Retail Supply Chain

Timber is a vital resource that is all around us. It forms our homes and furniture, our disposable diapers and newspapers, and boxes our cereal and new appliances. The way we produce and consume timber, however, is changing. With international timber companies and big box discount retailers increasingly controlling through global commodity chains where and how much timber is traded, the world’s remaining old-growth forests, particularly in the developing world, are under threat of disappearing – all for the price of a consumer bargain.
This trailblazing book is the first to expose what’s happening inside corporate commodity chains with conclusions that fundamentally challenge our understanding of how and why deforestation persists. Authors Peter Dauvergne and Jane Lister reveal how timber now moves through long and complex supply chains from the forests of the global South through the factories of emerging economies like China to the big box retail shelves of Europe and North America. Well-off consumers are getting unprecedented deals. But the social and environmental costs are extraordinarily high as corporations mine the world’s poorest regions and most vulnerable ecosystems.
The growing power of big retail within these commodity chains is further increasing South-North inequities and unsustainable global consumption. Yet, as this book’s highly original analysis uncovers, it is also creating some intriguing opportunities to promote more responsible business practices and better global forest governance.
Researchers from the Liu Institute and the Graduate School of Journalism worked to answer important questions on illegal logging and the connection to global retail, thanks to a partnership development grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The project will use journalistic investigative techniques and video to reveal and communicate the connections and consequences between illegal logging and big retail. It builds on research on the global political-economy of timber by Jane Lister and Peter Dauvergne of the Liu Institute, and on global illegal logging by the Investigative Reporting Program and the Centre for Digital Media.
To purchase a copy of this publication, please go here.
“A brilliant and powerful book that allows us to see the forest for the trees. Its stunning expose is a must-read for scholars and practitioners seeking a more promising and sustainabile future.” – Ben Cashmore, Yale University