Europe failing to clamp down on illegal logging, report warns

Auditors say EU scheme to tackle $100bn global trade in illegal timber is poorly designed, badly managed and largely ineffective

A European bid to clamp down on the $100bn-a-year global trade in illegal timber has been poorly designed, badly managed and largely ineffective, according to a damning report by the EU's court of auditors.

Illegal logging is thought to be responsible for around one-fifth of man-made greenhouse gas emissions - more than from all the world's ships, planes, trains and cars combined. It is also an existential threat to forest-dependent indigenous people, and to biodiversity.