"Organized crime is diversifying beyond drugs and human trafficking into a new business: deforestation. According to the United Nations, illegal logging in tropical forests is worth big bucks: $30-$100 billion a year. Criminal syndicates net about $11 billion of this, according to the World Bank — close to the $13 billion they bring in from producing drugs. The Washington Post reports that illegal deforestation accounts for nearly a third of world logging and takes place “in tropical areas such as the Amazon Basin, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia."
—
Villagers Fight Mafia to Protect Forests | Care2 Causes
Between Mafia and politicians… makes you wonder how deforestation will ever be brought under control.
