The FAO identified forest crime and corruption as one of the main causes of deforestation in
its 2001 report and warned that immediate attention has to be given to illegal activities and
corruption in the world’s forests in many countries (Anon., 2001b). Illegal forest practices
may include the approval of illegal contracts with private enterprises by forestry officers,
illegal sale of harvesting permits, under-declaring volumes cut in public forest, underpricing
of wood in concessions, harvesting of protected trees by commercial corporations,
smuggling of forest products across borders and allowing illegal logging, processing forest
raw materials without a license (Contreras-Hermosilla, 2000; 2001).