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Forestry has traditionally been an important industry in Mongolia, and has great potential today as a source of sustainable livelihoods and timber products. However, the sector is currently in crisis and illegal logging is devastating forests, particularly the most easily accessible areas near urban centres. Estimates of annual timber consumption vary widely, due to the lack of reliable data, but levels are clearly well above the estimated sustainable harvest for Mongolia's slow growing forests. Illegal logging is taking place against a background of rising timber demand from a growing and increasingly urban population, and from a proliferation of timber processing companies that are taking advantage of the cheap materials available.
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The government has responded to the problem by setting very low legal harvest levels, in an attempt to restrict the supply of timber. This has reduced the opportunities for companies to work legally in the sector, but the illegal operators who have stepped in to meet the high demand for timber have met with little real resistance from the authorities. A focus on high profile inspection and confiscation activities appears to have had limited impact on the volume of illegal timber in trade, and has not affected the main traders in the supply chains, who are able to use connections or bribes to avoid being charged or prosecuted. Corruption is endemic within the sector, with standard prices for bribes well known.
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This publication reviews the current situation and available data, provides information on methods of operation, illegal logging sites, supply chains and bribes, and examines government action to date. A series of recommendations are made for incorporation within a strategy for tackling illegal logging. Such a strategy must have a dual focus on managing fuelwood collection, which is often for subsistence use but can be locally problematic, and also for dealing with the profit-driven commercial illegal logging.
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  Download full report (2.3 Mb PDF)
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