Industrial logging is the main cause of forest loss throughout the tropics. It is the starting point of a process leading to the forests' final destruction and substitution by agricultural crops, cattle raising or monoculture tree plantations. These are well known facts supported by more than sufficient evidence.
Even more importantly, industrial logging destroys the livelihoods of forest and forest-dependent peoples who, deprived of the resources they depend on, become poor. Contrary to the official discourse, logging does not lead to development; it results in impoverishment and social disintegration.…