More than 120 forest products company representatives, government officials and conservationists have agreed to support coordinated action on illegal logging.

The meeting, which was hosted by The Forests Dialogue (TFD), was held from 7-10 March 2005 in Hong Kong, China. The dialogue sought to raise awareness among business leaders of the problems posed by illegal logging, to identify solutions, and to secure agreement on how participants can work together for widespread adoption of these resolutions. Participants agreed to call on G8 Ministers to implement existing government commitments, including increasing development assistance for poor countries to combat illegal logging and recognizing their responsibility as major consumer nations to reduce imports of illegally cut wood. They also decided to send a delegation from TFD to governments to stress the importance of coordinated action between China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Europe and North America to combat trade in illegal wood. Finally, the meeting also resulted in a call to strengthen and expand three existing partnerships addressing illegal logging—Conservation International/American Forest & Paper Association Alliance, the Global Forest and Trade Network and the WBCSD/WWF Framework Agreement; and to encourage governments to use existing laws more effectively to achieve exemplary prosecutions. More information.