BACKGROUND BRIEFING
Logging
Logging is a highly profitable and destructive business. Many companies and groups supplying the industry are prepared to do whatever it takes to get their hands on wood. This is often at the expense of tribal peoples. Loggers destroy the forests that serve as their homes, their main source of food, and the foundations of their societies and cultures. Loggers also bring disease, drugs and dependency to tribal peoples.
This page was created in 2019 and may contain language which is now outdated.
People have always placed great value on wood. Long used as the primary source of fuel by people around the world, demand for it today mainly stems from its use in construction or in making furniture, tools and even car dashboards. Logging affects tribal peoples in different ways – depending on how the relevant government sees it, or the type of wood being targeted. Sometimes loggers operate with the government’s permission. It grants licences to work on tribal land, often without the tribe’s consent. Other times, loggers invade tribal peoples’ land without any permission at all. In both cases, the loggers’ presence is devastating: tribal peoples’ homes are chopped down and transported to a sawmill or market, sawn and sold. h2. Case studies h3. Uncontacted tribes in Peru Logging is one of the biggest threats to "uncontacted tribes in Peru":/tribes/isolatedperu. The country is home to some of the world’s last commercially-viable mahogany trees. Coincidentally, and tragically, these trees are in the same parts of the Peruvian Amazon as some of the world’s last uncontacted Indians. notextile.
Mahogany stacked high on a river bank
in Peru's Amazon. © Survival



Sign up to the mailing list
Our amazing network of supporters and activists have played a pivotal role in everything we’ve achieved over the past 50 years. Sign up now for updates and actions.