Methodology

Chatham House has been monitoring forest governance and legality in wood-based products, both in the timber and paper industries, since the 2000s.

The methodology has been developed to assess the quality of forest policy and governance in producer, consumer and processing countries, and to monitor the levels of illegal logging and the related trade, using key data on government policy, forest resources, and trade.

Forest policy assessments were undertaken for nine producers of tropical timber (Brazil, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and the Republic of Congo), and ten consumers or processors of timber (China, France, India, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Thailand, the UK, the US and Vietnam).

This assessment covers up to five broad categories:

1. Legal and institutional framework
2. Tenure and resource allocation
3. Regulating demand
4. Transparency
5. Rule of law

The research was carried out by country experts who were provided with guidelines on scoring. The findings were reviewed by peers and Chatham House researchers. Initial research was published in the 2019 New York Declaration on Forests Assessment. The list of questions is available to download on the country pages and in the Annex of the latest Chatham House report.

To give context to the trade and governance assessments of the tropical forest countries in this study, an overview is provided of their forest resources. The overview includes secondary data on the following variables and was collected from trusted sources:

• Overview of forest land use, by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
• Tree cover, loss and gain, and CO₂ emissions from biomass loss, by Global Forest Watch.

The latest estimates in illegal trade cover a total of 37 countries that are important exporters of wood-based products, which include logs, sawnwood, veneer, plywood, mouldings, joinery, wooden furniture, particleboard and fibreboard, chips & residues (biomass), and pulp & paper.

The 37 countries are: Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, China, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Gambia, Ghana, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Laos, Liberia, Malaysia, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, the Republic of Congo, Romania, Russia, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands, Suriname, Thailand, Ukraine and Vietnam. These countries have accounted for between 40-50 percent of the total volume of global exports, or 25-45 percent by value, over the period 2000-2018. Trade within the EU and between the US and Canada were not included in the global total.

The assessments of illegality are based on the forest policy assessments, analysis of trade data, surveys, and a review of reports and secondary data. Draft assessments were presented in the form of 'country notes' and shared with experts for review before being finalized. The 'country notes' are available to download on the country pages.

Four categories of the likelihood of illegal practices were used: low (<10 percent), low to medium (10-30 percent), medium to substantial (30-60 percent), or substantial (>60 percent). These were considered for five categories of illegal practice:

1. Customary tenure and resource rights
2. Award of permits
3. Forest management and harvesting
4. Forest sector payments and financing
5. Transport and trade

Practices that are prohibited in international law but not necessarily embedded within national definitions of legality were labeled as contentious practices. This is particularly relevant for Indonesia.

Data collection and analyses for the latest assessment, published in 2022, took place between 2019-2022. Several partners and stakeholders contributed to the research and analysis, and are acknowledged in the latest report. For the first assessment, published in 2010, data was collected and analysed during the period 2008-09. For the second assessment, for which the final report was published in 2015, data collection and analysis took place during the period 2012-14. All Chatham House Research Papers and Reports are peer-reviewed.

Chatham House has sought to ensure a range of independent input into the methodological design and analysis of the results. Advisory groups of international experts have provided guidance during the development of the methodology and for its subsequent implementation. Local organizations or consultants assisted with data collection and analysis in the target countries and the results were peer-reviewed by independent experts including at least one from each focus country.