Each year, more than 32 million acres of natural forest around the world – an area nearly equal to the size of Florida – are logged, often illegally and unsustainably, resulting in the impoverishment of forest-dependent people and their communities, poor water quality, loss of wildlife habitat and biodiversity, and a rise in global greenhouse gas emissions. (Deforestation is the second-leading contributor of carbon emissions causing climate change, after the burning of fossil fuels.)

Because the United States is the largest consumer of wood products globally, American consumers and businesses may unknowingly contribute to socially and environmentally destructive practices when they purchase products made from illegally or unsustainably harvested wood.