Overlogging is a form ofoverexploitation caused bylegal orillegal logging activities that lead tounsustainable or irrecoverabledeforestation and permanenthabitat destruction for forestwildlife.

The use of poor logging practices and heavy machinery leads to overlogged forests.^[1]Norman Myers argued that forms ofenvironmental degradation like overlogging are a consequence of "perverse subsidies."^[2] The production ofdisposabletissues significantly contributes to the effects of overlogging.^[3]

In rural China, overlogging is related to the need for firewood as fuel.^[4] Overlogging is often associated with attempts at reducing the "Third world debt," although it is not restricted to developing countries.^[5]

Incentral Japan, forests located closer to power plants were found to be more vulnerable to overlogging.^[6]

With the developed world's growing demand forpulp and paper, overlogging is an imminent threat to Earth's forests.^[3]

Overlogging has caused significant damage todipterocarp forests in Southeast Asia,^[1] including in Vietnam.^[7] In thePhilippines, overlogging has created brushlands comprisingrelict trees, shrubs, and grasses.^[8] As of 1994, overlogging had led to the loss of 1.2 million hectares of Russia's forests.^[9]

In China, tropical forests were affected by overlogging prior to the establishment of thePeople's Republic in 1949, and they were overlogged during theCultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976.^[10] The process has created post-extractionsecondary forests.^[10] At the Nature Reserve of Jinyun Mountain inChongqing, overlogging affects the growth ofPhyllostachys pubescens (giant bamboo).^[11] It is also a problem in theKarakoram andKunlun Mountains,^[12] and it has caused flooding in theMin River Area ofFujian.^[13]

The restoration of overlogged forests can be important to the conservation of biodiversity or the availability of natural resources like water and carbon for local populations.^[1]

The effects of overlogging can be mitigated by setting aside profits for forest rehabilitation, a practice which is also economically profitable.^[14]Enrichment planting, or planting trees in degraded forests, is a form of artificial regeneration that has been employed inEast Kalimantan andSouth Kalimantan, Indonesia.^[1] A logging quota was established in China in 1987; it has stopped deforestation and degradation but has not led to forest regeneration.^[15]

In 1996, in response to activism regarding overlogging by corporations inMalaysia, the primary industries minister led a forestry mission to see the impact.^[16]

The works ofFrederic Edwin Church, a 19th-century American painter who often portrayed the progress of industrialization in his landscapes, indicate that he was "aware that overlogging led to erosion and the pollution of streams."^[17]

• Environmental impact of paper
• Overfishing
• Overgrazing

• Environmental issues
• Logging

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata