Illegal logging has emerged as an international problem since the G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit held in 2000. The background of this emergence could be thought as that; in wood producing countries, the governments have aggressively participated in discussion on the issue of illegal logging with the expectation of possible financial/technical assistance from international community under the condition of intensified illegal logging activities caused by political/economic chaos in the late 1990s ; in developed countries, the governments and environmental NGOs high- lighted the easily understandable issue of illegal logging in order to demonstrate their contributions to global forest issue with the conditions of the stagnancy of the discussion on sustainable forest management in the late 1990s ; and, in Japan, wood products industry and related politicians supported the government's stance with the expectation of possible import restriction on wood products. Given this structure, it is important to find an agreement regarding measures against illegal logging so as to benefit each stakeholder to certain extent.

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