Jun 05, 2006. /Lesprom Network/. Illegal logging in Estonian forests in 2005, estimated to have reached 27 000 solid cubic meters, dropped 4.5 times compared with 2003, Baltic Business Weekly reported citing the ministry of environment as said. Unlawful logging amounted to 122 000 solid cubic meters in 2003 and to 92 000 solid cubic meters in 2004. The number of cases of illegal logging has dropped several times too - from 689 in 2003 to 544 in 2004 and to 136 in 2005, the ministry said. Erik Kosenkranius, head of the forestry department at the ministry, said the improvement was attributable to better laws and more efficient supervision on the part of the environment inspectorate. He said better awareness of forest owners, often the result of efforts by consultants and forest-owners’ organizations, also played a role. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) shows illegal logging as being a relatively small problem in Estonia, with the country sharing the places 7-8 with France in terms of illegal logging in a table of 23 European countries. The situation is better still in Britain, Holland, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, and Estonia’s Baltic neighbor Latvia. Being the most in trouble with illegal tree-felling are Poland and Ireland. The ministry of environment says the average annual volume of logging has been to the tune of 10 million solid cubic meters in Estonia over the past five years.