Corruption in forestry undermines not only the profitability and sustainability of the world’s forest resources, but also weakens broader governance systems in countries where it occurs. Finding ways to deal with these issues is challenging due to the limited research in this area. The secretive nature of corruption also means that robust and comprehensive data on corrupt activities in the forest sector is difficult to generate. Where it is discussed, corruption is often considered primarily as an element of forest governance. This is despite evidence that corruption in the forestry sector may have impacts beyond this individual sector and may be a key factor in the inability of countries to deal with illegal logging. Though many forest-rich countries have appropriate laws and knowledge of forest science, this does not necessarily translate into good forest management practices. Part of the explanation for this appears to be that corruption impedes enforcement and implementation of suc