"Such blatant disregard for the law weakens governments, encourages corruption, undermines democracy and then, in turn, saps the (belief) of the people in the democratic system," US Secretary of State Colin Powell said.

He announced the program, funded at a level of 15 million dollars in the first year, noting that illegal timber sales had also contributed to the current crisis in Liberia where President Charles Taylor has allegedly funded a variety if nefarious activities with their proceeds.

"In the process, Liberia's logging industry is depleting its hardwood tropical forest on behalf of a corrupt elite and destroying an important source of natural wealth the people of Liberia need for their own development," Powell said.

The initiative will first focus on Africa's Congo River Basin, the Amazon and Central America and South and Southeast Asia where it will fund programs aimed at enhancing the enforcement of logging laws, provide technological support to monitor illegal deforestation and promote community involvement in protecting rare trees.

President George W. Bush instructed Powell and his subordinates at the State Department to devise the program in February 2002 when he unveiled his alternatives to the Kyoto Protocol global warming treaty he has repudiated.

At the time, environmentalists scoffed at the proposals, arguing that they were too little and a "gift" to polluting corporations.

On Monday, many conservation groups expressed support for the anti-illegal logging initiative although some said they were disappointed that it didn't go far enough.

The Environmental Investigation Agency, for instance, lamented that it did not directly address the importation into the United States of illegally felled foreign timber.

"Strong measures need to be taken to stop a tide of illegal timber imports into the US," it said in a statement.

SPACE.WIRE