In a report, the WWF focused on trade between EU countries and timber regions in the Amazon Basin, the Congo Basin, East Africa, Indonesia and Russia.

It said that around 20 million cubic metres (700 million cubic feet) of illegal timber are imported into the 25-nation EU from these regions annually.

"As a result, the EU is responsible for around 3 billion euros of the global 10-15 billion euros in lost revenue due to illegal logging each year," it said.

The WWF said that current EU efforts -- including a plan promoting direct agreements between importing countries and foreign producers -- fall far short of what is needed to tackle illegal logging.

"The EU must take much tougher action if it wants to make a difference in both conserving the world's most important forests and help alleviate poverty," said Duncan Pollard, head of the WWF's European Forest Programme.

"Only measures that make it mandatory for EU members to prohibit illegal timber coming into Europe will really help combat illegal logging."

What is really needed is EU-wide legislation, the WWF said. The EU should also press other countries including China, Japan and the United States to crack down.

According to the organisation's study, Britain is the biggest importer of illegal timber in Europe.

The country is responsible for the loss of 600,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) of forest each year -- more than twice the size of Luxembourg -- the WWF said.

"The UK has made poverty a central plank of its EU presidency yet its consumption of illegal timber is robbing countries of invaluable income," said Andrew Lee, director of campaigns for the WWF in Britain.

"Illegal logging deprives local communities who often rely on forests for their livelihoods, while big international companies reap the profits," he added.

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