Forests were badly affected by wars because forest products were used to fulfill the demands during wars.

• In India, during the First World War and Second World War, the forest department was cutting trees freely to meet British war needs.
• In Java, the Dutch followed a scorched earth policy of destroying sawmills and burning huge piles of teak logs just before the Japanese occupied the region. The Japanese exploited the forests recklessly for their war industries. They forced villagers to cut down trees.
• Many villagers and adivasi and other users took advantage of these wars to expand cultivation in the forests.
• After the war, it was difficult for the Indonesian forest service to get their forests back.