Wed Aug 1, 4:23 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Former US Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry on Wednesday unveiled a landmark assault on illegal logging in parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The proposed law, hailed by environmental groups as the most significant such measure in the world, would ban the import and sale in the United States of illegally harvested timber and carry fines of up to 10,000 dollars.

"Illegal logging is a criminal activity that is damaging our environment, destroying communities and undermining efforts by developing countries to protect their natural resources," Kerry said.

"We have responsibility to protect developing countries from exploitation of their natural resources by big corporations."

The United Nations warned earlier this year that illegal logging by international companies could lead to a 98 percent loss of South East Asia's tropical rain forests by 2022, threatening the habitat of tens of thousands of endangered orangutans.

The problem is also leaving a swath of environmental destruction in the Amazon basin and in rain forests in Africa's Congo Basin.

Environmental groups called the measure, co-sponsored by Kerry's fellow Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a watershed moment in the fight against illegal logging.

"This Combat Illegal Logging Act represents a huge stride forward in curbing one of the most significant environmental and social challenges facing our planet," said Carroll Muffett, Deputy Campaigns Director for Greenpeace USA.

"In addition to its direct impacts on biodiversity, tropical deforestation accounts for up to 25 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, making it a major contributor to global warming."

Similar legislation is expected to be brought up in the US House of Representatives.