Insatiable Chinese demand for timber is driving a grossly unsustainable illegal logging and timber smuggling crisis which threatens to undermine Mozambique’s forest resources - during 2013, a staggering 93 per cent of logging in Mozambique was illegal
Myanmar’s precious rosewood tree species are heading for imminent commercial extinction at the hands of China’s multi-billion dollar rosewood furniture boom. Illegal trade in rosewood is driven by wealthy elites in China and their desire for the high-end Ming and Qing dynasty reproduction furniture known as ‘hongmu’
Siamese rosewood has been illegally logged to the brink of extinction in the Mekong region to feed a voracious demand for luxury furniture in China which leaves a bloody trail of death, violence and corruption in its wake in a trade driven by the expanding wealthy elites in China
Timber-smuggling Indonesian police officer Labora Sitorus has been jailed for eight years after an appeal overturned the shockingly lenient verdict handed down by a court in West Papua. Originally charged with illegal logging, fuel smuggling and money laundering, he was found guilty of just one charge – illegal logging
Potential investors should steer clear of a US$90 million initial public offering (IPO) in an Indonesian palm oil company due to the involvement of a former illegal logging kingpin and the potential impact on precious orangutan habitat
A new report released today by EIA reveals that despite adopting polices to keep it from financing deforestation, UK bank HSBC is nevertheless a leading financier of the palm oil industry – and provides loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars to some of its worst elements