At the 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP17) we will be campaigning to increase protection of vulnerable rosewood species under the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Demand for tropical rosewood species in China's Hongmu (red wood) furniture industry threatens their survival in the wild.
In this special blog for the International Day of Forests, we take a look at the successes of a major European action plan to fight deforestation and illegal timber flows
EIA campaigners participated in an important meeting of the Standing Committee of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Geneva and addressed a range of issues involving wildlife and timber trade
Wildlife and forest crimes are transnational crimes where corruption is known to play a pivotal role in their facilitation and growth. Annually, illegal wildlife trade alone is estimated to range from $7 billion to $23 billion while illegal timber trade ranges between $30 billion to $100 billion.
We participated in an annual meeting of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering, in Kathmandu, Nepal. The meeting marked the first time wildlife crime has been included on the agenda of the group.
Two forest rangers, Sieng Darong and Sab Yoh, have been murdered in Preah Vihear Protected Forest, Cambodia. They were shot by illegal loggers, one of which has been tied to the Cambodian military, with high-powered rifles. The main driver of these crimes is unsustainable demand for rosewood timber in Vietnam and China