illegal logging

ADF STAFF Mozambican authorities are worried that timber smuggling in Cabo Delgado province is funding terror groups such as Ansar al-Sunna, which has led an insurgency there since 2017. The province is rich in valuable wood species…

ADF STAFF Despite an amazing array of natural resources, the Central African Republic (CAR) has endured years of civil war, poor governance and corruption. Traffickers, terrorists, mercenaries and thieves are stealing its wealth of…

ADF STAFF The Tanzania Forest Agency (TFA) is adding drones to the tools it uses to protect dwindling woodland areas, which are under pressure from a variety of sources. “The utilization of drone technology is important because it will…

ADF STAFF Ghana banned rosewood logging in 2019. Despite that, logging continues, driven by China’s insatiable appetite for the lumber and the substantial amounts of money Chinese logging companies spread around in some of Ghana’s poorest…

ADF STAFF A new study reveals how a Chinese logging company is illegally leveling rainforests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), stripping the country of millions of dollars’ worth of irreplaceable natural resources and fueling…

ADF STAFF Since entering the Central African Republic (CAR) in 2018, Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries have ruthlessly exploited the country’s natural resources, most recently turning to logging to fund the organization and to fuel Russian…

The war-weary people of Casamance are desperate for peace, but timber and cannabis trafficking continue to fuel conflict. An agreement signed in August 2022 between a factional leader of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance…

ADF STAFF Ghana has become the first West African country to join an international call for banning the trade of rosewood. The move in July 2022 was the latest attempt to stanch the Chinese-driven flow of scarce timber out of the region.…

ADF STAFF Forests cover just one-tenth of Sudan and are shrinking, the victim of governmental neglect that has allowed militia groups to log them with impunity. The disappearing forest cover is leading to increased desertification,…

ADF STAFF Since early 2020, Mali has banned the export of rosewood, also known as kosso. Despite that, nearly 150,000 tons of the wood — equal to 220,000 trees — left the country over the last two years, all of it with a single…