Cameroon is just one of a growing number of African countries that is facing a deforestation crisis due in part to the trade in illegal Rosewood. Large organized crime syndicates are felling vast numbers of these prized trees, smuggling them across the border to Nigeria where they are laundered and sent mostly to buyers in China.
It’s widely known in the industry that most African Rosewood is illegally harvested yet that doesn’t discourage Chinese buyers as they look the other way — which is a blatant violation of the 2019 forestry law.
Investigative journalist Christian Locka went into the bush to report how Rosewood timber makes its way from Cameroon’s forests, over the border to Nigeria, and is then laundered for export to China. Christian joins Eric & Cobus from Douala in Cameroon to explain more about this lucrative trade and why so little is being done to stop it.
Show Notes:
- The Pulitzer Center: How Rosewood is Stolen in Cameroon, Laundered in Nigeria, and Exported to China by Christian Locka
- Mongobay: China’s revised forest law could boost efforts to fight illegal logging by Ashoka Mukpo
- China Dialogue: Rosewood trafficking worsens in the Gambia by Louise Hunt
About Christian Locka:
Christian Locka, is an award-winning freelance reporter of Cameroon nationality who exposes corruption, illicit finances, human rights abuses, and organized crime for a couple of years now. His work has appeared in established publications such as 100 Reporters, Washington times, public radio international, USA Today. The former fellow of the Fund for Investigative Journalism(FIJ) and the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) is since 2019 the founder and CEO of the Museba project, a training and reporting news organization in central Africa.
