Conflict timber trade is wiping out Senegal’s last forests
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A recent report released by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) after three-year investigation, highlighted the Senegal-Gambia-China rosewood traffic and uncovered unprecedented evidence on a series of major forest crimes. According to the report, around 1.6 million rosewood trees were illegally logged in the Casamance province of Senegal and smuggled to Gambia to China between June 2012 and April 2020, to be re-exported to China.
Indonesian paper still tainted by deforestation
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Today a coalition of civil society organisations published a report about deforestation and peatlands degradation on the rainforest-rich island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Based on analysis using satellite imagery, the report documents significant deforestation, including clearance of forests on peatlands, in the concession area of PT Adindo Hutani Lestari (Adindo), one of global pulp and paper producer APRIL Group’s largest suppliers of wood to its pulp mill in Indonesia.
North African forests falling to charcoal
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In North Africa, illegal man-made fires are on the rise, driven in large part by a growing demand for charcoal, which is produced by burning wood in underground pits. In the past, local people collected dead wood on a small scale, and larger operations were regulated by the government (3). However, as the demand for charcoal and the price for which it sells have increased, illegal efforts to produce it have multiplied (4). North African countries must address the resulting fires to protect forest ecosystems, which play an important role in the welfare of both urban and rural people and harbor unique and sensitive biodiversity.
Estonia’s ‘holy forests’ threatened by demand for biofuels
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A paper published in Nature in July found that Estonia had one of the highest rates of forest loss in Europe—after an abrupt increase from 2016 to 2018 that raised the rate of clearing by 85 percent over what it had been in the previous decade. The surge was largely brought on by demand for wood pellets for bioenergy, the authors of the study found.
Forest fires, the Indonesian paper giant continues to violate laws and its own commitment
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As the fire season looms in Indonesia, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), one of the world’s largest pulp and paper companies, owned by the Sinar Mas Group, has been actively clearing Sumatran peatland for pulpwood plantations in direct breach of its own commitments to preserve and restore carbon-rich ecosystems and reduce emissions. Major brands such as Unilever, Nestlé, Askul and Woolworths are still supplied by APP, which today is gathering its stakeholders in a forum focused on sustainability.