Cameroon’s rain forests are rapidly vanishing due to widespread corruption, according to a new report from Greenpeace Africa. The environmental activist group alleges that much of the illegally-harvested timber from Cameroon ends up in China where customs authorities look the other way against suspicious timber imports. In fact, the Chinese do not have any laws against illegal timber imports and Greenpeace claims that is one of the main reasons for the clear cutting of Cameroonian rain forests. Greenpeace Africa’s forest campaign manager, Irène Wabiwa, joins us to talk about China’s complicity in Cameroon’s illegal timber trade.
Recommendations
- “License to Launder: How Herakles Farms’ Illegal Timber Trade Threatens Cameroon’s Forests and VPA,” Greenpeace International, May 2014
- “Corruption and Impunity Are Rife in Cameroon’s Forestry Sector,” Yaoundé, AllAfrica, August 20, 2014