Gambia has banned all timber exports and revoked export licenses to combat rosewood smuggling.
o The state of Gambia has collectively banned timber exports and revoked all export licenses to try to combat illegal logging after an investigation revealed that tonnes of West African Rosewood was being trafficked out of the country.
o The ban has come into immediate effect and port authorities have been informed.
The Gambia will put an end to rosewood smuggling.
The Gambia banned timber exports and revoked all export licenses to try to combat illegal logging after it was revealed that vast quantities of protected West African Rosewood were being trafficked through the territory from Senegal. Much of it is traced to China, where it is reportedly used to make furniture.Â
For more than a decade, Gambia, along with its neighbors Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, has struggled with the trafficking of rosewood. This particular type of wood is especially valued in China and is commonly used for making furniture. The West African country estimated the rosewood tree to be nearly extinct in 2012. Despite that, Gambia happens to be one of the largest exporters of rosewood to China, as per the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).
By value and weight, rosewood happens to be one of the most trafficked wildlife products in the world. Also called “Hongmu” or “red wood” in Mandarin, rosewood is prized for its color and durability and is commonly used for antique-style furniture in the Asian countries.Â
According to the BBC Africa Eye, China imported more than 300,000 tonnes of rosewood from Gambia between 2017 and 2020. That equates to about half a million trees and is worth more than $100 million.Â
It has been listed as an endangered species since 2017, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, has called on seven countries, including Gambia, to suspend all trade.
Its Cashing-in on Chaos report revealed that Gambia exported close to 1.6 million rosewood trees between June 2012 and April 2020. According to the Environmental Investigation Agency, EIA’s findings, most of these exports were in direct violation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), under which P. erinaceus has been listed since 2017.
Despite declaring the species near extinction several years ago, Gambia remains one of the top five global exporters of West African Rosewood (Pterocarpus erinaceus).
During an investigation in both Senegal and Gambia, multiple sources confirmed that the rosewood being shipped out of the Gambia to China came from the Casamance region of southern Senegal.Â
Along a 170km (105 mile) long stretch of the border between the two countries, there were found to be at least 12 depots containing rosewood and other timber. They were all functioning within Gambian territory.
Measures taken to end logging
Gambia has currently banned all timber exports and has permanently revoked all timber export licenses. The ban is effective immediately, and port authorities have been instructed to refuse loading timber logs onto any vessel, the Gambian government asserted in their statement.Â
The felling and import of rosewood are also banned, it said, and random searches of containers can and will be conducted. President Adama Barrow had taken measures against rosewood trafficking when he took office in 2017, but had stopped short of a full export ban.
China, as the largest importer of West African rosewood, can also play an important role in halting trafficking. EIA has called on China to seize all containers of Gambian rosewood landing in its ports in line with the recently adopted Chinese Forest Code.Â
Unlike most countries that are importing timber, China does not yet have in place laws that strictly prohibit or exclude the import of illegal timber, therefore the illegal trade.
The EIA hopes that China will use its recently revised forestry law, which includes a nationwide ban on processing illegally sourced domestic timber, to apply to imported timber as well.
