A Chinese-owned timber company is said to have exported more than $5 million dollars’ worth of illegal timber from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to China between June and December 2022.
This is despite the suspension of logging concessions for Congo King Baisheng Forestry Development (CKBFD) by the DRC Ministry of Environment in April 2022.
The accusation was made by natural resource watchdog, Global Witness, which claimed the company had continued to illegally log valuable and rare hardwood trees in the DRC rainforest.
The UK/US based NGO said it used satellite imagery for its investigation.
CKBFD exported the timber to its parent company, the Chinese timber conglomerate Wan Peng International, via the Chinese port of Zhangjiagang, near Shanghai.
Source : FN