Mozambique and China’s rosewood trade: illegal business fueling rebellion

The smuggling of timber from Mozambique’s ancient forests to China worth an estimated $23m (about £18m) a year is funding a brutal Islamist insurgency and large-scale criminal networks in the north of the southern African country. It becomes.

Data obtained by the BBC from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an NGO that fights environmental crime allegations, shows that the illegal trade in rosewood is linked to funding for Islamic State-linked extremists in Mozambique’s northernmost Cabo Delgado province. It is related to the offer. .

Rosewood is a general term for a wide variety of tropical hardwoods prized in China for high-end furniture.

Mozambican rosewood is protected under international treaties, and only very limited trade that does not threaten the species is permitted.

However, a four-year undercover investigation by the EIA of both countries revealed that trade in rebel-held areas is expanding unchecked due to sloppy management of officially recognized forest concessions, illegal logging, and corruption among port officials. It became clear.

The revelations coincided with a significant resurgence in fighting in northern Mozambique. On Friday, at least 100 insurgents carried out the boldest attack on the town of Macomia in three years, but were ultimately thwarted by the military.

The location of the attacks confirms that the rebels are expanding their reach, with an increased presence of soldiers in the worst-hit areas. “Further south, in neighboring Nampula province, we have enough funding to hire,” said Mozambican analyst Joe Hanlon.

A Mozambique government report, the National Risk Assessment Report on Terrorism Financing, released earlier this year and seen by the BBC, found that al-Shabaab rebels use the illegal timber trade to “fuel the reproduction of violence and finance “We are providing the following,” he said.

The report said the rebels were involved in “smuggling of animal and plant products,” including timber, and “exploitation of forest and wildlife resources,” contributing to “very high levels of financing” for the rebels. It has said. We estimate that revenue from these activities will reach $1.9 million per month.

It is difficult to quantify the level of rebel involvement on a daily basis in the timber trade, given the difficulty of access to the Cabo Delgado region, but rebel groups that carry out illegal logging are difficult to quantify. It has been reported that the government pays a 10% prepayment fee. In the forest area.

Forests containing valuable trees, including rosewood, are divided into several sections, or cut areas. Anyone wishing to record these areas must pay a fee to the authorities. These are usually licensed to Mozambican intermediaries and leased to Chinese logging companies.

Traders, who did not wish to be named, estimate that 30% of the timber cut in Cabo Delgado likely comes from forests occupied by rebel forces.

Cabo Delgado is considered to have three main forest areas where logging and timber sales take place. In addition to Muidumbe and Mueda, there is another in Napai in neighboring Nampula province.

Although Chinese authorities have made it illegal to harvest rosewood in their country, large quantities of rosewood are still imported.

Rosewood is given a customs code of Hongmu (meaning red wood in Chinese) upon entry, which allows researchers to track it.

Mozambique was China’s biggest African supplier of honmu timber last year, supplying more than 20,000 tonnes worth $11.7 million, according to Trade Data Monitor, a commercial firm that tracks global trade.

It has overtaken other countries such as Senegal, Nigeria and Madagascar as rosewood seeds have been stripped or depleted and laws prohibiting exports have been more strictly enforced.

As part of an undercover investigation, EIA tracked a large shipment of rosewood from Mozambique.

From October 2023 to March 2024, investigators tracked approximately 300 containers of a type of rosewood known as pau preto from the port of Beira to China.

Pau preto rosewood, which is found in northern Mozambique and Tanzania, is classified as an endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List.

These 300 containers were transporting 10,000 tons of rosewood. Traders estimate the value of each container at about $60,000, putting the total shipment at about $18 million.

EIA undercover footage seen by the BBC also shows that some of this particular cargo was in the form of raw logs, rather than sawmill-processed boards. This is in violation of Mozambique’s own 2017 law on the export of raw timber.

The container also contained processed boards.

Industry sources say that when loggers cut down trees in Cabo Delgado’s forests, the wood is typically harvested on concessions run by Chinese companies or illegally across boundaries.・It is said that it will be processed at a sawmill around Montepuez, a large town in Delgado. .

This wood from multiple sources is mixed and trucked from the Montepuez factory to the ports of Pemba or Beira.

At these ports, cargo must be inspected by Mozambican authorities and a permit or export permit must be obtained. But EIA says logs are often misreported or not declared at all on customs documents.

According to EIA research, rosewood transported between Mozambique and China is carried by two of the world’s largest international shipping companies: Maersk and CMA-CGM.

A Maersk spokesperson said in a statement to the BBC that the company is “committed to combating the illegal wildlife trade and will not knowingly engage in the trade of wild animals in violation of CITES or if the trade is illegal.” “We will not be accepting reservations for wildlife products.” We require our customers to accurately declare the contents of their shipments and rely on customs authorities to verify declarations and certificates. Shipments will only be made based on CITES certificates and regulatory approvals. ”

The statement explained that in the shipping industry, it is common for customers to load and seal containers before handing them over to shipping lines.

A CMA-CGM spokesperson said that while the company transports customer-owned goods in accordance with local and international regulations, it is not responsible for “controlling the origin of goods, all of which are shipped in sealed containers. There’s no way to manage it.”

The spokesperson also said: “CMA-CGM will no longer transport unprocessed timber and has introduced regulations prohibiting the group’s vessels leaving Mozambique from having space for unprocessed timber.” Ta.

Deforestation is progressing rapidly in Mozambique. According to the NGO Global Forest Watch, the country loses forest equivalent to about 1,000 football pitches every day.

Trade in rosewood is supposed to be restricted under CITES, but rosewood is the world’s most trafficked wildlife product, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. In terms of value, it far exceeds the trade in ivory or rhino horn.

Pau Preto Rosewood is listed in Citation II and, in order to be legally exported, the Mozambican government must undergo a thorough process called a Non-Detractive Funds Investigation (NDF) to ensure that the trade does not threaten the country’s survival. scientific research must be completed.

The BBC asked Mozambique’s representative, Sites Cornelio Miguel, who works for the National Conservation Areas Administration, whether an NDF in Pau Preto had ever been carried out. He made no comment.

Without this assessment, any trade violates international treaties. As a signatory, China would be violating the terms of the treaty if it accepted nonconforming imports.

The BBC contacted several of the Chinese trading companies listed in the EIA report, but none would comment on whether they sourced wood from Mozambique.

For environmental activists like Wageningen University’s Dr. Anna Lake-Chu, the treaty can only be as strong as governments enforce it. She believes sustainable management of the rosewood trade requires a complete rethink.

Dr. Zhu says the treaty will not stop China’s elites’ insatiable demand for Hongmu furniture.

She said the process of listing certain species before they become more tightly regulated may even be driving market trends, as it “effectively advertises upcoming scarcity” and, in turn, creates scarcity. It suggests that there is.

Stronger laws and more sophisticated tracking systems would improve the situation. But in reality, protecting rosewood only works if the country of origin and the wood vendor make it a priority.

In a conflict zone like Cabo Delgado, this is unlikely to happen.

In many ways, Cabo Delgado is “the perfect place” for the illegal timber trade to thrive, said EIA Africa program manager Rafael Edou. He describes the state as a nexus of trade routes mixed with illegality, corruption and a desperately poor local population.

In addition to being home to some of the world’s most valuable trees, Cabo Delgado also has other lucrative sources of wealth within its borders, including oil, natural gas, rubies, and sapphires.

These treasures are attracting huge global investors such as French energy company Total, which has built a $20 billion gas liquefaction plant.

Gemfields Group, owner of the Fabergé jewelry brand, owns 75% of the Montepuez ruby ​​mine in Cabo Delgado. Revenues in 2023 were $167 million.

Rebel activity in the state has sparked one of Africa’s most serious displacement crises, with more than 1 million people forced from their homes.

Rebels target civilians, committing massacres, beheadings, rapes, and kidnappings. Houses and entire villages were bombed and burned.

The violence has destabilized much of Cabo Delgado for nearly a decade, prompting the government to rely on foreign troops to police the province.

Authorities have struggled to enforce laws to protect Cabo Delgado’s most vulnerable people, not to mention laws to protect the environment and forests.