Vietnam can play crucial role in protecting world’s rainforests, says Global Witness

Global Witness says Vietnam’s recently-signed Voluntary Partnership Agreement with the European Union can and must prevent the country from ‘becoming a new global timber laundering hub.’ Instead, the Agreement can ensure that Vietnam plays ‘a crucial role’ in protecting the world’s threatened rainforests.

Paradise lost: how China can help the Solomon Islands protect its forests

Our new investigation conclusively shows that tropical timber across the Solomon Islands is being harvested on an unsustainable scale, and that much of the activity driving this environmental destruction is at high risk of being illegal. If the growing degradation of the Solomon Islands’ tropical forests carries on unchecked, it will have a disastrous and irreparable impact on the country’s environment. The loss of this carbon sink would also have a significant impact on climate change.

A Major Liability: Illegal logging in Papua New Guinea threatens China's timber sector and global reputation

A new report reveals that many forest operations in Papua New Guinea (PNG) violate the law, despite holding Government permits. PNG is China’s single largest supplier. By buying timber from PNG and exporting to markets that ban illegal timber imports, such as the European Union or the United States, China therefore risks damaging its reputation and major trade relationships.

Uneven EUTR enforcement creates loophole for illegal timber

A new study for the European Commission reveals how uneven enforcement of the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) is letting companies off the hook.

Why I’m cautiously hopeful about China’s efforts towards regulating timber imports

In 2012, when I first started researching China’s illegal timber imports, related news or information in Chinese was scarce. Six years on, however, a study co-authored by a Chinese government research institution offers a flicker of hope. China may be heading in the right direction and joining a growing global community who prohibit illegal timber imports by law.

How can Europe help stop the deadly trade in conflict timber?

Twenty-two years ago Global Witness cut its teeth exposing the trade in conflict timber in war-torn Cambodia. Posing as European timber buyers, my colleagues and I exposed how the genocidal Khmer Rouge was selling wood to logging companies just across the border in Thailand.

How the EU can protect the world’s forest by tackling corruption

Amid the political turbulence that kicked off in Europe in 2016, an important event from last year risks being forgotten, the unprecedented global commitment to tackle corruption.