Main content

The trees that bleed

Illegal logging of the endangered rosewood tree is decimating forests in Casamance in Senegal. The 91热爆 investigates the trade worth trade worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The rosewood tree is one of the most trafficked wild products on earth. When it is cut it bleeds a blood red sap. Having exhausted stocks elsewhere, Chinese traders have turned to West Africa to feed demand back home where the hardwood is prized for use in traditional Chinese furniture. In Senegal it is illegal to fell or export a rosewood tree. And yet they are being logged and smuggled at an alarming rate from the forests of Casamance, through the port of neighbouring Gambia and all the way to China. For Assignment, Umaru Fofana and 91热爆 Africa Eye have been investigating the trade in trafficked rosewood worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Producer: Charlotte Attwood

(Image: A "bleeding" rosewood tree. Credit: 91热爆/Maxime Le Hegarat)

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Sat 14 Mar 2020 16:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Thu 12 Mar 2020 13:32GMT
  • Thu 12 Mar 2020 18:06GMT
  • Thu 12 Mar 2020 21:06GMT
  • Thu 12 Mar 2020 23:06GMT
  • Fri 13 Mar 2020 02:32GMT
  • Fri 13 Mar 2020 03:32GMT
  • Sat 14 Mar 2020 16:06GMT

Download this programme

Subscribe to this programme or download individual episodes