Forest reports

A Tale of Two Laws

The US Lacey Act and The European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR). In this briefing, we explore the previously unrealised fact that both laws can work together, with the Lacey Act prohibiting timber sold in violation of the EUTR, as a ’foreign law‘

Still Permitting Crime

This report reveals how a palm oil plantation established and developed illegally in 2013 and 2014 has since continued to clear forests illegally with impunity. Worse, the timber it has illegally cut is certified legal under Indonesia’s flagship Timber Legality Assurance System

Prohibited Permits

A briefing prepared for the 3rd Regional Dialogue on Preventing Illegal Logging and Trade in Siamese Rosewood. Despite some important reforms during 2016, significant risks of ongoing illegitimate trade in CITES-listed rosewood species persist - including for both Siamese rosewood and Burmese rosewood

Overdue Diligence

When German boat builders finally complete Sailing Yacht ‘A’, the world’s largest ever, it will sail away with decks crafted from illegitimate teak sourced from Myanmar. At nearly 150m long and 100m tall, the yacht is being built in Nobiskrug shipyard for Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko at a cost of £260 million

Cycles of Destruction

The expanding trade in hongmu (rare and valuable “red wood” used primarily for antique-style furniture in China) has driven successive boom and bust cycles all over the world, marked by unsustainable harvest, multiple legal violations (theft, smuggling, corruption) and violence in source countries