The Ongoing Illegal Logging Crisis In Madagascar

Since 2009, the impoverished island nation of Madagascar has fallen prey to a mafia a of illegal rosewood traders, threatening all that remains of its once pristine forests, home to some of the world’s greatest and most spectacular biodiversity. Madagascar’s protected rosewood trees, now found only in remote corners of its national parks, are the target of an inexplicable appetite for high-end furniture in China, where a metric ton of Malagasy rosewood currently sells for $25,000 USD. Less than 1% of the profit from this completely illegal trade remains within Madagascar – the lion’s share flowing to Chinese manufacturers and traders, and siphoned into the offshore accounts of timber barons and corrupt officials.

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