Chinese demand has fueled illegal logging in Guinea, a coup-prone West African nation. Timber exports to China from Guinea jumped from 80 cubic metres in 2008 to more than 15,000 cubic metres last year.
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A freshly cut rosewood tree in the village of Coli. The hardwood is used to make antique-style furniture, which is exported to North America and Europe and is popular in China with its growing middle class. Joe Penney / Reuters -
A worker cuts timber before loading it onto a container in Sintchan Companhe, Guinea. Joe Penney / Reuters -
Workers load timber onto a container in Sintchan Companhe, Guinea. Joe Penney / Reuters -
Cut rosewood trees in the village of Coli. The hardwood is used to make antique-style furniture, which is exported to North America and Europe and is popular in China with its growing middle class. Joe Penney / Reuters -
A Chinese businessman with workers while loading timber onto containers in Sintchan Companhe, Guinea. Joe Penney / Reuters -
Workers load timber onto a container in Sintchan Companhe, Guinea. Forest products from Africa make up about 4 per cent of China’s total imports. Joe Penney / Reuters -
Timber loggers gather at a campsite in Coli. Joe Penney / Reuters -
Hadja Aissatu Sanha Maco, the inheritor of land being used for timber exploitation by Chinese businessmen, inside an unfinished classroom her village was promised in Sintchan Companhe. Joe Penney / Reuters -
Broken machinery is seen at the defunct plywood company FOLBI in Buba. Joe Penney / Reuters -
A deforested area in Coli. Joe Penney / Reuters -
Bocar Seidi, the governor of Tombali province, stands on top of cut rosewood trees in Quepo. Joe Penney / Reuters
In pictures: China’s hunger for timber denude Guinea forests
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