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.
Updated: May 22, 2014, 12:00 AM
In pictures: China’s hunger for timber denude Guinea forests
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