Despite a 2022 ban on timber exports, The Gambia has remained a key source of illegally smuggled rosewood to China. For decades, the West African nation has been central to the African rosewood trade, with the hardwood highly sought after by Chinese furniture makers as a status symbol of wealth and nobility.
Even with the ban, The Gambia continues to play a crucial role in China’s rosewood supply chain, facilitating the illegal movement of timber harvested from southern Senegal’s Casamance region. Smugglers transport the logs through Banjul’s port, often with the complicity of corrupt port officials and law enforcement.
“Things have gotten more difficult recently, but it’s not impossible if you have the right contacts,” a smuggler identified as Lamin told Al Jazeera investigators posing as potential investors.
China’s insatiable demand for rosewood has made it the most exploited wild product globally. West Africa, home to Pterocarpus erinaceus, has been a primary supplier. Between 2017 and 2022, the region exported over three million metric tons of rosewood to China, valued at least $2 billion, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).
Under former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, only one company—Westwood Gambia—was authorized to export rosewood to China between 2014 and 2017, further entrenching corruption in the trade. The EIA reported that from 2012 to 2020, The Gambia exported more than 1.6 million rosewood trees to China, despite the species being nearly extinct in the country by 2011. Most of the logs originated from Casamance, where smugglers pay a “tax” to rebel groups financing a long-running insurgency against the Senegalese government.
Concerns over the illegal trade led French shipping giant CMA CGM to halt timber shipments from The Gambia in 2020. However, traffickers continue using other shipping companies to transport logs. During Al Jazeera’s investigation, sources revealed that 200 containers of rosewood were awaiting export from Banjul’s port to China. Smugglers reportedly mislabel the shipments to bypass export restrictions, only for the logs to be properly identified once they reach China.
Al Jazeera’s findings indicate that China’s rosewood imports from The Gambia increased by 43% between September 2022 and 2023, a 58% rise from pre-pandemic levels in the same period.
“The trafficking still happens through The Gambia, but there’s less rosewood now than before,” said Haidar el Ali, Senegal’s former environment minister and a leading conservationist fighting to protect Casamance’s dwindling rosewood population.
In response to growing international scrutiny, The Gambia has taken steps to curb rosewood trafficking. The 2018 National Forest Action Plan introduced stricter logging permit requirements and tracking systems for harvested timber. However, enforcement remains weak due to financial and logistical constraints.
In 2018, Gambian President Adama Barrow and then-Senegalese President Macky Sall pledged to enhance border patrols to combat smuggling, but the effectiveness of these measures remains uncertain.
Writing for the Institute for Security Studies, Feyi Ogunade, coordinator for ENACT’s West Africa Organized Crime Observatory, suggested that The Gambia and Senegal should prioritize ecotourism and sustainable agriculture to offer alternative livelihoods while protecting rosewood forests.
“The Gambia’s biodiversity presents an opportunity for nature-based tourism, involving local communities as eco-guides, lodge operators, or artisans,” Ogunade wrote. “This approach not only supports livelihoods but also generates revenue for conservation efforts, balancing environmental protection with economic growth.”
While The Gambia has made efforts to control rosewood trafficking, weak enforcement and China’s persistent demand continue to drive the illicit trade, leaving the country at the heart of West Africa’s environmental and organized crime challenges.
ADF
