The Gambia banned all timber exports, and completely suspended export licenses of wooden on Friday. The West African nation is attempting to curb the unlawful smuggling of endangered rosewood.
“All current permits issued for the export/re-export of timber are completely revoked,” the knowledge ministry mentioned in a press release. The federal government instructed port authorities to supervise and forestall any loading of logs onto any vessels. Authorities may even perform random searches of containers.
Trafficking of timber is rampant within the nation as a result of the excessive demand for rosewood in China.
Behind the ban
In 2012, the West African rosewood tree was declared practically extinct in Gambia. However even then, the nation has remained one of many largest exporters of the species to China, together with its neighbors Senegal and Guinea-Bissau.
A lot of the rosewood being despatched via the Gambia is believed to hail from the southern Senegalese area of Casamance — which is way nearer to Gambia than to main Senegalese ports like Dakar and the place Senegalese authorities management is restricted amid a separatist motion within the area that has largely held to ceasefires lately.
In line with the Environmental Investigation Company, The Gambia has exported an estimated 1.6 million rosewood bushes since 2012.
Earlier, President Adama Barrow tried to curb rosewood trafficking when he took workplace in 2017. However he by no means carried out a full export ban till now.
The ban is efficient instantly.
In line with figures from the Obersvatory of Financial Complexity, timber and wooden merchandise are an necessary export commodity for Gambia, with exports valued at roughly $16.7 million in 2020. Solely gold, by far its most dear export commodity, and nut and fish merchandise generated extra income.
ss/msh (AFP, Reuters)