$500m lost in illegal wood exports in #mozamique

In the decade between 2003 and 2013 Mozambique lost
over 540 million US dollars through the illegal export of wood to China,
according to a study by researchers at Maputo's Eduardo Mondlane
University.
“Mozambique has been losing large suns since 2004, since the amount
of illegal timber exported to China is 5.7 times greater than the amount
officially declared by the National Directorate of Land and Forests”, the
report accuses.
The report was produced as part of the project “Forestry Governance in
Mozambique: the Urgency of the Moment”, an initiative of the World
Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), with the support of the Swedish
Embassy in Maputo.

The truly massive discrepancies date from 2007. Using the average
export prices for logs, the study calculates that the total loss over the
decade was 540.2 million US dollars.
Exporting timber illegally is a profitable business. The study calculates
that the legal exports bring in profits of 530 dollars per container. But
the illegal trade increases the profits more than fourfold, to 2,430
dollars per container, even after paying bribes to forest wardens and
customs staff.
The study found illegal exporters using many forms of deceit and
fraud. For example, when using the type of container that can hold 18
cubic metres of wood, the exporter only declares 11 or 12 cubic metres
(and much of that has been logged illegally).
Frequently, inspectors are not present when the logs are packed in
containers. Corrupt directors or even district administrators close the
containers and bar inspectors from participating. Sometimes
containers are put on board ships after 15.30, by which time the
inspectors are no longer present.