On June 8, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) suspended trade in rosewood in Cameroon.
The sanction comes months after a groundbreaking investigation by the online newspaper The Museba Project that revealed how traffickers are laundering illegally cut rosewood from Cameroon in Nigeria before shipping it to China.
The Cameroonian government was supposed to provide CITES with evidence of the legal acquisition of rosewood. But the country submitted evidence that « did not comply with the guidelines, practical steps and quick guide for verifying legal acquisition, » CITES wrote in its report.
Nigeria, a transit country for rosewood stolen from Cameroon, saw its suspension extended by CITES after The Museba Project article.
