Vast quantities of timber from Myanmar continue to enter the United States despite sanctions on the country’s state-controlled timber monopoly, according to a new report from U.K.-based watchdog group the…
PHNOM PENH — Eight people, including two Cambodian Forestry Administration officials, have been charged by U.S. federal prosecutors for their alleged involvement in an international monkey smuggling ring. One of…
Myanmar’s military-led regime exported more than $190 million worth of timber in 2021, including to countries with active sanctions on the country’s state-controlled timber monopoly, according to a recent report…
Widespread lockdowns and working from home to combat the COVID-19 pandemic have led to booming demand for home furnishings. As furniture manufacturers scramble to keep up with the rush on…
Companies, with the support of governments, are using the coronavirus pandemic as a chance to secure less stringent regulations governing their impacts on forests and the environment, according to the…
UPDATE (19 March 2019): The European Parliament voted March 12 to consent to the VPA with Vietnam by a vote of 632-14 with 23 abstentions. The resolution, including the explanatory…
Floor & Decor, a leading flooring retailer in the United States, has continued to purchase products that contain tropical timber from Indusparquet, a supplier in Brazil, despite accusations that the…
The sustainability and legality claims of the largest plywood importer in the US have come under question after it was found to have received shipments of Malaysian plywood worth more…
A report released today by London-based NGO Global Witness has prompted major US retailers to discontinue sales of exotic wood flooring linked to illegal logging in the tropical forests of…
Peru’s recent pledge to wage a fiercer battle against illegal logging and timber trafficking could become a thorn in the side of the $30-$100 billion a year global illegal logging…
Much of timber exported from Peru to the U.S. in January 2015 was illegally sourced, according to a verification report released yesterday by the U.S. government. The findings have prompted…
My organization recently published a guidebook and online resource (www.timberinvestigator.info) for activists and communities on how to investigate illegal logging and track flows of illegal wood, particularly those destined for…
A search warrant executed earlier this month at the premises of California-based Global Plywood and Lumber was issued on the basis of probable cause that the company had smuggled illegal…
Harold Clause Kupers, a wood buyer and mill owner in Washington state who pled guilty last November to violating the Lacey Act, has been sentenced to prison time. This is…
A judge in Norfolk, Virginia accepted a plea deal today in which Lumber Liquidators agreed to pay more than $13 million in fines and penalties for violating the Lacey Act,…
U.S. flooring company Lumber Liquidators Inc. (NYSE:LL) will pay $13.2 million to resolve a federal investigation into its timber sourcing practices. Under the settlement, announced Wednesday, Lumber Liquidators will plead…
A stump is all that remains of an illegally felled tree in the rainforest of West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Recent findings indicate amendments made to the Lacey Act in 2008 may…
Logging in Malaysian Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Five major timber importers are making progress in cutting contraband wood from their markets, argues a series of reports published by…
Lumber Liquidators' oak flooring in China. Courtesy of EIA A hedge fund manager has downgraded Lumber Liquidators' stock over the company's alleged links to illegal logging in the Russian Far…
With a backdrop of fires raging across oil palm and timber plantations in Sumatra, business and political leaders convened in Indonesia to discuss a path forward for producing deforestation-free commodities…
The reticulated python. Photo by Rhett Butler. Bird conservationists in the United States are urging Congress to ban imports of five types of snakes that are considered a threat to…
Deforestation in Laos for a rubber plantation. Raw logs from such deforestation often make their way to Vietnam. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. The forests of Lao are still suffering…
Spiny lobster. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Three men who illegally harvested lobster from South African waters and smuggled them to the U.S. for 14 years have been ordered to…
Recent rosewood and ebony logging has been associated with a rise in commercial bushmeat poaching of threatened lemurs in Madagascar. Gibson Guitars has now admitted to knowingly importing 'gray-market' timber…
Logs in Gabon. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. It's tempting to think of illegal logging as an environmental crisis but it takes a serious human toll too. Just ask the…
Logged wood off the Ucayali River in Peru. Photo by Toby Smith/EIA. The next time you buy wood, you may want to make sure it's not from Peru. According to…
Illegally logged tree in Indonesia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Illegal logging has never been a high priority for criminal investigators, but a new report by the World Bank says…
Sumatra rainforest canopy seen from the base of a compass tree . Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. UPDATE: Greenpeace has stated that it has handed over evidence of illegal logging…
Rhino that has had its horn removed to protect it from poachers. Federal agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested…
Recent rosewood and ebony logging has been associated with a rise in commercial bushmeat poaching of threatened lemurs in Madagascar. Gibson Guitars allegedly imported illegally logged Madagascar ebony and was…
