Illicit deforestation drains $1.28 billion from Brazil & $289 million from Cameroon: new report

LONDON – Illicit deforestation drains billions in Illicit Financial Flows from the Global South – $1.28 billion for Brazil & $289 million for Cameroon in timber exports alone every year – as financial secrecy prevents uncovering the real owners of land, forestry concessions and companies who are responsible, according to a new report by the Financial Transparency Coalition – a group of 11 NGOs from across the world.

The report titled “Financial Secrets of Forests: How Financial Secrecy Fuels Deforestation in Brazil and Cameroon” reveals that, in Brazil alone in 2024, timber exports from illicitly deforested land reached US$1.28 billion. In Cameroon, over the past decade, consistently high levels of trade undervaluation have been detected in timber production, a key indicator of illicit financial flows.

The report, which uses satellite data for the first time to track all owners of recently deforested land, also concludes that financial secrecy makes it impossible to systematically trace the products and those who ultimately benefit from deforestation.

Other key findings of the report include:

In the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, which accounted for one fifth of Brazil’s forest loss in 2025, properties without deforestation permits comprised 48% of all agricultural land used for soybean production (valued at 10 billion dollars) and 15% of all land dedicated to intensive grazing for beef production in 2022 (valued at 4 billion dollars).
In Cameroon, illicit financial flows resulting from trade mispricing of timber products trade amount to US$289 million annually, a figure five times greater than previous estimates of financial losses in this sector (US$59 million) provided by the authorities.
The government of Cameroon continued to grant logging licences to companies previously sanctioned for illicit trade, allowing them to export to markets that explicitly ban the import of illegally logged timber, including Europe, Vietnam, and China.
Illicitly deforested land accounts for a significant proportion of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In Mato Grosso alone, the accumulated carbon dioxide emissions between 2001 and 2023 linked to illegally deforested land for soybean cultivation amounted to 10.90 MtCO2 per year, with a further 21.84 MtCO2 associated with intensive grazing for beef production. This is equivalent to 28.43 million flights between New York and Los Angeles.

Matti Kohonen, Executive Director of the Financial Transparency Coalition, says: “Billions of dollars are illicitly channelled each year from Global South countries due to illegal deforestation, causing an environmental and climate crisis, as well as the destruction of entire communities. However, the lack of public data on land ownership and forest concessions makes it impossible to track the companies and the beneficial owners who directly gain from the destruction of tropical forests.”

Specifically, in Mato Grosso we demonstrate that public data only allows identifying the IDs for plots used for soy cultivation and grazing on recently deforested land (from 2010 to 2023) and not the companies owning those plots. Meanwhile in Cameroon, available data only allows the overlay of recently deforested land with forest production units and their owning companies. In both cases, the information available does not allow to identify the individuals who ultimately own these land parcels, nor the associated supply chains, or whether they are hiding behind shell companies.

Victor Galaz, associate professor in political science at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, says: “Crimes hide in the shadows of opaque finance. This report makes substantial progress in bringing to light how the lack of financial transparency contributes to undermining the stability of the climate system through deforestation. Tackling deforestation requires us to take a deeper look into opaque financial structures and complex corporate structures designed to keep regulators and the public in the dark. Linking such phenomena to deforestation and its impact on people and the climate system is long overdue.”

Alfonso Daniels, lead author of the report, states: “The world faces an environmental and climate crisis, with record levels of tropical forest destruction, primarily to make way for crops. The EU Deforestation Regulation, which will come into force in December 2026, along with other initiatives, seeks to address this crisis; however, persistent secrecy regarding who owns and benefits from recently deforested lands means these measures will fail or have limited impact unless there is public access to asset ownership records and the beneficial owners.”

Jean Mballa Mballa, Executive Director of CRADEC, the African Regional Centre for Endogenous and Community Development in Cameroon, says: “This report confirms that although we can map forest loss in Cameroon, we cannot identify the beneficial owners behind companies that log without permits or trade timber at incorrect prices, despite sanctions. The government continues to grant concessions to sanctioned companies, and ownership records remain closed. Without transparency, EU regulations on deforestation will fail. CRADEC urges Cameroon and timber-importing countries to establish public registers of beneficial owners in the forestry sector and to extend EITI transparency initiatives to forests, the environment, fisheries, and logistics. Only then can we track the money, hold authorities accountable, and protect the Congo Basin rainforests.”

Juan Pablo Costa, Director of CEFILAT, states: “Latin America is losing capital through the same channels destroying its forests. The billions diverted from illicitly deforested lands in Brazil and across the region don’t disappear but flow into opaque corporate structures and secrecy jurisdictions far beyond the reach of governments and communities bearing the environmental cost. Addressing deforestation without dismantling this financial secrecy is merely treating the symptom while the wound continues to bleed into tax havens.”

Deforestation and forest degradation are occurring at an alarming rate, with Brazil and Cameroon — the two countries analysed in this report — among the top ten experiencing the highest tropical forest loss in 2025, despite some progress in Brazil. The world lost 4.3 million hectares of primary tropical rainforest last year alone, an area roughly the size of Denmark, according to the GLAD Lab at the University of Maryland. It is estimated that over 90% of global forest loss, including in the tropics, results from land conversion for agricultural use, contributing to nearly 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Using the best available Geographic Information System (GIS) data, the report also warns that secrecy surrounding land ownership, crops, properties, companies, and beneficial owners systematically prevents the identification of those who benefit from forest loss and deforestation. This secrecy enables them to export their products to the European Union, the United States, and other markets without hindrance.

Specifically, in the case of Mato Grosso, we demonstrate that public data only permits the identification of parcel IDs for properties used for soy cultivation and grazing on recently deforested land (from 2010 to 2023), without enabling the identification of the companies that own those parcels. Conversely, in Cameroon, the available data only allows the overlay of recently deforested land with forest production units and their owning companies. In both cases, the information available does not permit the identification of the individuals who ultimately own these land parcels, nor the associated supply chains.

Alfonso Daniels, lead author of the report, states: “The world faces an environmental and climate crisis, with record levels of tropical forest destruction, primarily to make way for crops. The EU Deforestation Regulation, which will come into force in December 2026, along with other initiatives, seeks to address this crisis; however, persistent secrecy regarding who owns and benefits from recently deforested lands means these measures will fail or have limited impact unless there is public access to asset ownership records and the beneficial owners.”

The Financial Transparency Coalition calls for the implementation of the following five key measures to track—and, where appropriate, sanction—those responsible for the destruction of primary forests, ending financial secrecy in the forestry sector and in agricultural commodities that drive deforestation:

Beneficial Ownership Transparency: Centralised and public registers of the beneficial owners of land parcels must be established, ensuring public access to hold companies and their owners accountable. Mandatory public declaration of beneficial owners should be required when acquiring forest concessions, logging permits for land clearance, and in cases of environmental crimes, environmental offences, and human rights violations.
Tax Transparency: Public country-by-country reporting for large multinationals is essential, as is tax transparency for all companies concerning taxes paid and tax incentives received. This is necessary to combat tax abuses, harmful tax incentives, and to apply corporate surcharges in the timber and agriculture sectors.
Supply Chain Transparency: Information regarding the cultivation of agricultural products on illicitly deforested land must be publicly accessible in crop databases and livestock transit documents. This approach would enable the exclusion of illicit companies and their beneficial owners from export markets.
Global Asset Registry: Governments should publish updated registers of the legal owners and beneficial owners of assets, including holders of forest concessions, agricultural land, logging licences, and cultivated crops. This initiative would contribute to the development of a Global Asset Registry (GAR).
Public Data on Environmental Offences: Governments must publish data on fines and sanctions related to environmental offences, including illegal logging and breaches of environmental permits. Importing countries should recognise these sanctions as violations under their regulations against illicit timber and halt the flow of illegal timber based on sanctions and fines imposed in the countries of origin.

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Notes for Editors:

The Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC) is a global civil society network operating as a collaborative coalition comprising 11 organisations with a presence in all regions of the world. The FTC works to reduce illicit financial flows by promoting a transparent, accountable, and sustainable financial system that benefits everyone.

FTC members are: Transparency International; Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD); Centre for Budget Governance Accountability; Christian Aid; European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD); CEFILAT; Global Financial Integrity; Latin American Network on Debt, Development and Rights (LATINDADD); Pan-African Lawyers Union (PALU); Tax Justice Network (TJN); and Tax Justice Network Africa.

For any media requests, please contact press@financialtransparency.org