Financial Transparency Coalition

When it comes to illegal, transboundary smuggling, the study of illicit financial flows generally focuses on problems that are on a massive scale worldwide, for example the illegal drug trade, smuggling of precious metals and gems, and human trafficking. On these subjects, there is a wealth of literature and organizations devoted to understanding and eradicating their damaging effects on development. There are other types of illicit cross-boarder movements of goods, however, which are not discussed as widely, but which may be just as harmful to development. One example is illegal logging, a practice which strips developing countries of a...

NAGOYA, JAPAN—Consumer demand for expensive rosewood furniture and musical instruments in China and elsewhere is the primary driver of an ecologically devastating trade in illegal timber, according to a report published today by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Global Witness. The report, launched at the 10th Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), shows how this ongoing trade has been facilitated by the complicity of some of Madagascar's state authorities and weak law-enforcement by the country's transitional government.