Senegal
The Senegalese government on Sunday said it will take “strong action” against excessive cutting of wood in Casamance, in the south of the country.
This follows a warning that the Casamance forest faces depletion in the next two years.
The region of Casamance in #Senegal will have no tree cover left by 2018 if illegal logging continues!
https://t.co/IB3M9zJmFm— FLARE (@FLAREglobal) May 28, 2016
In May, Senegal’s former environment minister and activist Haidar El Ali gave a disturbing account of the rapid depletion of the forest, due to illegal timber sales from Senegal to Gambia.
The country’s defence Minister Augustin Tine on Sunday said the state will act with strong measures to end (this) situation in a few days.
The government says the country has lost more than a million trees since 2010, while operators based in the Gambia pocketed over $240m by exporting the wood to China, where demand for furniture has exploded in recent years.
Agencies
05:00
COP17 in Mongolia wraps up with 1.3 billion dollars of Green Investment Pledge
01:59
Botswana’s rare slaty egret signals the health of the Okavango
02:47
Senegal mother turns grief into a fight for missing migrants
02:29
Meet the wolves brought by apartheid-era South Africa to brutalize natives
01:40
Senegal and IMF agree new $2.2 billion loan programme
01:27
Haiti mourns victims of Kenscoff gang attack as fear grips community