The Million-Dollar Trade in Trafficked ‘Blood’ Trees

The rosewood tree is one of the most trafficked species on earth. When it’s cut it bleeds a blood-red sap, thus the name “Blood Tree.”

Having exhausted stocks elsewhere, Chinese traders have turned to West Africa. This video report by BBC Africa Eye comes from Senegal where it is illegal to fell or export a Rosewood tree. And yet, they reveal the trees are been logged and smuggled at an alarming rate. From the forests of Casamance, through the port of neighboring Gambia and all the way onto China.

For a year BBC Africa Eye with Umaru Fofana has been investigating the million-dollar trade in trafficked rosewood.

Click here to watch the report.