{"id":54506,"date":"2020-05-12T17:14:51","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T14:14:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africaglobalnews.com\/?p=54506"},"modified":"2020-05-12T17:14:51","modified_gmt":"2020-05-12T14:14:51","slug":"desecration-of-priceless-forests-in-sierra-leone-halted-by-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africaglobalnews.com\/website_b1ce9d46\/desecration-of-priceless-forests-in-sierra-leone-halted-by-coronavirus\/","title":{"rendered":"Desecration of priceless forests in Sierra Leone halted by coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Lisa Vives<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crashing economies in Asia have been a blessing \u2013 if temporary – to the endangered forests of Sierra Leone \u2013 particularly the tall stands of redwood trees, prized for their beauty, their rich mahogany color and their high quality for furniture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The illegal trade in the wood is one of the world\u2019s most lucrative businesses, and affects much of Southeast Asia and parts of Africa and South America. When demand started to increase in West Africa around 2010, exports went from basically zero to hundreds of millions of dollars in just a few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last decade, about US$9 billion in rosewood was imported into China, and this accounts only for wood officially listed as rosewood, which excludes many species sold as \u2018rosewood\u2019 but not recorded as such.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now the contraction in the Chinese economy has paused the illegal logging in the Outamba-Kilimi national park – more than 1,100 square km of park protected by 27 unarmed rangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo Chinese men are coming here anymore, and they\u2019re the only people to come here and help us by buying what we cut,\u201d said Ishmael Sessay, who has been harvesting timber from Sierra Leone\u2019s oldest park since last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Logging for domestic use is allowed, but the government of Sierra Leone says logging in the park goes far beyond what is needed to satisfy home demand, and it does not have the resources to stop it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel pain in my heart when I see this forest cut,\u201d said Musa Kamara, who worked as a ranger in the park from 1981 to 2018 in Sierra Leone<\/a>. \u201cThis sickness is the only thing keeping them away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a related development, Nigeria is facing life without oil revenue as oil prices, now around $20 a barrel, have already skidded to the zero point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dGlobal efforts to fight the spread of coronavirus have driven oil prices to low that they no longer cover the cost of pumping barrels\u2026 let alone providing the government with crucial cash,\u201d wrote Bloomberg news wire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nigerian environmentalists should cheer this development. Their slogan has been \u201cKeep the oil in the soil, keep the coal in the hole.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Africa Global News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lisa Vives The crashing economies in Asia have been a blessing \u2013 if temporary – to the endangered forests of Sierra Leone \u2013 particularly the tall stands of redwood trees, prized for their beauty, their rich mahogany color and their high quality for furniture. 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