News about the world: China's rich fuel illegal timber

Madagascan loggers (T Smith/Global Witness/EIA

Three species - ebony, rosewood and pallisander - are at the heart of illegal trade

Soaring demand in China and political unrest in Madagascar are fuelling illegal logging for hardwoods in the African nation, a report concludes.

Global Witness and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) talked to loggers, government agencies and traders to compile their report.

In China, they found Madagascan wood beds on sale for $1m (£630,000).

The report was launched at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Nagoya, Japan.

Madagascan politics is split between factions associated with ex-President Marc Ravalomana and the rival who ousted him in a 2009 coup, Andry Rajoelina.

Conservation groups have previously warned that illegal extraction of timber and wildlife could flourish in this milieu, but the EIA/Global Witness is the first investigation to show the scale of the problem.

"The pre-existing problem of illegal logging was turned into a flood of tree-cutting in national parks, and a flood of wood out of Madagascar to China and the West," said Alexander von Bismarck, EIA's executive director.

Felling the three species concerned - ebony, rosewood and pallisander - is forbidden, but the government has issued permits cheaply for traders to export stockpiles, which led to further logging.

The two organisations were asked by Madagascar's national parks service to conduct the investigation.

This enabled them to access records in government departments, such as cargo manifests and trade data.

But most of the details emerged through contact with the loggers and traders, who appeared - in written accounts and in video produced during the investigations - not to have been at all concerned with keeping their activities under wraps.

Instead they were keen to take the investigators, posing as buyers, into the heart of the logging zone.

Madagascan logger (T Smith/Global Witness/EIA

An estimated 98% of illegal wood ends up in China

"Within one day we had the staff of the top boss in [the town of] Antalaha saying 'we'll take you into the National Park and show you where we cut wood for this German buyer'," Mr von Bismarck recounted.

The result was a four-day trek into Masoala National Park, a Unesco World Heritage Site - one where the logging is seen to have been so serious that it was recently placed on the World Heritage In Danger list.

EIA and Global Witness also went undercover in China and other countries, discussing with people in the furniture trade where the wood came from and how much it was worth.

In China - destination for an estimated 98% of the wood - its prime use is as reproduction furniture that can fetch extraordinary prices - such as the $1m bed.

Speaking to BBC News at the CBD meeting here, Madagascar's director-general of forests, Julien Noel Rakotoarisoa, acknowledged the report broadly gave a "pretty accurate account" of the situation as it was.

But, he said, things were changing.

The last export permit was issued a year ago, and no more would be forthcoming.

A few months ago, he said, a consignment of 300 tonnes of rosewood that had left Madagascar without going through customs was intercepted in the Comoros Islands nearby - a sign that illegal exports would be tackled.

And the government is asking for the three woods to be placed on Appendix Three of the Convention on Interntional Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which would require importing countries to obtain certificates tracking the wood from its point of origin - which could not be issued in Madagascar, as harvesting them is illegal there.

Guide to biodiversity

Biodiversity is the term used to describe the incredible variety of life that has evolved on our planet over billions of years. So far 1.75m present day species have been recorded, but there maybe as many as 13m in total.

The term "biodiversity" refers to diversity of ecosystems, species and genes. In wetlands, for example, you might find different types of fish, frogs, crabs and snails; and within each species, differences in the genes which determine disease resistance, diet and body size. Research shows that ecosytems containing more variety are more productive and more robust.

Biodiversity loss affects most of the major branches of life on Earth. Amphibians and corals are among some of the most threatened. Rising human populations, habitat loss, invasive species and climate change all take their toll.

Around half of the planet's natural environments had been converted for human use by 1990. The IUCN projects that a further 10-20% of grass and forest land could be converted by 2050.

Deforestation represents one of the most serious threats to biodiversity. The map shows the extent of the planet's remaining frontier forests - which exist in a state untouched by human interference - and the original extent of forest cover.

The rising population and economic growth mean that natural resources are used at less and less sustainable rates. WWF calculates that by 2050, humanity's resource use would need two-and-a-half Earths to be sustainable.