Natural Resources in Africa - Forestry in Africa, Mining in Africa, Illegal Logging in Madagascar, Mineral Industry of Africa (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 27. Chapters: Forestry in Africa, Mining in Africa, Illegal logging in Madagascar, Mineral industry of Africa, Iron ore in Africa, Forestry in Ghana, Forestry in Ethiopia, Uranium in Africa, Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration, Forestry in Uganda, Copper in Africa, Natural resources of Africa, Titanium in Africa, Mining in Gabon, Aluminium in Africa, Galamsey, Forestry in Gabon, TIST Reforestation Project, Platinum in Africa, Forestry in Chad, Forestry in Angola. Excerpt: Illegal logging in Madagascar has been a problem for decades and is perpetuated by extreme poverty and government corruption. Often taking the form of selective logging, the trade has been driven by high international demand for expensive, fine-grained lumber such as rosewood and ebony. Historically, logging and exporting in Madagascar have been regulated by the Malagasy government, although the logging of rare hardwoods was explicitly banned from protected areas in 2000. Since then, government orders and memos have intermittently alternated between permitting and banning exports of precious woods. The most commonly cited reason for permitting exports is to salvage valuable wood from cyclone damage, although this reasoning has come under heavy scrutiny. This oscillating availability of Malagasy rosewood and other precious woods has created a market of rising and falling prices, allowing traders or "timber barons" to stockpile illegally sourced logs during periodic bans and then flood the market when the trade windows open and prices are high. The unsustainable exploitation of these tropical hardwoods, particularly rosewood from the SAVA Region, has escalated significantly since the start of the 2009 Malagasy political crisis. Thousands of poorly paid Malagasy loggers have flooded into the national parks-especially in the northeast-building roads, setting up logg...