Global Witness has uncovered evidence that shows China-linked timber company Congo King Baisheng Forestry Development (CKBFD) is responsible for illegal logging in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), exporting more than $5 million dollars' worth of illicit timber from the country to China between June and December 2022. The total of all the timber shipped during the period - over 30 million kilograms - weighs well over half the weight of the Titanic when she set sail.
Valuable and rare hardwood logs - logged illegally - flowed into the Chinese port of Zhangjiagang to the Chinese timber conglomerate, Wan Peng International. We wrote to Wan Peng with these allegations, as well as its Congolese subsidiaries, but we did not receive a reply.
Sadly, the story of CKBFD in DRC is just the tip of the iceberg. The most significant driver of illegal logging in Africa is Chinese market demand for African teak (afromorsia) and mahogany substitute species such as sapele, which places huge pressure on forests throughout the Congo Basin. We also wrote to the DRC Ministry of Environment regarding the allegations of illegal activities in this report, but did not receive a response.
China, the world's largest carbon emitter, has already embarked on a journey to decarbonise its economy and is increasingly aware of the importance of biodiversity as the host of the 2022 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP15. At COP26, China was a co-signatory of the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use - an international agreement focused on reversing deforestation.
However this report shows that despite international commitments, China seems reluctant to address deforestation outside its borders. This has global implications as China is one of the world's largest timber product suppliers. The UK, EU and the US are at various stages of passing legislation to eliminate deforestation-risk products from their supply chains. China revised its Forest Law in 2019, but no decree or legal mechanism has clarified whether the law applies to imported timber - leaving an enormous loophole for companies like Wan Peng to exploit.
Information in this report was provided to the China Customs as well as the National Forest and Grassland Administration months ahead of publication. We were informed by the Chinese authority in September 2023 that they couldn't carry out enforcement because the logging took place outside the Chinese border and violated DRC laws, but they would consider actions if the DRC authority requested them. Whilst China has a stated intention to address the flow of illegal timber into its borders and in theory seems willing to do so, in practice it seems that the lack of a clear prohibition of illegal imports is inhibiting its ability to act.
Chinese banks, along with their international peers, are also profiting from the expansion of agricultural commodity production linked to deforestation around the world. In 2021, Global Witness found that Chinese banks had earned around $554 million from lending to deforesting business between 2016 -2020.
The superpower now needs to back up its promises with clear legal prohibition and effective enforcement to end the flow of illegal timber and soft commodities linked to deforestation - as well as the financing that drives this deforestation - before crucial ecosystems in DRC and other tropical forest regions are destroyed.
The industrial logging complex
The Congo Basin's forest is often called "the second lung of the world". It is the world's second largest expanse of rainforest (after the Amazon), with 60% of the forest located within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). DRC civil society estimates that up to two million indigenous peoples live in DRC's rainforest, including the Mbuti, Baka and Batwa peoples. The forests are the habitat for rare species such as the endangered bonobo, okapi (or forest giraffe) and the eastern lowland gorilla (also known as Grauer's gorilla).
The DRC logging industry has been beset with governance issues, including corruption, illegal logging and conflict with forest communities. A 2014 study estimated that 90% of logging in DRC is illegal. A 2023 commission of various DRC ministers visited 52 logging concessions, and only recommended that 12 were operating at a legal standard sufficient to keep their logging contract.
In 2021, China was the largest importer of DRC timber products, although the official total is unlikely to be representative of the true amount of timber flowing out of the country. Since 2002, a moratorium on new logging has been in place in DRC due to the government's recognition of the corruption associated with the sector. The moratorium on new concessions means that no new concessions can legally be awarded if the land had not previously been allocated as a logging concession.
Despite this, vast swathes of forest have continued to be allocated to loggers in violation of the country's own laws. In 2018, then environment minister Amy Ambatobe awarded three concessions which totalled over 6,500 square kilometres. Despite a change of minister, the violation of the moratorium continued in full swing. Ambatobe's successor, Claude Nyamugabo, awarded another 1.37 million hectares of primary forest as logging concessions to a sole company - an amount of land almost the size of Northern Ireland. Divided into six concessions, the awarding of this land constituted a violation not only of the moratorium but also of the 2002 Forest Code, which states that no more than 500,000 hectares can be allocated to a single concession operator.
Origins of a disaster
Congo King Baisheng Forestry Development may look like a fairly new operator on the DRC logging scene, but they have deep roots in the country. Chinese businessman Lei Hua Zhang first purchased the company in 2018 when it was called Maniema Union 2, which went through several name changes - firstly Long Xin Sarlu in October 2019 - before splitting into two companies to become Congo King Baisheng Forestry Development (CKBFD) and Congo Sunflower Forestry Development in early 2020. Official documents continue to use the names Maniema Union 2, Long Xin and Congo King interchangeably when referring to the company, and Wan Peng lists CKBFD and Sunflower as part of the Wan Peng group on their website. Tellingly, signatures on behalf of the concessionaire on a government audit document for CKBFD and Sunflower appear to be the same individual. The same document claimed that the illegal awarding of concessions to CKBFD appear to have been the result of 'influence peddling' or corruption.
In a 2019 article, Global Witness first showed that the company - then Maniema Union 2 - had obtained a number of DRC forest concessions in June 2018. The company was owned by the family of a Congolese national, General Amisi, nicknamed "Tango Four". Amisi was a close political ally with the then DRC president, Joseph Kabila. General Amisi had been sanctioned by the US, EU and UK for human rights abuses. Maniema Union 2 was then sold by Amisi's family to Lei Hua Zhang weeks after it had obtained the concessions.
Lei Hua Zhang is behind an enormous Chinese timber empire through his company Wan Peng International. Zhang appears to have left China for economic opportunities in the Congo Basin in 1998 and was involved in logging operations with his brother in Cameroon and Gabon. Wan Peng International is based in Zhangjiagang, which is the the largest timber distribution centre in China. The company also operates in Angola, Guinea, Mozambique, the Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Myanmar, Indonesia, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania and is "a trans-national private-run enterprise integrating import and export of cement, log felling, panel processing, ocean shipping, and steel export." In 2017, Wan Peng purchased an 80% share of Christelle SARL, a timber company belonging to Kelly Christelle Sassou Nguesso, the daughter of Denis Sassou Nguesso - the President of neighbouring Republic of Congo.
"Like a conquered province"
From the very beginning, Zhang's Maniema Union 2 seemed to have little respect for DRC law. Independent forest monitors identified various infractions in 2019. These included making community members sign documents in Chinese they didn't understand, cutting over five times the maximum permitted volume of timber, and cutting timber outside its concession boundary.
One instance of illegal logging by Maniema Union 2 led to the company being the first ever company prosecuted under the DRC Forest Code, and the company was tried at the First Instance Court of Mbandaka.
Joseph Bolongo from the organisation GASHE - an environmental organisation that works for community rights in Equateur province - knows the company's chequered history better than anyone. He has spent years working with communities using technology to monitor the its concession in Equateur Province. He remembers:
"Since 2018, the Chinese in Equateur have behaved as if they had conquered the province. The loggers were deployed everywhere in the forest to cut timber, without respecting either forest legislation or the rights of local communities."- Joseph Bolongo, GASHE
On May 22nd 2019, the court on found the company not guilty on all counts, claiming a lack of evidence and the fact that it had paid a "transactional fine." It was noted however that the fine was actually paid before the trial took place, which led to allegations of corruption.
The trial didn't shock the company into compliance. In November 2021, the DRC mandated forest monitoring unit visited CKBFD operated 004/20 concession with representatives of the forest ministry inspection, and found clear violations of local laws and standards. "COKIBAFODE [sic] systematically exploits the forest in violation of rules and standards mandated in the sector, namely due to an absence of all operating documents, the lack of a traceability system for felled wood and the no evidence of existing logging concession boundaries". Other issues identified included terrible living conditions for workers and a lack of protective equipment for loggers. In other words, even the most basic elements of "sustainable forest management" had been completely ignored by the company.
April 2022 suspension
In April 2022, the Inspectorate General for Finances published a long-awaited report on the DRC logging industry. It stated clearly that Maniema Union 2 and multiple other companies had been allocated concessions in violation of the moratorium and were therefore illegal. In fact, the report went further and showed that Maniema Union 2 and its offshoots CKBFD and Sunflower - as well as six other logging companies - also violated Article 92 of the forest code, that dictates that no single operator may be allocated more than 500,000 ha in forest concessions. Additionally, the report stated that Maniema Union 2, Sunflower and CKBFD had failed to pay over $3 million worth of taxes and other fees. The report concluded that the state had not applied the 2002 Forest Code for 18 years - it's entire history.
As a consequence, and facing international pressure, the state suspended the five concession agreements that it had awarded to CKBFD in the same month.
Despite being implicated in heinous rights abuses and violence, CKBFD's sister company, Sunflower, was not suspended. In 2021, troops deployed on the request of Sunflower arrived in a village close to the concession to retrieve a chainsaw, shooting two people at close range and detaining two others. The wounded individuals required surgery, with one needing to have a leg amputated. Two more individuals from the village were held in custody for three months before being released due to a lack of evidence.
Just to confuse matters more, it appears that the environment minister Eve Bazaiba completely contradicted her own decree just two weeks later by awarding two extensions to CKBFD's cutting permits in concessions 008/20 and 002/20.
The logging continues
Despite all five concessions awarded to CKBFD being suspended in April 2022, new evidence collected by Global Witness shows that logging continued in at least two of the suspended concessions held by the company without continued cutting permits, defying the law.
The photos below are satellite images of a section of concession 001/20 first in April 2022 (when the suspension entered in force), up to March 2023. It clearly shows the expansion of a logging road during the period of suspension. To the best of our knowledge, there was no legal ambiguity surrounding concession 001/20, as there is no public information available that suggests that the company had been awarded an extension of its cutting licence. According to a local source, CKBFD is also responsible for continued logging in 008/20, despite the legal concerns with such activity.
Global Witness assesses that it is likely that CKBFD are responsible for this continued logging rather than another party, due to the need for heavy machinery to establish logging roads in such dense forest.
Loggers were also continuing to work in concession 003/20. The video below covers April - December 2022. Again, a clear expansion of the logging road can be seen.
In addition to likely logging illegally in concessions that were suspended, the company was not operating legally within concessions 008/20 and 004/20, which were awarded renewed cutting permits by the environment ministry. APEM, a Kinshasa based advocacy organisation, noted the company's behaviour in concessions 004/20 and 008/20:
"Many things have been observed at the field level, in particular the cutting of wood which goes beyond the yearly cutting limit [assiette annuelle de coupe]. This activity went beyond the permitted boundary. The company has even been logging species that are not mentioned in their operating permit. There are also all the social issues related to workers. For example, the absence of employment contracts and living arrangements.."- APEM
In the last few years, the DRC government has attempted on multiple occasions to lift the logging moratorium, most recently in 2021. This case should provide further evidence that the country has yet to confront the challenges that led to the moratorium being put in place.
The China Connection: how to make over $5 million in six months
After their suspension, CKBFD continued to export vast quantities of logs to China. Data seen from Global Witness confirms that the company shipped through Xinxingwang Co. Ltd from at least June to December 2022. Shipments are delivered to an address shared by both Xinxingwang Co. Ltd and Wan Peng International. This is the Chinese company owned by timber magnate Lei Hua Zhang, whose company purchased Maniema Union 2 from General Amisi's family in 2018. Xinxingwang Co. Ltd appears to exclusively ship timber from DRC to China on behalf of CKBFD and Sunflower to the Wan Peng address.
According to Orbis data, Wan Peng had $32.5 million of revenue in 2018, the most recent year data were available. Its subsidiary, Wan Peng Wood, has been profiting from African timber; according to the limited information available, its revenue was increasing rapidly year on year - from $8 million in 2013 to $45 million in 2017. Unfortunately, no data is available past 2018.
Wan Peng lists CKBFD and Sunflower on their website as companies belonging to the Wan Peng group, despite allegedly attempting to avoid scrutiny by changing names.
Global Witness was able to view customs data from June to December 2022 - more than two months after CKBFD's concessions were suspended. During this time, CKBFD exported over $5 million worth of timber to Wan Peng.
Global Witness tracked the movements of the ships used by Wan Peng International and found that timber shipments from DRC to China are ongoing in 2023. Wan Peng's current listed fleet of three ships - the aptly named Prosperity 101, 102 and 103 - have also called at the same location - Banana Inner Anchorage - in the last few years. Wan Peng's latest ship from DRC arrived in Zhangjiagang in March 2023, almost a year since the suspension of CKBFD's concessions in DRC.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
The county-level city of Zhangjiagang is a tributary on the Yangtze river, and is the site of a special economic free-trade zone. The Wan Peng depot appears to be right next to the Chinese customs control point.
Global Witness' evidence suggests that illegal timber continues to flow into China, with no consequence for those who are destroying Africa's climate -critical forests. All allegations concerning Wan Peng and its illegal activities in DRC were put to the company (including its subsidiaries CKBFD and Sunflower), but we received no reply. We provided evidence of the company's activities to the head of DRC's environment ministry, but also did not receive a response.
Finally, evidence in this report was provided to China Customs, the agency that enforces against illegal imports, and the National Administration of Grassland and Forest.
The Chinese authority informed us that because the logging had taken place in DRC and violated local laws, the DRC authority was responsible for enforcement. The Chinese authority can investigate, according to China's Criminal Law, evidence of Chinese companies and Chinese citizens being involved in illegal logging or illegal trade overseas, at the request of the DRC counterparts. The Chinese authority also gave us examples of how they had supported other countries on combating wildlife crime.
But a key question remains - Will China support countries with climate-critical forests by addressing the flow of illegal timber into its borders?
China seems to have an intention to do so. The country agreed to engage with the USand Brazilin recent joint statements, in support of eliminating global illegal deforestation through effectively enforcing laws on banning illegal imports.
But not having a clear legal prohibition holds China back on meaningful enforcement against illegal timber flows. China's 2019 Forest Law, states that 'no organization or individual may purchase, process, and transport woods in full awareness of their illegal origins'. This could have provided a legal basis for enforcement on this case because our evidence suggests Wan Peng knew they were operating illegally. However, the Forest Law appeared not to be sufficient for China to act on illegal timber imports.
China must clarify if it has a clear prohibition on the importing of illegal wood, the law by which this is applicable and the authority responsible for enforcing it. It must then then ensure enforcement - the consequence of not doing so has been laid clear in this report. The companies are destroying the second lung of the world, in contravention of DRC laws, all at the expense of the planet and China's international reputation.
Most major economies such as the G7 countries have clear legal prohibition against illegal timber imports. China's oversight on this significantly undermines China's growing climate ambition and commitments. As the world is measurably edging closer to the 1.5°C limit in temperature rise, urgent action is needed to protect our climate-critical forests. Eliminating emissions from deforestation combined with re-growing and restoring forests could reduce global net emissions by up to 30%, according to the U.N. Environment Programme.
Global Witness would like to thank the Congolese NGO ACDD for their invaluable work on the ground. Without ACDD's work, this report would not have been possible.
Beibei Yin, China Policy and Advocacy Senior Advisor
Charlie Hammans, Investigator - Forests
