[Music]
and now we are being chased
look and they are calling other people
ahead we have to be very
fast check when you have reception
please we might have to call police I'm
with some environmental activists
somewhere in the Romanian Forest we're
being followed by angry loggers please
tell me this is not the roadblock
how do I lock the doors of this
[Music]
car another new piece of furniture made
of wood and it was pretty
inexpensive I have quite a lot of wood
in my apartment and I've never given
much thought to where it comes
from
Furnishings made of wood at a good price
we're not told where the wood comes from
just where the item was
made as consumers we usually don't think
about where our wood comes from wood is
supposed to be eco-friendly after all
but the headlines tell a very different
story illegal logging and violence are
escalating wood thieves are killing
Foresters
[Music]
my hunt for the timber Mafia begins in
Romania this morning raids on companies
are taking place across the country
targeting firms suspected of involvement
in the illegal Timber trade it's a
business that's worth billions the
police had given me permission to
accompany the raid but then revoked it
even though we badly need more
transparency when it comes to the timber
[Music]
industry the Carpathian Mountains are
home to one of Europe's last and largest
primeval forests but many parts of it
look like this it's been estimated that
half of all logging in Romania is
illegal and Germany is one of the
biggest
buyers wood consumption is booming and
forests are shrinking across the
globe it's fine not far from the
Ukrainian border I meet some
activists the perfect sound of the
morning the men are members of the
Romanian organization agent green they
receive tip offs from the police about
areas that bear the signs of of illegal
logging
here in this area where the law
enforcement is waiting for us there's a
very high suspicion of massive illegal
logging we're lucky we are quite a bunch
today and there is a lot of law
enforcement around but this area has a
history of violence Gabriel Pon founded
agent green he spent years fighting the
timber Mafia the global Network that
includes loggers Traders and corrupt
officials the activists believe that
loggers might have reused a single
permit over and over logging far more
trees than they were permitted to but
the local authorities don't see eye to
eye with the
activists you're definitely mistaken the
law says the standard practice might be
clear but sometimes there are gaps in
the laws gray
zones for me as a police officer it's
very
clear if the trees are still here where
does all this timber in The Sawmill come
from and why is there so much traffic on
this
road that's what our task force is
checking what was cut down and what
wasn't so we know what's
what
Well we'd like to take a look at the
place your people are checking out so
let's go I'll put on my
boots the activists aren't quite buying
the story corruption is widespread in
Romania and the timber Mafia exploits
that they bribe public officials
politicians and police officers after
the raid one police officer who had
taken part in the investigation was
arrested accused of taking €300,000 in
bribes from a timber
dealer the activists survey the forest
from above the Drone pilot doesn't want
to show his face out of concern for his
safety okay we're at the bottom of the
river here you can't see anything wrong
with the forest on this side but if you
just just go above our line by like 100
m or less you can start seeing the big
logging at the top and it goes around
it's not easy to get here if it's this
hard to document how much Timber is
being logged here and we're not even in
the remotest forest of Romania yet just
imagine how complicated this would be in
other
locations
next to the trees which are being marked
for uh cutting there is other trees that
have been cut already uh about 3 months
ago that's the how the science looks
like but they are not in any single
paper so they are missing and being cut
illegally and there is no Mark around
them environment is monitoring illegal
logging can be dangerous as Gabrielle
pone knows all too
well were plenty of life-threatening
events I was beaten almost to death and
actually there was a one time when they
really thought they they kill me because
I was not moving anymore by chance I
survived but my body is carrying deep
wounds and I basically no longer have a
a bone in my body which was not
broken that attack happened in
2015 pone and his team from agent green
were investigating legal logging in a
nature reserve when they were attacked
by a group of men sh sh oh my God oh my
God oh my
God pone was wearing a body
camera at least six Foresters have been
killed in Romania over the last 10
years the government and law enforcement
are supposed to protect Romania's
natural resources instead people like
Gabriel pone risk their lives to save
the old growth
forests Romania joined the European
Union in 2007 in 2020 the EU put Romania
on notice for failing to protect its
forests but as of September 2023 the EU
hasn't taken legal
action the the next day we head out to
another location on the way we pass
piles of logged birch trees trees this
size are at least 100 years
old and they're essential to the local
ecosystem and old trees also store more
[Music]
carbon this Forest is managed by R Silva
but the state forest Administration has
been dogged by accusations of corruption
one employee told me that his boss
threatened him for refusing
bribes today the police aren't
accompanying us so whenever we stop we
don't leave the cars before turning the
cars around okay I have to to walk to
toky if I want I want to go by myself we
stay together we stay
together let's see where they
are
so it's very
close look at what huge trees they had
here this is a beautiful mix Forest at
the forest it's really nice it's a
really nice
forest look how they're dragging the
trees through the it's a harvester
yeah they're pulling all the vegetation
yeah including the the new generation of
trees you're not supposed to do
industrial operations like this you're
supposed to cut one piece at a time not
drag everything together destroying all
the all the Regeneration the soil that's
beyond illegal logging it's not that
it's allowed or not allowed to cut it's
there working like they hate the forest
this is a Devastation this is full
destruction of the entire
habitat we head their way the activists
want to gather evidence and confront the
loggers right hello we were sent here by
Bucharest because of the raid the
authorization for this area has expired
I saw that it listed the date of
December 31st so there's a
discrepancy that's not our problem maybe
there's an error in the system or
something like that but we are 100% in
the
clear Timber has become such a big deal
it's under even more scrutiny than
drugs we can hardly do our jobs
anymore
you've destroyed everything here
everything why are you doing
this I didn't destroy anything this is
look at this tree you cut it down even
though it's more than 200 years old
you're not supposed to be here in the
first
place then the loggers realize the man
they're talking to isn't here on
official business he mentioned my
name they've realized ized he's the
environmental activist Gabriel
pone please go in it's very dangerous he
mentioned my name we're I can't
believe this there is a bounty
price on my head if they catch me they
kill
me whoever gets my head gets a lot of
money and now we are being chased
look
and they are calling other people ahead
we have to be very
fast H is more worried than I've ever
seen him and his fear is contagious not
yet please tell me this is not the
roadblock
how do I lock the doors of
this
car what's the name of this
place
I start to look for anything in the car
that we could use to defend ourselves
we're in luck it's a parked logging
truck not a blockade moving out of the
way and we're not the only ones who
don't have reception the loggers don't
either so they can't call for
reinforcements we manag to
escape the global demand for wood is
huge we use it in construction for
heating Furniture even toilet paper in
the cardboard boxes used in online
shopping there's even wood in clothing
and tires and deforestation is a major
contributor to carbon
emissions yet in a 2021 EU report
researchers were unable to identify the
source of20 million metric tons of wood
used in a single
year so is this the unidentifiable wood
ending up in our own homes to find out
more I pay a visit to johanes tanan
who's been wood detective for WWF
Germany for 20 years
now inter according to interpole 15 to
30% of wood sold globally was logged
illegally that's a
lot and in tropical forests according to
interpo it's 60 to 90% so the moment I
purchase a product where the wood comes
from a highrisk country it's highly
likely that this product stems from some
sort of illegal
activity
there are labels that certify
sustainable sourcing like the one issued
by the forest Stewardship Council and EU
regulations ban the sale of illegal
Timber and wood in Europe in
theory that regulation does exist but
it's not implemented well certificates
exist but they are often meaningless in
highrisk countries so illegal wood
continues to play a role including on
the German Market the eu's 2013 Timber
regulation was ridden with loopholes for
example it applied to tables but not
chairs a new deforestation law aims to
close such
gaps products made of illegal Timber are
sold at a lower price you can run across
those product when you buy furniture
from a retailer at a rock bottom
price so going online to look at a
Furniture vendor like mble hner what
about
that sh this is well take a look that
chair has solid wooden legs and it's
upholstered it costs
€149 I'd say that's a low price for a
chair like that it's fairly fancy it's
halfway to being an
armchair a wooden bench costs €40 a
table made of solid oak
€129 that's nothing
unusual for johanes tanan it's not proof
that the wood was illegally sourced but
it is worth a closer look
Ikea lenur 17 minutes
away we decide to check out some local
retailers this is a big part of the wood
detective's
work strangely enough every time the WWF
does a market analysis we find
suspicious
products why aren't the authorities
finding them doing those
tests they failed to create more
transparency so the industry has
achieved its
aims but the impact of the illegal
lumber trade and the destruction of
forests is
terrible it's driving climate change and
the loss of
biodiversity why is illegal Timber
treated like a minor
offense why aren't there more
inspections more rigorous controls and
much High penalties which would have a
deterrent effect this is still not
happening Ikea is the world's largest
Furniture retailer and it consumes more
than half a percent of the global Timber
Harvest we're here to take a look at a
few of the items that seemed
suspiciously cheap on their
website this shelf is very cheap so we
can assume it comes from a country where
labor costs are
low those tend to the same countries
that have issues with corruption and
with a lot of illegal
logging that's the case in Eastern
Europe and in
Russia so it would be interesting to
know exactly where this wood comes
from mhm Ikea is full of inexpensive
Furnishings made of solid wood research
carried out by Al jazer and the
earthside organization in 2020 and 2021
found links between Ikea products and
illegal Timber Ikea denied the
accusations but zanin says no furniture
retailer can guarantee it's completely
free of illegally logged wood are we
going to do any filming in there
no we don't want to call attention to
ourselves inside johanes on and crawls
under tables turns chairs upside down
and takes 3 hours worth of
notes know this is
ke is Pine made in
China the tree rings here are very thin
so this tree probably grew in a very
cold
environment that slows growth and gives
you wood that looks like
this so This Pine might have come from
Russia being processed in China and
exported to
Europe that's my
guess Russian Timber is regarded as
highrisk and its import was banned after
Russia invaded Ukraine
after a few more purchases at another
retailer we return to tanen's office
we're going to send wood samples to a
lab to trace its
[Music]
Origins is any of this wood the product
of illegal
logging while we wait for the lab
results I head to France where interpole
is headquartered I have a meeting with
Sasa Brown who's an environmental crime
investigator for the
agency what are we
having I tell zasa Brown that it seems
like most people don't care about
illegal
logging yeah this this that's also been
my
experience a lot of the political
discussions I've witnessed completely
missed the point but the problem is
growing more and more urgent more and
more massive and
worrisome it's a topic that should be at
the top of our
list interpole cooperates with countries
around the world but the problem is
huge Brown says that interpole estimates
the illegal Timber industry is worth up
to $152 billion a
year environmental crime is the third
third largest crime in the world it's
right behind illegal drug trafficking
and counterfeiting
crimes and the overall context is also
important environmental crime goes hand
in hand with the worst kinds of
organized crime things like human
trafficking the drug trade the weapons
trade it even plays an important role in
terrorism why terroris
because terrorist groups for example Al
shabab are financed by the ruthless
plundering of Natural Resources illegal
logging and illegal charcoal
production that charcoal is also
imported into the EU we grill our
sausages on it and have no idea where it
actually comes
from it's a lot like an Investment
Portfolio Brown explains criminal
organizations invest in a iety of
Industries including illegal
Timber it's a natural resource that
right now is just as important as gold
it's the kind of thing that organized
crime loves huge profits with very low
penalties Soo they're not a deterrent as
a result the problem is growing
massively illegal logging is
increasing it's
rampant I show him some photos I took
during my
investigation let me make this
bigger this is a forest in
Romania criminal organizations like
places like this protected isolated
regions where there's little oversight
where they can just ransack an area and
sell the timber illegally at a high
price and violence plays a big
role Romania is not alone many other
countries also have the same
problem southeast Asia and especially
the Mong Delta is also a huge hotspot
for illegal logging in tropical
forests tropical wood is highly sought
after and demand keeps Rising even as
prices keep
rising in Cambodia nature is also being
plundered over the past 20 years more
than a quarter of of the country's
forests have vanished about 90% of that
due to Illegal
[Music]
logging makos hodka came here from
Germany some 30 years ago the
environmental activist has tried to
counter cambodia's powerful Timber Mafia
which is said to have ties to the
highest Circles of government rather
than meeting in a public place he's come
to my
hotel have an illegal logging operation
run by gangsters that pays a regular
wage to the park director he'll give
some of that to his subordinates and a
large chunk to his bosses in the
ministry the Rangers work as guards for
the Logging Company in the protected
forests it's totally
illegal a classic Mafia style
operation Mafia business openly
criticizing corruption in Cambodia is
dangerous an activist friend of makos
hkas criticized the military for their
involvement he was then shot and killed
by a military police
officer local activists are basically
risking their lives to expose these
dirty
deals given that you'd think that the EU
bureaucrats would at least bother to
properly enforce their own trade
agreements as long as there are buyers
as long as there's a market we're just
tilting against windmills
[Music]
here this map shows how much forested
land Cambodia has lost over the past two
decades I'm hoping to talk to
environmental organizations and
activists about this but no one wants to
speak on
camera
finally I get a lead and head to the pre
Long
Forest large areas of the lowland
rainforest were declared a protected
area in 2016 but the trees are still
Vanishing at an astonishing
rate I join a group of men who regularly
Patrol the area in hopes of stopping the
loggers who are devastating the forest
near their
Village
it's 6:30 in the
morning I just got up and don't really
know where I am somewhere in the middle
of the
forest all through the night I kept
hearing the sound of chainsaws taking
down trees it wasn't all that far from
here Time For A hurried breakfast before
we set
out
we're not actually supposed to be here
the authorities have forbidden it the
men tell me and some have already
received visits from the
police the trade in Timber is a money
spinner and the people involved in it
won't give that up easily even if this
is a protected
area
Kem sooki is one of the group's
unofficial
leaders he and out latine document the
traces the loggers leave behind they
share their evidence with researchers
and posted on social media how old is
the
tree
100 the timber company sells the wood in
Vietnam and other countri
go to the
Europe under Cambodian law Timber
exports are highly regulated but the
Smugglers pay that little heed once in
Vietnam officials issue new
documentation and the timber appears
legal on paper at least in the meantime
the EU and Vietnam have signed trade
agreements it's likely that Vietnam will
soon be able to certify the legality of
its wood and the furniture exports made
of it and that in turn would eliminate
checks in the EU what was the name
what's the name of the tree again this
tree name click yeah
cck okay then we'll see if we can find
traces of this type of tree back in
Europe but for now our search for
loggers continues we spent the entire
morning making our way through the
Nature Reserve it's hot and Dusty
[Applause]
[Music]
work
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
there have been some violent Encounters
in the past so the patrol takes a
friendly approach you know it's illegal
to cut down these trees yes
I then why are you doing
it there's no work in my Village
the two loggers do the dirty work but
earn very little for it the big money
ends up elsewhere which is the reality
of the illegal Timber trade both nature
and people are exploited so I can't come
here anymore exactly this is just a
warning if the authorities come they'll
put you in
handcuffs we only take your chainsaws
and tell you to go
home
they take apart the chainsaws to put a
stop to the illegal logging if only for
the
[Applause]
moment soon we run across another group
of
vloggers this time it's a father and his
sons the father says he only found young
trees all the big ones have been felled
their chainsaws are also
confiscated the sound of chainsaws is
coming from every direction from the
left and the
[Music]
[Applause]
right and over there are some more
loggers loading up the
goods
they're about to take apart the
chainsaws when some men
arrive security
out okay they're from the lumber company
suddenly the mood is
tense why did you come all this
[Applause]
way I don't know what to tell you you
know it exactly where we
[Applause]
are we have a problem
here you tell me if we do then so be it
if you want that then you'll be at fault
if we can't agree there'll be serious
problems now we have to hurry again and
leave the
forest the security guys could call for
reinforcements we don't have cell
reception here and we're
alone
the men had planned to spend another day
in the forest instead they decide it's
time to leave it's too
dangerous we wait until after Sunset and
then head out away from the forest a
forest whose days might well be
[Music]
numbered back in Germany the lab results
from the wood items we bought aren't
here yet so I set out to find out more
about the wood from Cambodia here at the
tunin Institute of wood research in
Hamburg deputy director gahard K is in
charge of wood
identification this is the scientific
collection we have about 35,000 wood
samples here all of them documented
these here are solid tropical woods and
here's an old piece labeled he Institute
for foreign and Colonial
forestry The Institute examines wood
from all over the world wood dealers and
government agencies like the Customs
Authority come here to find out where a
particular shipment of wood comes
from on this tree we have the samples
you sent
us it's the wood I brought back from the
Nature Reserve in Cambodia the samples
are first boiled until they soften some
for several days then they're sliced
extremely
thinly I'm putting it under the
microscope you can follow along live on
the monitor so looking inside the cells
these lines are very unusual they're in
single rows and there's something else
unusual in these storage cells extending
down right here you can see these
granular structures they're crystals
look they're starting to Glow they act
like a prism that disperses light you
can see that here absolutely lovely and
unique so that already serves as a clue
there are only a few species of tree
which belong to the genus terminalia
that have crystals like this this is a
bull Geral K believes it's a tree known
on the market as Indian Laurel to
confirm that he enters its attributes
into a
database you can already see there are
certain similarities from under our
microscope and in our reference database
there are these large pores with storage
cells around them and also these Lions
so it's conclusive it's a valuable
Indian
Laurel along with Cambodia Indian Laurel
also grows in other Southeast Asian
countries and India over the past few
years Geral K has seen more of it on the
European and German
Market beginning in 2017 we started
seeing more of it on the market as a
ready-made product for musical
instruments color and texture wise it
resembles Rosewood and Indian Laurel
isn't a protected species so it can be
used without any difficulties or pre
conditions where do you see it on
musical
instruments things like fingerboards the
same range of things you'd see with
Rosewood it's a lovely
wood we check out the website of a
musical instrument retailer Indian
Laurel there are
235 hit CS those are e instruments we'll
see this kind of wood quite often on
fingerboards there's a lot of them and
not from unknowns Fender Squire epone
all major
manufacturers it's a global
Trend gal K adding trees to the list of
protected species can help put the
breakes on the illegal Timber trade but
often the industry just switches to
other species like Indian Laurel and
even legally logged wood can become a
problem when it's logged to the point of
near Extinction I want to find out more
but from the major Timber companies only
h HS Timber from Austria is willing to
speak with me the company has several
production sites in Romania after a
number of scandals HS Timber now touts
its sustainability credentials and its
system that's intended to identify
illegal Timber this is exactly why HS
Timber group has created Tim flow a very
efficient tool in ensuring a sustainable
supply chain in the timber industry Mel
posek hman is the company's
sustainability officer can you say with
100% certainty that your company never
has any illegal
wood we can never see anything with 100%
certainty I can't say with 100%
certainty that we'll never have a
workplace accident or any other legal
liabilities every safety system tries to
ensure a high level of safety if you
want a percentage though I'd say I'm
99.9%
certain that's very
good
but is 99.9% certainty even possible in
Romania
Roman Romania is part of the European
Union which is well regulated in
comparison to other places in the world
the basic structures in Romania are
functioning and the system is based on
the rule of
law well the rules will only get you so
far if you can just pay a small fee for
a counterfeit document or if you can get
an official or a police officer to look
the other way for a bit of cash and get
them to do that might not be strictly
legal that's just speculation sorry it's
speculation but it's also
reality we don't defend things like that
the fact is that we only want to deal
with wood that's been logged
legally about half of Romanian Timber is
logged illegally poek hman sees it like
this the issue isn't deforestation
destroying the forest this isn't about
clear cutting Europe's old growth
forests it's about Lumber
theft but when you look at the trees
Vanishing in the carpathians isn't that
exactly what is happening forests are
being
clearcut you won't find any major clear
cutting in Romania over the past 10
years that was truly an example of clear
cutting the clear cutting supposed clear
cutting that was done there I'm pretty
sure this is correct was 100% in areas
affected by
wind windthrow refers to trees that were
uprooted by wind in Romania Gabriel Pon
also told me that loggers uproot trees
by using steel cables and
vehicles so what is illegal what's
unethical and what's simply an
allegation there aren't many clear
answers to be found and Clarity is in
deliberately short Supply it's an
industry worth billions and consumers
want their affordable Wood
furnishings the results from our wood
samples have arrived we sent in samples
from six products the lab didn't find
any indications of illegal wood but it
did find three discrepancies the Ikea
handle was supposedly made of Birchwood
the lab identified it as puspa a wood
from Asia Ikea offered only a tur
reply if an error has been made we will
correct it immedi mediately after
another inquiry from us Ikea wrote We
will check your results carefully in
consultation with the
supplier in in its sustainability report
Ikea wrote by showing where the wood in
our products comes from we want to set a
good example and increase transparency
that's a bit strange because I've asked
Ikea several times where its wood comes
from and I never got a direct answer
stating the name of a country where the
wood came from instead they replied we
always ensure that we observe all
relevant rules and regulations in the
areas in which we
operate we also sent this Ikea coat hook
in for testing the result was the wood
comes from Siberia an area that is at
high risk for illegal
logging now Ikea finally responded with
more specific information about its
Origins the wood they said came from the
Utz region of Siberia and was logged
before the total ban on Russian wood
Imports a wooden sofa leg was also
flagged Ikea says the wood came from
Romania but the lab said that was
unlikely the wood Market needs to become
more transparent about sourcing and more
controls need to be in place in Germany
the federal Agency for food and
agriculture or ble is responsible for
wood Imports in their reply to our
inquiry they said they take random
samples and use a risk-based approach
last year they conducted 217 analyses
not particularly stringent given that 27
7,000 companies import wood to
Germany the BL is part of the ministry
of food and agriculture its head chemia
from the green party didn't have time
for an
interview
come I'm meeting parliamentary state
Secretary Claudia Müller who's also from
the green
party so why isn't there more oversight
on this
issue
we have to do this within the scope of
our Staffing Resources there are
inspections and random sampling or spot
checks I wouldn't say that we do less
than others
do the question is is that
enough do we have the resources to do
more I'd say we could always do more our
research departments our Fisheries
Authority the Customs divisions they'd
all like to do more the
police everyone wishes for all sorts of
things
illegal Timber is a market worth
billions but the BL has only 23 staff
members to monitor the industry the
agency tells me they've never found
illegally harvested
Timber we know certificates get forged
and checking them isn't easy for us and
our inspection authorities including
Customs say we get a certificate from
Cambodia what do you do with that
it's authentic but
unverifiable maybe you lack the language
skills or maybe you simply can't check
if it's actually official or
legal why don't we have stricter
regulations why do our laws and
regulations have
loopholes in politics everyone wants to
do more but in Europe everyone gets a
say and everyone has different interests
at stake the BL says the average penalty
for for a violation is €1,800
many say penalties for violating the
wood trade regulations and import
violations are too
low we could certainly imagine taking a
stricter approach
definitely but again it would have to be
negotiated with our European
Partners partment the European Union
Timber regulation States the member
states shall lay down The rules on
penalties applicable to infringements of
this regulation so Germany could impose
stricter
penalties in the end you're left
thinking will anything happen I
sometimes find it very frustrating when
I realize
that as they say in politics you need
thick skin and a lot of
patience in reality time is running out
in June 2023 a new new regulation on
deforestation free products came into
Force but according to the UN another
830 hectar of forest will be illegally
logged in the time it takes to watch
this
film some of that wood will end up in
Europe if Germany and the EU don't act
the brutal business of the Timber Mafia
will continue and more environmentalists
will be forced to risk their lives in
Cambodia in Romania and around the
world