Liberia's logging industry was once used to fund bloody civil wars that killed hundreds of thousands of people. But this week the country became only the fifth from Africa to sign a trade agreement with the European Union to stop illegal timber exports. Last week, Indonesia became the first Asian country to do the same. The deals are meant to ensure that timber reaching Europe is sourced legally; measures include electronically tagging trees (pictured). But none of the six countries that have signed the pacts has yet started producing licensed timber. And much of Liberia's wood ends up in China, which does not ask for licences, yet forwards products made from the wood to Europe. See go.nature.com/xwkhck for more.
展开▼
