FT Rethink

Forest detectives are tackling the illegal wood trade

The trade in black market timber is now the third most profitable cross-border crime after counterfeiting and drug trafficking, according to Interpol. The global fraud is destroying critical forests, undermining international sanctions and decimating indigenous lands and livelihoods. But authorities are hitting back. The FT’s Madeleine Speed visits the high-tech forest detectives fighting the multibillion-dollar trade in tarnished timber.

More from the FT Rethink channel

Discover more content on the topics that inspire, engage and inform the world we live in today at the FT Channels hub.

Discover more​

Follow us

FT Rethink

FT Channels, a partnership destination that combines impactful and enriching multimedia content to spark curiosity and encourage discovery. Each vertical brings expert insights from the Financial Times and our Partners into the most pressing issues of our time.


FT Rethink series focuses on the people, technology, strategies and systems moving us from an economy that is wasteful, idle, lopsided and dirty towards one that is circular, lean, inclusive and clean. The channel alternates between independent reporting from FT journalists and business perspectives from Lombard Odier