China's Outsized Role in West Africa's Illegal Resource Trade

Every year, illegal mining, fishing, and logging drain billions of dollars from West Africa's economies as the problem persists largely unchecked, with Chinese actors playing an outsized role. Fueled by chronic corruption among local regulators across the region and seemingly insatiable demand for these resources in China, curtailing these illegal activities often feels impossible.

But there's still hope. Earlier this year, a group of 21 scholars and analysts, mostly from West Africa, came together to develop new solutions and policy recommendations to reform the mining, timber, and fishing trades, empowering local communities while reducing local corruption.

Their findings were released earlier this fall in a series of three reports co-published by the Keogh School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame and the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C.

Two of the project organizations, Notre Dame Professor Joshua Eisenman, and Caroline Costello, assistant director of the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub, join Eric & Géraud to discuss the reports and how China can play a constructive role in helping to end illegal resource extraction in West Africa.

📌 Topics covered include:

• China's environmental footprint in West Africa
• Why illegal extraction persists despite strong laws
• The politics behind "China-free" resource corridors
• Lessons from China's ivory ban and whether rosewood could be next
• What African governments — not just China — must do differently

Download the reports:

• Chinese mining in West Africa: Responding to the environmental and social impacts
• Chinese fishing in West Africa: Responding to the environmental and social impacts
• Chinese demand for timber and wildlife in West Africa: Responding to the environmental and social impacts

Show Notes:

• The Financial Times: The American company seeking to counter China in Africa by David Pilling and Leslie Hook
• Foreign Policy: China's Appetite for Rosewood Is Causing Chaos in Africa by Joshua Eisenman and Caroline Costello
• Environmental Investigation Agency: New Report Finds That Home Depot Sold Illegally Sourced Tropical Wood for Years

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