The Wire

Australians love their luxury redwood floors. The market is equally as high in America, China, New Zealand and Europe. But one rare species of tree producing very expensive tropical wood, the Merbau, is being driven to extinction in Papua New Guinea by illegal deforestation. In a new report, Greenpeace has found that logs are being smuggled from the Paradise Forests to China with forged Malaysian documents. They predict the trees will disappear completely from the Earth within a few decades. Greenpeace Asia-Pacific forest spokesperson Tiy Chung says loggers in the region are not prepared to give up this product because it’s too popular.