Cabo Delgado province has recently become a center for contraband timber.

By the end of 2020, more than 80 containers of wood had disappeared from the port of Pemba and smuggled into the Asian market. And last week, 45 containers of blackwood, about to be illegally exported to the Asian market, were seized.

Analysts say this shows that Chinese smuggling of forest resources is far from being controlled, primarily because of corruption.

The representative of the National Agency for Environmental Quality Control in Cabo Delgado, Mário Parina, told VOA that his institution is working to clarify the case of the 45 containers of wood, seized in Montepuez and in the port of Pemba.

For that person, "the damage that deforestation and the smuggling of wood cause to the economy and above all to the environment is enormous.

The smuggling of wood, mostly involving Chinese citizens and/or companies, results from the destruction of Mozambique's forests, a situation that has been denounced for years, but there is no indication that it can be controlled.

Political analyst Tomás Vieira Mário says that the Chinese timber business is facilitated by corruption, which has put the country in a dangerous situation as a state, and until this phenomenon is controlled, the country will continue to see the destruction of its forests.

For his part, the conservationist Roberto Zolho says that, along with corruption, the poor functioning of state institutions contributes to the destruction of forests in Mozambique, but stresses that, in fact, Mozambicans themselves are in charge of this action.

Sociologist Moisés Mabunda agrees with this position, and argues for a deep reflection on the problem of exploitation of forest resources, because "the ease with which the Chinese get involved in this business shows that there are Mozambicans involved.

The carpenter Januário Afonso says that considering the way forest resources are being exploited, Mozambique will soon have to import doors from China.