New report reveals Cameroon loses over 162.8 billion FCFA to illicit deforestation.

The report, issued May 26, 2026, by the Financial Transparency Coalition, FTC, a group of 11 NGOs from across the world, noted that this is as financial secrecy prevents uncovering the real owners of land, forestry concessions and companies who are responsible. It disclosed that illicit deforestation also drains Brazil of 1.28 billion US dollars yearly.

Titled: “Financial Secrets of Forests: How Financial Secrecy Fuels Deforestation in Brazil and Cameroon”, the report revealed that in Cameroon, over the past decade, consistently high levels of trade undervaluation have been detected in timber production, a key indicator of illicit financial flows, while in Brazil alone in 2024, timber exports from illicitly deforested land reached US$1.28 billion. 

The report, which uses satellite data for the first time to track all owners of recently deforested land, also concluded that financial secrecy makes it impossible to systematically trace the products and those who ultimately benefit from deforestation.

It found out that in Cameroon, illicit financial flows resulting from trade mispricing of timber products trade amount to US$289 million annually, a figure five times greater than previous estimates of financial losses in this sector (US$59 million) provided by the authorities.

According to FTC, “the government of Cameroon continued to grant logging licences to companies previously sanctioned for illicit trade, allowing them to export to markets that explicitly ban the import of illegally logged timber, including Europe, Vietnam, and China”.

“In the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, which accounted for one fifth of Brazil’s forest loss in 2025, properties without deforestation permits comprised 48% of all agricultural land used for soybean production (valued at 10 billion dollars) and 15% of all land dedicated to intensive grazing for beef production in 2022 (valued at 4 billion dollars),” it added.

Matti Kohonen, Executive Director of the Financial Transparency Coalition, said: “Billions of dollars are illicitly channelled each year from Global South countries due to illegal deforestation, causing an environmental and climate crisis, as well as the destruction of entire communities. However, the lack of public data on land ownership and forest concessions makes it impossible to track the companies and the beneficial owners who directly gain from the destruction of tropical forests”. 

Meanwhile, Victor Galaz, associate professor in political science at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, said: “Crimes hide in the shadows of opaque finance. This report makes substantial progress in bringing to light how the lack of financial transparency contributes to undermining the stability of the climate system through deforestation. 

“Tackling deforestation requires us to take a deeper look into opaque financial structures and complex corporate structures designed to keep regulators and the public in the dark. Linking such phenomena to deforestation and its impact on people and the climate system is long overdue,” Galaz noted

Alfonso Daniels, lead author of the report, stated: “The world faces an environmental and climate crisis, with record levels of tropical forest destruction, primarily to make way for crops. The EU Deforestation Regulation, which will come into force in December 2026, along with other initiatives, seeks to address this crisis; however, persistent secrecy regarding who owns and benefits from recently deforested lands means these measures will fail or have limited impact unless there is public access to asset ownership records and the beneficial owners”.

Problems identifying beneficial owners of logging companies in Cameroon

On his part, Jean Mballa Mballa, Executive Director of African Regional Centre for Endogenous and Community Development in Cameroon of CRADEC, said: “This report confirms that although we can map forest loss in Cameroon, we cannot identify the beneficial owners behind companies that log without permits or trade timber at incorrect prices, despite sanctions. The government continues to grant concessions to sanctioned companies, and ownership records remain closed. Without transparency, EU regulations on deforestation will fail”. 

“CRADEC urges Cameroon and timber-importing countries to establish public registers of beneficial owners in the forestry sector and to extend EITI transparency initiatives to forests, the environment, fisheries, and logistics. Only then can we track the money, hold authorities accountable, and protect the Congo Basin rainforests,” he added. 

Juan Pablo Costa, Director of CEFILAT, stated: “Latin America is losing capital through the same channels destroying its forests. The billions diverted from illicitly deforested lands in Brazil and across the region don’t disappear but flow into opaque corporate structures and secrecy jurisdictions far beyond the reach of governments and communities bearing the environmental cost. Addressing deforestation without dismantling this financial secrecy is merely treating the symptom while the wound continues to bleed into tax havens”. 

Alarming rate of deforestation, forest degradation

According to Financial Transparency Coalition, deforestation and forest degradation are occurring at an alarming rate, with Cameroon and Brazil— the two countries analysed in this report — among the top ten experiencing the highest tropical forest loss in 2025, despite some progress in Brazil. 

Using the best available Geographic Information System (GIS) data, the report also warns that secrecy surrounding land ownership, crops, properties, companies, and beneficial owners systematically prevents the identification of those who benefit from forest loss and deforestation. 

It should be noted that Financial Transparency Coalition, FTC, is a global civil society network operating as a collaborative coalition comprising 11 organisations with a presence in all regions of the world. It works to reduce illicit financial flows by promoting a transparent, accountable, and sustainable financial system that benefits everyone.

FTC members include: Transparency International; Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development, APMDD; Centre for Budget Governance Accountability; Christian Aid; European Network on Debt and Development EURODAD; CEFILAT; Global Financial Integrity; Latin American Network on Debt, Development and Rights LATINDADD; Pan-African Lawyers Union PALU; Tax Justice Network, TJN; and Tax Justice Network Africa.