Rainforest wood business

Turbo, Colombia – December 2019

Afro-Colombian carriers (coteros) lift a rough sawn timber during wood transportation in the port of El Waffe in Turbo, Colombia. Tropical hardwood is extracted from the Pacific rainforest, driven down the Atrato river to the sawmills and then sold in the ports to wood merchants. Low quality wood is transported throughout the country, used mainly for construction purposes, while the fine woods (choiba, mahogany etc.) is exported exclusively to China.