This film covers the effects that illegal logging has done to displace the indigenous people of the Tembe tribe. Although federally protected land, the Alto Rio Guamá reserve in Para, Brazil, which is the home of the Tembe tribe has lacked help from government officials to be protected. The span of 40 years. Officials have finally presented documentation stating a piece of that reserve which is occupied by illegal loggers must be given back. Despite the official documentation, no other help from officials has been presented leading to continuous violent interactions. 

Beginning in Senegal, the Rosewood tree is trafficked into Gambia before making its way into China to be sold as a luxary exotitic hard timber. Despite recognizing the illegal and harmful effects of logging, the loggers are limited to other financial options. Leaders like Aeumumbo Diédhiouh speak on the generational and environmental effects of this logging. Despite international protection under the CITES treaty, the Rosewood is the most trafficked tree 
today. 

The results of a two-year investigation by EIA, The Rosewood Racket details the journey of illegal African rosewood, also known as “kosso,” from the remote forests of Nigeria beset by illegal logging to luxury furniture boutiques in China, despite protections placed on this threatened tree species by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This video reveals the international transnational criminal network at work behind one of the largest timber smuggling operation in history.