Chinese firm branches out

Gabon's forests are a rich find for company that fells 'green' gold

Lu Gaochao is proud to claim that he works with the soul of Gabon: its forests. He logs a section of forest his company bought. Now and again he comes across tribes who have lived there for hundreds of years and who have never had contact with the outside world.

He has befriended chiefs and sends rice and sugar to villagers every year to atone for the disturbance that logging brings to their habitat, he says.