World’s Largest Dry Tropical Forest Wins in High Court

In a decision released on February 28, 2025 the Zambian High Court affirmed the Environmental Investigation Agency US (EIA) and News Diggers Media Limited (News Diggers), and established that their reporting on a vast network of timber traffickers and their enablers did not defame three prominent Zambian public figures mentioned in the report.

In January 2020, former Justice Minister Given Lubinda, former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Jean Kapata, and Tasila Lungu, daughter of the former Zambian President Edgar Lungu, sued the EIA and News Diggers for libel in the Zambian High Court. 

The lawsuit was triggered by the release, in December 2019, of EIA’s investigative report The Mukula Cartel, which documented in unprecedented detail the modus operandi of what appeared to be an illegal timber “cartel,” as sources characterized them to investigators. The key findings of the report were broadly covered by News Diggers in their December 6th, 2019 edition. The Mukula Cartel investigation was part of a broader investigative and campaigning effort led by EIA, which started with the release in August 2019 of the report Scheduled Extinction: Our Last Chance to Protect the Threatened African Mukula Trees. In September 2021, EIA further revealed, via the Mukulagate exposé, the apparent theft of more than 10,000 trees and its apparent connection to the Zambia Agency For Persons With Disabilities (ZAPD), the Ministry of Community and Social Services, the Ministry of Tourism and Arts, and the office of the vice president. 

EIA’s investigative efforts and advocacy contributed to the global protection of the mukula species (Pterocarpus tinctorius), via its listing on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II, which took effect in November 2019. The listing played an important role in supporting the conservation of the unique and vulnerable Miombo woodlands, the world’s largest dry tropical forest and the home of antelopes, giraffes, rhinos, lions and some of the largest populations of elephants in Africa. Hundreds of Miombo woodlands communities rely on the forests for food, medicine, and livelihoods, and frequently have deep spiritual and cultural connections to the forest ecosystems.

More than five years after the inception of the legal process, Zambian High Court Judge Pixie Yangailo’s decision stated that the two former ministers and the daughter of the former president failed to prove their case against EIA and News Diggers. 

EIA Executive Director, Alexander von Bismarck, who has taken a public stance to defend Zambian forests and EIA’s findings, explained: “This is an important victory for the Zambian forest communities and grassroots organizations who have fought for years for legality, transparency, and equity.”

The defamation case against EIA and News Diggers, which was launched under Lungu’s presidency, sidelined the national reckoning around forest illegality and associated corruption. Zambian investigators, journalists, activists, and influencers, who had embraced a fight against mukula traffickers, were reduced to silence for fear of retaliation. The Zambian High Court’s decision opens a new chapter in the country’s history of forest governance and transparency. Von Bismarck added: “The attempt to silence forest voices has failed. We look forward to supporting local movements that can transform this legal victory into greater accountability around the use of natural resources, including forests and minerals.”