ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Logging permits designed to promote small businesses are being allocated by the hundreds to industrial logging companies in West and Central Africa in a hidden pattern of abuse, according to a report published Tuesday by environmental watchdog group, Global Witness.

The use of these “shadow permits” are undermining efforts to curb corruption in the timber sector and is increasing the likelihood that illegal wood is being exported to Europe and elsewhere, according to the report. The permits were originally intended to help small-scale enterprises but are instead being used to circumvent commercial logging regulations in Ghana, Cameroon, Liberia and Congo.