This brief summarises and sets in context emerging findings from research project ‘Natural resources, rural poverty and China-Africa trade’, which is part of the DFID–ESRC Growth Research Programme.

The project studied the nature and impacts of Chinese investment and trade in African natural resources, with a focus on the informal natural resource trade in Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The research was led by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in collaboration with the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRI) in Zambia, Agricultural Economics, Policy Research and Information Centre (AEPRIC) in Zimbabwe and COWI Tanzania.