topic: Rosewood

topic: Rosewood

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Will CITES finally act to protect rosewood this month? (commentary)
- CITES COP-19 starts in mid-November 2022 and is likely going to be a decisive meeting for the protection of species such as rosewood.
- Both CITES and Madagascar have banned the export of rosewood and ebony, but there appears to be no end to the illegal trade, and the fate of nearly 40,000 illegally-exported rosewood logs seized in Singapore, Kenya and Sri Lanka in 2014 is still uncertain.
- Action is needed at COP-19 to protect such stockpiles of seized rosewood from being sold, and for the remaining Malagasy rosewood and ebony trees to be protected before they are all gone, a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Overexploited and underprotected: Study urges action on Asia’s rosewoods
- Rosewood is one of the world’s most trafficked wildlife products: The value of the trade, driven by demand from luxury furniture markets, exceeds that of ivory.
- Despite increased legal protections and export bans in recent years, illegal logging and cross-border trade continues to decimate rosewood populations across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
- A new study reveals the threats facing isolated and fragmented populations of three rosewood species in the Greater Mekong region and identifies where conservation and restoration action could have the most benefits.
- The study recommends a variety of approaches to protect the viability of remaining natural populations and their genetic diversity, including community forestry, smallholder planting initiatives, agroforestry, and storing seeds in gene banks.

Madagascar’s insistence on using seized rosewood rattles conservationists
- Since CITES banned the global trade of Malagasy rosewood in 2013, the country has faced a dilemma: what to do with the illegally harvested timber in government custody?
- This month Madagascar proposed using seized rosewood, which it claims is secure, domestically, effectively removing it from CITES oversight.
- Though the plan concerns a small fraction of the stockpile, it could set a dangerous precedent, opening the door for the remaining timber to be unlawfully funneled into the global market and drive illegal logging, anti-trafficking campaigners said.
- The proposal came up for discussion at the CITES standing committee meeting this March, but CITES parties are expected to reach a decision at the next summit in November.

Kenya court orders return of $13m in seized rosewood to suspected traffickers
- In November, a Kenyan court ordered the release of 646 metric tons of Malagasy rosewood (Dalbergia spp.), worth up to $13 million, to a Hong Kong-based company from which it had been seized in 2014 by Kenyan authorities.
- Lawyers for the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS), which filed a case against the consignment owners, argued that trade in rosewood was banned under CITES, the international wildlife trade convention; however, the judge in the case disagreed.
- Juan Carlos Vasquez, who heads the legal affairs unit of CITES, confirmed to Mongabay that Malagasy rosewood was listed in Appendix II of the international convention on June 12, 2013.
- Since trade in Malagasy rosewood is banned under CITES today, legally moving the wood out of Mombasa will be tricky for the defendants; conservationist Chris Morris says the company is using false documentation to ship the rosewood from Kenya to Taiwan.

Some guitar makers in pursuit of sustainable manufacturing
- Guitar manufacturers use a small volume of some of the rarest exotic woods, but have come under the most pressure to adopt sustainable practices because of their high profile.
- Over the past decade, manufacturers like Czech-based Furch Guitars and Taylor Guitars in the U.S. have rolled out initiatives such as tree replanting and funding for forest communities in the areas they source their timber from.
- Furch Guitars CEO Petr Furch says the sustainability drive is about more than just the material used to make the instruments, but also the carbon footprint of the manufacturing process.
- The company says it has shifted to 100% renewable energy at its Velké Němčice plant, and reduced its carbon footprint by two-thirds in the process.

Fears for rosewood as Guinea-Bissau prepares to lift six-year logging ban
- The Guinea-Bissau government is poised to lift a moratorium on logging that came into force in 2015.
- Forestry officials and conservationists say they fear a return to rampant overharvesting of rosewood and other valuable species.
- Those defending an end to the ban say illegal logging has continued anyway and the decree ending the moratorium will put better monitoring in place and allow locals to benefit.
- Conservationists say that without better data about the current state of the country’s forests, it will be impossible to monitor or sustainably manage a resumption of logging.

Madagascar moves to reopen domestic trade in non-precious timber
- Madagascar eased a two-year-old restriction on the domestic sale of stockpiles of so-called ordinary wood — non-precious timber logged from natural forests. The government will not issue any new permits for commercial logging of ordinary wood and its export remains prohibited.
- The move in no way applies to precious timber such as rosewood and ebony, whose stocks remain illegal to log, sell or export. Nor does it apply to exotic species such as pine and eucalyptus.
- The government is currently developing a plan to use stockpiles of confiscated precious timber domestically, for example in the construction of public buildings and the production of handicrafts.
- Law enforcement weakness remains one of the biggest challenges for Malagasy forest management.

Chinese demand and domestic instability are wiping out Senegal’s last forests
- After a decade of intensive illegal logging, endangered Pterocarpus erinaceus rosewood trees are becoming increasingly scarce in Senegal’s southern region of the Casamance, which borders the Gambia.
- Despite logging its own rosewood to extinction years ago, the Gambia has become a major trading hub for rosewood and was China’s third-largest source of the rare, valuable timber in 2019.
- An investigation has revealed the rate of trafficking across the border has worsened over the past two years, despite an export ban enacted in 2017.
- A recent move by shipping lines to stop exporting rosewood has led to a lull in trafficking activity; however, observers expect this will only be temporary.

CITES appeals to countries to watch out for trafficked Malagasy rosewood
- International wildlife trade regulator CITES has issued an advisory warning that $50 million in Madagascar rosewood logs being held in Singapore could find its way back into the black market.
- The timber was seized in 2014 in Singapore, but a local court earlier this year acquitted the trader responsible for it on charges of trafficking, and ordered the release of the 30,000 logs.
- Trade in rosewood from Madagascar has been banned by CITES since 2013 and under Malagasy law since 2010, but enforcing the embargo has proved difficult.
- The Singapore case highlights the pitfalls in implementing the ban, with observers faulting the Malagasy government’s flip-flop during court proceedings as to whether the seized precious wood was legal.

Madagascar no longer insisting on selling its seized rosewood, for now
- Madagascar has withdrawn its demand to be allowed to sell illegally harvested rosewood timber that it had previously seized.
- The move aligns Madagascar’s position more closely with that of the international community, which wants the country to crack down on the illegal logging and timber trade before a relaxation or lifting of the ban is even considered.
- However, the government hasn’t ruled out seeking permission for a sale in the future, raising concern among observers about the message this could send to illegal traders and to other countries also seeking to offload stockpiles of trafficked contraband.

We are planting trees everywhere: Q&A with Madagascar’s environment minister
- Alexandre Georget, a founder of Madagascar’s first green party in 2008, is the country’s new environment minister.
- In an interview with Mongabay, Georget discussed the government’s reforestation plans and outlined how he expected to approach its 2019 goal of reforesting 40,000 hectares.
- He also described the government’s new position on the sale of confiscated illegally harvested precious timber, in advance of the upcoming CITES meeting in August.

Conservationists call for lasting ban on trade in Malagasy precious timber
- Precious rosewood and ebony has been plundered from Madagascar’s forests for decades, threatening the survival of these hardwood tree species.
- Recent regulations have led to the Madagascar government accumulating a stockpile of the illegal precious wood, whose fate remains undecided.
- A new paper calls for species in two genera, Dalbergia and Diospyros, to be placed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international treaty regulating trade in threatened species.
- The move would ban all trade in the precious wood and thwart an attempt by the government to legalize and sell off the existing stockpile.

Illegal logging poised to wipe Cambodian wildlife sanctuary off the map
- Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary has lost more than 60 percent of its forest cover since it was established in 1993, with most of the loss occurring since 2010.
- A big driver behind the deforestation in Beng Per and in many other Cambodian protected areas was Economic Land Concessions (ELCs), which are areas of land – often in protected areas – allocated by the government to corporations aiming to invest in agriculture for short-term financial gains. Large areas of Beng Per were carved out for ELCs in 2011.
- While the Cambodian government stopped officially allocating ELCs in 2012, deforestation is still hitting the park hard as small-scale illegal logging gobbles up remaining forest outside ELC areas. And once the land is denuded, it’s considered fair game for new plantation development.
- Experts working on the ground say corruption is fuelling the widespread destruction of Cambodia’s forests, and is deeply entrenched in many different sectors including the federal government and local forest protection agencies.

Madagascar’s next president to take office, bears suspect eco record
- Andry Rajoelina is set to be sworn in as president of Madagascar tomorrow, Jan. 19.
- Many conservationists and civil society representatives were disappointed by his election.
- Rajoelina had served as de facto president from 2009 to early 2014 after a coup d’état carried him to power.
- His past administration faced charges of corruption, especially regarding natural resource management. Top officials, including Rajoelina himself, were rumored to be involved in the illegal rosewood trade, which flourished during his time in office.

Wildlife, ecotourism industry at stake in Madagascar’s election, says scientist
- Madagascar’s election on Wednesday could have major implications for the future of the island’s environment and wildlife, says a prominent conservation scientist.
- In an op-ed published this week in Al Jazeera, William F. Laurance, a researcher at James Cook University in Australia, warns that if Madagascar chooses former president Andry Rajoelina, the country’s dwindling natural resources could face renewed assault.
- Under Rajoelina’s previous reign, which followed a 2009 coup, Madagascar’s forests, wildlife, and coastal waters were pillaged.
- Laurance contrasts Rajoelina with his opponent, Marc Ravalomanana, who was lauded by conservationists during his tenure for expanding protected areas, banning commercial logging, and taking steps to reduce deforestation.

CITES rejects another Madagascar plan to sell illegal rosewood stockpiles
- At a meeting in Sochi, Russia, earlier this month, CITES’s standing committee rejected Madagascar’s latest plan to sell off its stockpiles of illegally harvested rosewood, largely because the plan called for local timber barons to be paid for their troves of wood.
- Environmental groups argued that operators who logged illegally should not be rewarded for it, and delegations from several African countries reportedly opposed the plan because they feared their own timber barons would learn the wrong lesson from the deal.
- Madagascar’s environment ministry released a statement after the meeting indicating that it would take the recommendations made by the CITES committee into account in revising the plan for submission again in 2019.

Cambodia accuses Vietnam of complicity in illegal cross-border logging
- Cambodia has accused neighboring Vietnam of systemically accepting fraudulent permits for rare, illegally trafficked rosewood timber.
- Siamese rosewood (Dalbergia Conchinchinensis) is one of the most valuable species of tree in the world and has been destructively logged in Cambodia.
- Items made from rosewood have been known to sell for millions of dollars in markets like China.

Madagascar proposes paying illegal loggers to audit or buy their rosewood
- In June, the World Bank facilitated a workshop to discuss what Madagascar should do with its stockpiles of illegally logged rosewood.
- Madagascar has been grappling with the question for years, but has been unable to make a proper inventory of the stockpiled wood or control illegal exports.
- The rosewood could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars on the international market, but the country cannot sell it until it shows progress in enforcing its own environmental laws.
- At the workshop, Madagascar’s government proposed a radical solution: paying loggers for access to their illicit stockpiles in order to keep tabs on the wood, or even buying the wood back from them directly.

Madagascar: Yet another anti-trafficking activist convicted
- Christopher Magnenjika, an activist working to stem corruption and wildlife trafficking in northeastern Madagascar, was tried, convicted, fined $9 and released earlier this month.
- The charges against Magnenjika include “rebellion” and insulting local officials.
- Magnenjika’s supporters say his arrest and conviction were a pretext for keeping him quiet about the illicit trade in rosewood, a valuable tropical hardwood.
- Magnenjika is one of at least ten Malagasy activists who have faced imprisonment in recent years.

Environmental reporting in Vietnam often a comedy of errors
- Vietnam’s global press freedom ranking is one of the lowest in the world.
- Reporters Without Borders ranks Vietnam 175 0f 180 in its 2017 annual press freedom index.
- Environmental journalists in Vietnam, including citizen journalists and bloggers, routinely face roadblocks and sometimes jail time.

CITES rejects Madagascar’s bid to sell rosewood and ebony stockpiles
- The standing committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) had its annual meeting in Geneva November 27 through December 1.
- The committee rejected Madagascar’s petition to sell its stockpiles of seized rosewood and ebony that had been illegally cut from the country’s rainforests.
- CITES delegates agreed that while a future sale of the stockpiles might be possible, Madagascar was not yet ready for such a risky undertaking, which could allow newly chopped logs to be laundered and traded overseas.
- Other notable outcomes of the CITES meeting dealt with the sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis), pangolins, and the critically endangered vaquita porpoise (Phocoena sinus).

Audio: Dr. Jane Goodall on being proven right about animals having personalities, plus updates direct from COP23
- On today’s episode, we speak with the legendary Jane Goodall, who truly needs no introduction, and will have a direct report from the United Nations’ climate talks happening now in Bonn, Germany.
- Just before Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler was scheduled to speak with Goodall recently, research came out that vindicated her contention, which she’s held for nearly 60 years, that animals have personalities just like people. So we decided to record her thoughts about that for the Mongabay Newscast.
- Our second guest today is Mongabay contributor and Wake Forest University journalism professor Justin Catanoso, who appears on the podcast direct from COP23 to tell us how the UN climate talks are going in Bonn, Germany, what the mood is like amongst delegates, and how the US delegation is factoring into the talks as the Trump Administration continues to pursue a pullout from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Madagascar petitions CITES to sell millions in stolen rosewood
- The Madagascar government has petitioned wildlife regulators under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) for permission to sell its stockpiles of seized rainforest wood.
- Some campaigners warn that traffickers stand to benefit from any such sale and fear it could herald a “logging boom” in the country’s remaining rainforests.
- The CITES committee will consider the proposal at the end of this month.

Logjam: Inside Madagascar’s illegal-rosewood stockpiles
- Over the past six years, Madagascar has spent millions of dollars and devoted countless person hours to figuring out how to dispose of vast stockpiles of highly valuable, illegally logged rosewood, much of it cut from the country’s rainforests following a 2009 coup.
- To do so, the government must conduct a comprehensive inventory of the stockpiles, among other requirements issued by CITES. The World Bank has supported the effort with at least $3 million to $4 million in murky ad hoc loans.
- The current state of affairs, with untold thousands of rosewood logs still unaccounted for, and tens of thousands more stacked outside government offices, is widely seen as facilitating continued corruption and illicit activity.
- This is the sixth story in Mongabay’s multi-part series “Conservation in Madagascar.”

Another Madagascar environmental activist imprisoned
- Malagasy authorities have held Raleva, a 61-year-old farmer, in custody since September 27 after he asked to see a mining company’s permits to operate near his village.
- His arrest is at least the sixth such case of authorities targeting those opposed to wildlife trafficking or land grabs.
- Environmental activists say they face bribes and threats from traffickers on one side, and jail time and fines from the government on the other.

Anti-trafficking activist held without trial in Madagascar
- Clovis Razafimalala has been working to end rosewood trafficking in Madagascar since 2009.
- He has been imprisoned since September on charges of unauthorized rebellion and burning state files and property during a protest he maintains he did not participate in.
- No trial date has been announced, although one is supposed to be set by May 26.
- Activists say his case raises concern for the civil rights of Malagasy environmental activists.

Illegal trade threatens nearly half the world’s natural heritage sites: WWF
- Poaching, illegal logging and illegal fishing of rare species protected under CITES occurs in 45 percent of the natural World Heritage sites, a new WWF report says.
- Illegal harvesting degrades the unique values that gave the heritage sites the status in the first place, the report says.
- Current approaches to preventing illegal harvesting of CITES listed species in World Heritage sites is not working, the report concludes.

Study finds more than 350k trees illegally felled in Madagascar’s protected areas in five-year span
- More than 350,000 trees were felled between March 2010 and March 2015, the study states, despite being in areas that have been granted official protected status.
- At least one million logs were illegally exported from Madagascar during those years — that’s more than 150,000 metric tons-worth of logs, per the study.
- The primary target of illegal loggers is rosewood and palisander, both species belonging to the genus Dalbergia, though other precious hardwood species like ebony (in the genus Diospyros) are targeted as well.

UK greenheart restriction could put pressure on Guyana’s logging economy
- Greenheart is one of the toughest and most durable woods known to man, and is particularly suited to marine and freshwater based applications. The UK instituted a ban on its import earlier this year.
- Over the last four years, greenheart exports generated $27 million for the Guyanese economy.
- Greenheart represents over 18 percent of Guyana’s logging industry production, of which timber is a major export earner – it brought in $45.6 million just last year.

Victory for forests: Rosewood gets enhanced protection at wildlife summit
- Rosewood refers to a large group of deeply-hued, durable timbers used for making expensive furniture as well as musical instruments like guitar. Majority of rosewoods belong to Dalbergia genus.
- At a recent conservation meeting, governments voted to include all rosewood species belonging to Dalbergia genus under CITES protection, launching a clampdown on the illegal trade of rosewood.
- This increased CITES protection means that all international trade in Dalbergia rosewoods will be subject to trade restrictions.

‘An optimistic place to start’: Myanmar enacts national logging ban
- Myanmar lost 5 percent of its tree cover from 2001 through 2014, with rates scaling upward over that time.
- The ban will stave off logging activity for one harvesting season, leaving the country to depend on its reserve timber stockpiles.
- Logging activities have been banned in the Pegu Yoma region for 10 years.
- Legality concerns remain, with conservationists calling for strict controls over stockpiled timber to ensure illegal harvests aren’t laundered through the system.

From endangered species to commodities: report reveals scale of wildlife crime
- The report was produced by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime using data on thousands of species and seizures from more than 120 countries.
- It found that trafficking is faciliated by widespread corruption at many levels of government and society, and that crimes are generally not restricted to certain countries.
- To better fight wildlife crime, officials urge a stepping-up of enforcement and monitoring, as well as increased transnational cooperation.

No logging ban for Myanmar despite reported announcement
- A couple weeks ago, news outlets reported an environmental ministry official announced a complete ban on hardwood logging in Myanmar. However, a more senior official later rejected the announcement.
- Myanmar has been a hotbed of illegal logging for years, with hundreds of millions of dollars of timber sold annually to China and elsewhere despite a 2014 timber export ban.
- Conservation NGO Environmental Investigation Agency has been examining Myanmar’s illegal logging trends for years, and says these logging ban rumors may actually be increasing deforestation as loggers rush to cut down trees before a ban is enacted.

International embargo on exports of Madagascar’s precious woods extended
- The illegal harvest and trade of ebonies (Diospyros), palisanders, and rosewoods (Dalbergia) is devastating the livelihoods of forest-dependent peoples and the unique ecosystems of Madagascar.
- Madagascar has made very little progress on key commitments it agreed to as part of a 2013 CITES listing and has failed to implement structural reforms to its judicial system necessary to ensure functional forest governance, according to a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency.
- The parties convened in Geneva last week for the 66th Standing Committee of CITES decided to continue the embargo, and threatened further sanctions if the Madagascar government didn’t show any progress by the committee’s next meeting in September.

Countries call for new CITES protections for rosewood species
- Booming Asian demand for luxury furniture and other goods made with deeply hued tropical hardwoods is driven primarily by China and, to a lesser extent, Vietnam.
- Forests and local communities from Asia to Africa and Latin America are feeling the effects of Asia’s hongmu demand.
- None of the three most sought-after hongmu species are currently listed by CITES.

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