International Mahogany Trade Comes Under CITES Control

GENEVA, Switzerland, November 12, 2003 (ENS) - For the first time, international regulations on the trade of big-leaf mahogany are about to become legally binding. The controls were adopted one year ago by the 164 government Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and will enter into force on Saturday.

The neotropical populations of big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) will now be listed on CITES Appendix II, which requires that shipments of this timber be accompanied by a CITES export permit.

This tropical timber generates over $100 million a year in export sales, making it one of the world's most valuable forest products.

"Illegal logging and unsustainable export levels are threatening to render big-leaf mahogany commercially extinct in the near future, a trend that has been reflected in recent years by rising prices," said CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers.

The species is already reported to be commercially extinct in El Salvador, Costa Rica and parts of South America.

"By relying on the CITES permit system, exporters, importers and consumers of mahogany can be confident that they are using only legally and sustainably harvested timber," said Wijnstekers.

The new regulations will also benefit local and indigenous communities, which until now have not received their fair share of the income from mahogany sales," he said.

Big-leaf mahogany (Photo courtesy Greenpeace/Greig)

The mahogany range has become fragmented, many populations have declined dramatically and the building of access roads for mahogany lumbering has encouraged broader deforestation, CITES says. Populations of big-leaf mahogany have declined by over 70 percent in Central America since 1950.

Prized for its high quality, beauty and durability, mahogany is used for luxury furniture, boats, expensive panelling, musical instruments and other wood products.

One cubic meter of big-leaf mahogany can fetch some $1,300 on the international market, and one tree can produce more than $100,000 worth of furniture.

Many environmental organizations have campaigned against the illegal logging of lucrative big-leaf mahogany. "Greenpeace has been campaigning on mahogany for the past 10 years and is very proud of the final result," said Paulo Adario of Greenpeace’s Amazon office, last November when the CITES resolution was passed. "This is a victory for mahogany, the environment and the people of Latin America forests who depend on forest resources for their survival."

In 2001, after more than two years of research and investigation on the ground in the Brazilian Amazon, Greenpeace released a report showing that illegal logging was rampant throughout the region, under the control of what Greenpeace calls a "Mahogany Mafia.”

Working closely with a number of Brazilian federal government agencies, the organization revealed the connection between illegal logging activities and the implicit acceptance of these practices by middlemen and by international buyers, including a number of U.S. companies.

The Brazilian government banned the export of mahogany, a ban that remains in place today, while the Brazilian government put controls in place to ensure that all mahogany logging is done sustainably and legally.

But the U.S. government has not been so cooperative with Greenpeace efforts to halt the illegal mahogany trade. On April 12, 2002, two Greenpeace activitists were arrested in Miami for protesting a shipment of illegal mahogany entering the United States.

They boarded the APL Jade which was carrying a cargo of illegal Brazilian mahogany, calling on President George W. Bush to return all mahogany shipments from Brazil and to investigate companies that continue to buy it. The protestors arrived on inflatable boats and hung a banner reading "President Bush, Stop Illegal Logging" once aboard the ship.

The shipment was bound for Aljoma, a timber company based in Florida. Greenpeace revealed evidence that the United States continues to receive illegal mahogany in several ports including Baltimore, Maryland; Charleston, South Carolina; Gulf Port, Mississippi; Houston, Texas; and Norfolk, Virginia.

While the individuals involved in the protest settled charges against them last year, the Justice Department filed criminal charges against the entire Greenpeace organization in July 2003.

Greenpeace is charged under an 18th-century law designed to prevent unscrupulous boarding house proprietors from luring arriving sailors to their establishments.

On Sunday during a speech given to members of moveon.org and the American Constitution Society, former Vice President Al Gore said the Greenpeace action against illegal mahogany prompted the Bush Justice Department to take steps "that seem to be clearly aimed at stifling dissent."

Gore called the criminal prosecution "highly disturbing" and said it "appears to be aimed at inhibiting Greenpeace’s First Amendment activities."

The leading importers of big-leaf mahogany are the United States - which alone accounts for some 60 percent of the entire market - the Dominican Republic, the United Kingdom and Spain.

The Appendix II CITES listing that comes into effect November 15 will enable importing nations to better assist export nations to check the legality of shipments and ensuring that the mahogany trade is fully transparent.

For exporting countries, an Appendix II listing will provide the controls, information and tools they need to manage their mahogany resources and ensure that trade bans or commercial extinction are not the next step.

CITES permits are only issued if government appointed Management Authorities can confirm that the timber has been obtained legally and independent Scientific Authorities certify that its harvesting is not detrimental to the survival of the species. CITES authorities in both the exporting and importing countries are to monitor the shipments and verify the validity of each CITES permit.