Treaty May Protect Mahogany
2/24/97
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Headline: Treaty May Protect Mahogany
Source: Rainforest Action Network
Date: 2/24/97
Author: Genevieve Raymond
RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK
World Rainforest Report, Winter/Spring 1997
TREATY MAY PROTECT MAHOGANY
By Genevieve Raymond
RAN Staff
Environmentalists won a significant victory for the Amazon on January 10
when the Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the U.S. will seek
sweeping international protection measures for the bigleaf mahogany tree.
Bolivia, the world1s second largest mahogany exporter has joined the
United States as official co-proponent. For years, environmentalists have
waged a bitter fight against the timber industry and its lobbyists to
achieve international protection for bigleaf mahogany which has become a
symbol of rainforest destruction.
The announcement by the administration means that the international
community will vote on the U.S. proposal at the next meeting of the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to be held
in Zimbabwe in June. CITES is an international treaty, adopted by 128
countries, which regulates trade through three appendices. Mahogany could
be regulated by the same treaty that has rescued African elephants and
gorillas from the brink of extinction.
The potential benefit of CITES listing to Central and South American
rainforests, particularly the Amazon, is enormous. According to
scientists, mahogany logging is a leading force behind the destruction of
the Amazon rainforest. The species is at such risk that in August of 1996,
Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso placed a ban on new mahogany logging
concessions for the next two years. Most mahogany is logged illegally,
often on indigenous and protected lands leading to violence and murder.
CITES would provide an international legal framework to halt this illegal
logging.
At the last CITES meeting in 1994, mahogany fell just six votes short of
the two-thirds majority necessary for listing. Most countries with
mahogany populations supported the listing, but the two largest exporting
nations, Brazil and Bolivia, were then in opposition. Because of the
failure of the previous attempts to list mahogany, a third attempt was
regarded both domestically and internationally as somewhat of a lost
cause. However, RAN waged a campaign on various fronts and was ultimately
successful in convincing the United States to take responsibility for
being the world1s largest consumer of the endangered tree.