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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

U.S. Government Urges Protection for Amazon Mahogany

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

1/10/97

OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE

In a win for the rainforest movement, the U.S. government has announced it

will seek "sweeping protective measures for the embattled Amazon big-leaf

mahogany tree." The U.S. will sponsor a proposal at the next meeting of

the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to

protect the species. Mahogany logging is a driving force for Amazonian

rainforest destruction. Protection for the big-leaf mahogany tree would be

a significant step toward conserving and protecting the world's largest

rainforest.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 13:39:26 -0800 (PST)

From: ranmedia@ran.org (Mark Westlund)

Subject: U.S. Govt urges protection for Amazon mahogany

RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK

For immediate release - January 10, 1996

Press contacts:

Christopher Hatch -- rainwood@ran.org

Mark Westlund -- ranmedia@ran.org

U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE PROPOSES SWEEPING

PROTECTION FOR THREATENED AMAZON MAHOGANY

ENVIRONMENTALISTS APPLAUD BOLD U.S. MOVE

"The administration's bold proposal for limiting trade in

Amazon mahogany and protecting its rainforest environment

displays the kind of international leadership we should expect

from the United States. This could be the single most important

measure to protect the world's rainforests of the decade"

Randall Hayes - Executive Director, Rainforest Action Network

Environmentalists applaud the Fish and Wildlife Service's announcement that

the U.S. will seek sweeping protective measures for the embattled Amazon

big-leaf mahogany tree. For years, environmentalists have staged a bitter

fight against the timber industry and its lobbyists to achieve

international protection for big-leaf mahogany, which has become a symbol

of rainforest destruction.

Today's announcement by the administration means that the international

community will vote on the U.S. proposal at the next meeting of the

Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), to be

held in Zimbabwe in June. This same convention passed international trade

regulations that have protected elephants and gorillas from extinction.

In answer to the United States' leading role as a consumer of mahogany, 137

leading U.S. environmental groups sent a letter to Vice President Al Gore

and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, asking the U.S. government to

take an active role in seeking CITES protection for the threatened tree

species. Environmental groups that signed the letter included: Audobon

Society, Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental

Investigation Agency, Friends of the Earth USA, Greenpeace, Natural

Resources Defense Council, Rainforest Action Network, Rainforest Relief,

Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, and Western Ancient Forests Campaign.

According to scientists, mahogany logging is a leading force behind the

destruction of the Amazon rainforest. The species is at such a risk that

the president of Brazil placed a ban on new mahogany logging concessions

for the next two years. Scientists and environmentalists alike hope that

the rampant trade in illegally cut mahogany would be drastically curtailed

by the international regulations.

The United States is the world's leading consumer of tropical hardwoods.

Both U.S. mahogany trade and Brazil's deforestation-rates are on the rise

at a time when other nations are importing dramatically less tropical

timber. Nearly two-thirds of the mahogany exported from Latin America ends

up in the U.S. where it is made into such luxury goods as furniture,

picture frames, caskets, and toilet seats. Bolivia, the leading mahogany

exporting country, announced December 18 that it desired U.S. support in

proposing CITES protection for big-leaf mahogany. This powerful alliance

of rainforest nation and consumer nation bodes well for the success of the

measure in June.

Rainforest Action Network works to protect the Earth's rainforests and

support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots

organizing, and non-violent direct action.

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