WILDLIFE CONVENTION TENTATIVELY BRANCHES OUT TO TIMBER

Only one timber species won additional trade protections at a recent international wildlife meeting that considered trade restrictions on a wide range of species of plants and animals. Brazilwood earned the added trade restrictions, while proposals to strengthen protection of three other species were withdrawn in the face of strong opposition. However, meeting participants called for stricter enforcement of previously imposed trade restrictions on mahogany, and officially acknowledged their commitment to working with a partner international organisation to encourage sustainable forest management around the globe.

The triennial meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) brought together delegates from 171 member nations in The Hague, the Netherlands from 3-15 June (see related story, this issue).

The consideration of timber species marks a relatively recent shift for CITES, which in the past has tended to shy away from regulating trade in commercially valuable species, including timber, focusing instead on more 'traditional' endangered species such as the tiger and elephant. But trade in timber species has garnered greater attention recently, in CITES as well as in other international fora, as the global community has been awakened to the devastating effects -- both economic and environmental -- of illegal logging, as well as to the importance of forests as tools to mitigate global climate change.

Brazilwood wins CITES protection

Brazilwood -- a tropical tree that is used to produce violin bows -- was the only timber species to win tighter protection at the convention. Centuries of deforestation, much of which has been driven by expanding cropland, have nearly wiped out the species, which grows only in Brazil.

Under the new provisions, the tree will be listed in CITES' Appendix II, a designation that indicates that trade in the species, while not completely banned, will be tightly controlled. Brazil, which gets its name from the tree, put forward the proposal, which included a special exemption for trade in finished products such as bows for stringed musical instruments.

Fernando Coimbra, head of the Brazilian delegation, emphasised that, while the proposal will ensure the species' continued protection, it will not limit the ability of its wood to "be used to delight us in the hands of inspired musicians and orchestras across the world."

Other timber species rebuffed

Despite the efforts of European delegates, other timber species did not win similar increased protections at the wildlife meeting. In the face of strong opposition from Latin American countries, the EU withdrew its proposals to regulate trade in Spanish cedar and two species of rosewood, which it claimed were necessary to protect the tree species from the excessive logging -- some of it illegal -- that has caused the trees' numbers to dwindle. Delegates from Central and South American 'range states', those states where the trees grow, criticised the proposals on the grounds that there was not sufficient evidence to prove that the trees were endangered.

Ramon Carrillo Arelano of the Mexican delegation said that the species in question are not threatened in his country, but that greater protections were not out of the question. "We need to collect data... If it proves that the trees are in danger, then we would support a listing," he said.

But Edgardo Leguia of the Peruvian delegation expressed deeper reservations about a CITES listing of cedar, saying that such a designation would in fact "encourage logging" because it "could make people think that cedar is a higher value tree."

Instead of leaving the issue at a complete impasse, delegates agreed to establish a working group composed of officials from range states to consider alternative ways to protect the trees.

European delegates expressed some optimism at the fact that their proposals had not been defeated outright. "A bad signal would have been if the whole issue had crashed here with a negative vote," said Jochen Flasbarth, the German official who presented the European proposals. "The range states want to be in the driving seat and that is fine with the EU," he added.

Environmentalists were less impressed. Bernardo Ortiz, director of the wildlife watchdog group TRAFFIC South America, criticised the convention's lack of progress on timber: "By delaying listing in Appendix II, governments are just jeopardising the future of another tree species."

Peru chastised on mahogany trade

At past CITES meetings, environmentalists successfully lobbied for Appendix-II listings of ramin and mahogany, two commercially valuable timber species that had been logged nearly to the point of extinction (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 21 October 2004, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/04-10-21/story1.htm and Bridges Trade BioRes, 21 November 2002, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/02-11-21/story1.htm). Both of those listings were considered significant victories for conservationists, who had been fighting for the added protections for the species for several years.

Yet since the listings went into effect, there has been some question over the extent to which the tighter restrictions have in fact been enforced. Indeed, Peru received harsh criticism at this month's meeting for its lax implementation of CITES regulations on trade in mahogany, which have been in place since 2003. The Andean nation, the world's largest mahogany exporter, was accused of setting unsustainable export quotas, failing to control illegal logging on public lands, and neglecting to shield its indigenous populations from threats posed by timber poachers. Indeed, local tribesmen have been the victims of dozens of violent encounters with illegal loggers in recent years.

Threatened with a potential revocation of its right to trade in the species, Peru agreed to lower its export quota by more than half, so that the country will now export no more than 5,000 cubic metres of mahogany, or roughly 1,200 trees, per year.

Despite the apparent cooperation on the part of Peru, environmentalists remained wary of the country's assurances. "There have been problems of verification," said Cliona O'Brien of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature. "We need to keep a very close eye over the next year."

A strong partnership with the ITTO

In an effort to improve the enforcement of its trade restrictions, CITES has agreed on the need to build on the convention's partnership with the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO), a UN-backed intergovernmental organisation that works to promote responsible forest management around the globe (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 25 May 2007, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/07-05-25/story1.htm). Together, CITES and the ITTO have worked to help build the capacity of range states to conduct sustainable timber management and rein in illegal logging within their borders.

In a sign of their continued commitment to this partnership, CITES delegates agreed to a US proposal to draw up an official memorandum of understanding cementing the relationship between the two organisations. Moreover, at a side event to the CITES meeting, officials from the two groups met to assess the state of their current collaboration and to consider possible new ways to assist timber-producing countries in the future.

ICTSD reporting; Vol. 21 No. 61, EARTH NEGOTIATIONS BULLETIN, 18 June 2007; "Cedar, rosewood fail to win protection at UN talks," REUTERS, 8 June 2007; "CITES endorses plan to save brazilwood," ASSOCIATED PRESS, 7 June 2007; "CITES ablaze over timber," WORLDWIRE, 7 June 2007; "UN convention reaches compromise on mahogany," WORLDWIRE, 4 June 2007; "Take a bow; endangered species meeting slaps trade regulations on tree used by violinists," ASSOCIATED PRESS, 7 June 2007; "Illegal loggers threaten our survival, say Peru's Indians," ASSOCIATED PRESS, 5 June 2007.