Uplisting of Malagasy precious woods critical for their survival
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Date
2019-07
Publication Type
Journal Article
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yes
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Abstract
Illegal timber trade is a global issue; highly prized rosewoods are mainly sourced from Africa and Madagascar. In Madagascar, where corruption and political instability are rampant, forest regulations have been issued during the last 15 years to facilitate illegal rosewood exploitation. The current situation precludes non-detriment findings (under which the exporting State ensures that a proposed action will not be detrimental to the survival of a species) intended to enable sustainable use of standing populations, but the Malagasy government, backed by the World Bank, is promoting the sale of massive stocks of confiscated precious wood. We argue that allowing the sale of these stocks would encourage further illegal harvest. No suitable tools are available to identify, control or monitor standing trees or cut timber, and there are substantial knowledge gaps regarding species limits, population sizes, distribution and abundance. When combined with taxonomic confusion and weak governance, these factors necessitate uplifting all of Madagascar's precious woods to Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
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Publication status
published
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Book title
Journal / series
Volume
235
Pages / Article No.
89 - 92
Publisher
Elsevier
Event
Edition / version
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Software
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Date collected
Date created
Subject
Rosewood stocks; Timber trade; Precious timber; Trafficking; China; Africa; Forest regulations; Forest governance
Organisational unit
08697 - Gruppe Forest Management & Development / Forest Management & Development Group