The CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) secretary in Geneva has announced two days ago, that it will extend its trade controls of 89 Malagasy precious wood species by listing them on CITES appendix III as of 22 December 2011, “in an effort to curb the increase in illegal timber trade by enabling verification of legal origin under CITES standards”.

The CITES secretary listed five species of rosewood (Dalbergia) and 84 species of ebony (Diospyros) on Appendix III. All export of these newly listed species must now be accompanied by a document certifying its legal origin.

“CITES will support Madagascar’s effort to control their timber trade and ensure that such trade remains legal and traceable. Regulating trade in these high-value timber species under CITES will help ensure that the benefits of trade flow to local people and it will also serve the global community by helping conserve these species, which will be to the benefit of entire ecosystems" said CITES Secretary-General, John Scanlon.

 “This day is worth remembering and the listing of rosewood and ebony from Madagascar on CITES Appendix III means a lot to help Madagascar better control its wood exports and enforce its laws with the help of CITES member countries especially after the increase of illegal export between 2009 and 2010” says Tiana Ramahaleo WWF Madagascar’s Species and Conservation Planning Programme Coordinator.  

Since the promulgation in 2010 of a decree forbidding cutting, transporting, selling and exporting of rosewood and ebony species, exports had already drastically decreased.

 The current Minister for Water and Forest, Herilanto Raveloarison, has taken a firm stance and forced the well-known handful of timber barons to declare their existing precious wood stocks. Several individuals have been arrested under his initiative.

Madagascar has furthermore added more than 5 million hectares of protected area with at least temporary protection in the last 3 of years. The decision to include 89 Malagasy wood species on CITES Appendix III is another sign of willingness to go into the right direction.

WWF MWIOPO (Madagascar and Western Indian Ocean Programme Office) representatives with the Malagasy scientific community have lobbied for one and a half years to mobilise local decision makers such as the Ministry for Water and Forests and the CITES authorities in Madagascar. This is the first inclusion of Malagasy precious woods on the CITES list.

But with CITES Appendix III being the weakest of all CITES protections, this memorable success is just a stepping stone towards the re-establishment of good governance in the forest sector in the long term.

“The Madagascar Environmental community now needs to make sure that custom officers and foresters at the borders know what they need to do. WWF will lobby for listing Malagasy rosewood and ebony species on CITES Appendix II where they will be better protected. We will also continue to engage national stake holders in developing a vision for a sustainable management of forest resources in Madagascar” says Ramahaleo.

The results of the investigation on the rosewood trafficking carried out by Global Witness during the peak of the environment crisis (June 2009) showed that virtually all rosewoods collected from Madagascar’s National Parks went to China where some of it was resold to other countries such as Germany and the US.

In setting up good management of these species, China will play a central role. WWF hopes that with the listing on CITES Appendix III, TRAFFIC Asia (a joint programme of WWF and IUCN) and the Chinese CITES authority, the import of these endangered Malagasy precious wood species to China will decrease.

 

Research on the threat status of rose wood and ebony species as well as WWF’s lobbying efforts in Madagascar were made possible through funding from WWF Switzerland.