GREENPEACE AND FRIENDS OF THE EARTH SLAM GOVERNMENTS FAILURE TO
PROTECT MAHOGANY
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Lauderdale, Florida, November 17, 1994---The Convention on the
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), today rejected
by a narrow margin a proposal to regulate trade in Latin American
mahogany. The proposal needed 56 votes to be carried, but got only
50. 33 countries voted against.
Latin American mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is declining
throughout the Amazon and Central America as a result of
destructive and often illegal logging. Brazil and Bolivia, the
largest exporters of mahogany, with 90% of the trade, were firmly
against the listing of mahogany on Appendix II.
An Appendix II listing is not a trade ban but would have lent
international assistance to the countries that have wild stands of
mahogany to ensure that the trade doesn't deplete the species.
At this conference intense lobbying by the outgoing Brazilian
government and timber traders caused a split amongst the Latin
American states who have mahogany. Central American countries like
Honduras, Costa Rica and Guatemala supported the listing since
their mahogany is nearly gone while others rejected it. After the
vote, they requested that their mahogany be listed to Appendix III,
such a listing is a request to other nations for help in
controlling the international trade.
Greenpeace Brazil spokesperson Jose Augusto Padua slammed the move
today, "This is a sad day for Brazil, the Amazon forest and forest
peoples. The Brazilian and Bolivian governments submitted
themselves to the pressure of the timber industry, and refused help
to control the enormous damage the mahogany industry is causing in
the Amazon forest. Now it's up to consumers to halt the
continuation of this damage".
The U.S. and the U.K. are the largest consumers of Latin American
mahogany where it is used for furniture and toilet seats. "We have
been asking consumers not to buy mahogany for a few years now and
we were hoping that Brazil and Bolivia would use this international
legal mechanism to protect it. Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth
will now have to escalate campaigns asking wood users to stop
buying mahogany from these regions." said, Pamela Wellner, forest
campaigner for Greenpeace.
The European public will readily reject the false claims of the
timber industry that their products are environmentally friendly.
In a very short time mahogany will have a reputation like that of
ivory and tiger skins", Tony Juniper of Friends of Earth.
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