CITES Conference Marks Major Breakthrough in Battle Against Endangered Rosewood Trade
The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is generally synonymous with heroic long-term efforts to protect wild elephants, but the 17th conference of the parties, which was held in Johannesburg this month, closed with a number of ground-breaking agreements that could have a significant effect on the trade in the world’s threatened tree species.
First, the parties agreed to new trade controls for the entire Dalbergia genus, a group of approximately 300 species that grow across the tropical regions of Central and South America, Africa, Madagascar and southern Asia. The most controversial Dalbergias in trade currently are those that make up the commercial group known as rosewood, or in Chinese, hongmu.… Seguir leyendo »