On Tuesday the 177 member countries of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) voted unanimously to include the Siamese rosewood tree in the CITES Wild Fauna and Flora Appendix II.
This listing means Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos will be able to export closely monitored and controlled quantities of rosewood. In an effort to ensure that the products do not originate from illegal logging, exporters will need an export permit license to send the timber to other countries.
On Tuesday the 177 member countries of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) voted unanimously to include the Siamese rosewood tree in the CITES Wild Fauna and Flora Appendix II.
This listing means Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos will be able to export closely monitored and controlled quantities of rosewood. In an effort to ensure that the products do not originate from illegal logging, exporters will need an export permit license to send the timber to other countries.
China's demand for rosewood, most commonly used for Hongmu antique-style furniture, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), is encouraging illegal logging, contributing to the loss of about one third of Thailand's rosewood trees between 2004 and 2011, according to an article in The Nation. This listing requires the Chinese authorities to seize illegal rosewood that enters the country.
"Finally, we have a legal tool to use in China, the main destination and where rosewood prices on the black market are spurring a flood of smuggling and associated violence," said Faith Doherty, head of EIA's Forests Campaign. "Thailand and co-sponsor Vietnam are to be congratulated for the courage to ask for help in securing international protection for this key tree species," she added.
Rosewood is considered a first class prime timber because of its dark color, hardness, durability, easiness to work with and resistance to termites and other insects.