China's multi-billion dollar rosewood furniture boom has placed Myanmar's rosewood tree species on a path toward extinction, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency's briefing "Myanmar's Rosewood Crisis."
The EIA said the demand for the species stems from a resurging popularity in China's wealthy elite circles for high-end Mind and Qing dynasty reproduction furniture called hongmu.
The two most targeted species to make hungmu furniture are tamalan and padauk, commonly called Burmese rosewood and Burmese padauk. If demand and illegal trading is not culled, they could be commercially extinct in three years, the briefing said.
EIA Forests Campaign Leader Faith Doherty said in a statement that Myanmar must secure listing for the threatened rosewood species via the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
"Myanmar needs help and CITES is one way for the Government to seek assistance in protecting this valuable resource. EIA is also calling for CITES Parties to assist Myanmar in its need for a fully functioning Management Authority," Doherty said.
