The Madagascar government has been rounding up stockpiles of illegally logged rosewood since placing a temporary ban on exporting the precious timber due to its rampant illicit logging. The country is now faced with a decision about what to do with the timber, and has proposed opening up trade once more and selling it, Mongabay reports.
The Madagascar government has been rounding up stockpiles of illegally logged rosewood since placing a temporary ban on exporting the precious timber due to its rampant illicit logging. The country is now faced with a decision about what to do with the timber, and has proposed opening up trade once more and selling it, Mongabay reports.
But a paper published by conservationists is calling on the government to include rosewood under the highest level of protection under the country’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which would place it under the protection of threatened species regulations. The paper argues that the government’s selling of the timber “would fuel rather than curb illegal felling and trade of endangered tree species,” according to Mongabay.
For now, the fate of the loads of confiscated timber remains undecided.
Related:
Madagascar Considers Paying Illegal Loggers to Audit Rosewood Stockpiles
