The government of Madagascar has proposed paying illegal loggers for information about their stockpiles of rosewood, or purchasing the illegally-cut timber from them directly, according to conservation news service Mongabay.
The government is aiming to eliminate all stockpiles of illicit rosewood in order to more easily keep track of new logging in the country. Under CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, no more rosewood can leave Madagascar until the country can show progress in enforcing its own environmental laws.
The unconventional proposal was informally made during a two-day workshop in the country's capitol of Antananarivo in June, facilitated by the World Bank.
There has been uncertainty regarding the amount of illegal rosewood stockpiles in Madagascar since 2009, when a coup d’etat in the country sparked a wave of illegal logging in its national parks. The remaining rosewood illegal harvested during the coup could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars on the international market.
