If you had to estimate , what do you think is the world ’s most trafficked wild item ? Ivory ? scaly anteater ? Nope , it ’s the beautiful affectionate red tones of the rosewood tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree .
TheConvention on International Trade in Endangered Species(CITES ) maintain in Johannesburg this workweek has put restrictions on the trade of all 300 coinage of rosewood , in an attempt to crack down on the rampant illegal logging and trafficking of its tone .
accord to theUnited Nations Office on Drugs and Crime , rosewood describe for 35 per centum of all seized wildlife merchandise and is valued at more than elephant ivory , rhino horns , pangolin , Lion , and tigers combined .
The need for rosewood timber has grown exponentially in the last decade , mainly due to the growing wealth and desire of the Taiwanese middle classes for sumptuousness furniture , specifically the intricately chip at hongmu style that traditionally practice rosewood tree .
The marriage offer to increase the CITES protection , from the current eight specie of rosewood to admit all 300 , hail from theEnvironmental Investigation Agency(EIA ) , who highlighted the worrying elaboration of the hongmu diligence , especially in the last decennium .
Having plundered the forests of Southeast Asia to virtual extermination , traffickers have turned to West Africa and Central America for the prized timber , and neither the illegal logging of the wood nor the market for it are showing any signs of slowing down .
harmonize to the EIA , hongmu lumber imports into China increased by 1,300 percent from 2009 to 2014 , with exports from West Africa having grow over 1,000 - fold in the last five years . And it is still increasing : In the first half of 2016 alone , China imported on average the equivalent of 350 log per 60 minutes . In fact , the value of the rosewood tree trade has multiplied 65 times in the last X , and is now deserving an estimated $ 2.2 billion .
Now , all 300 species of rosewood tree ( Dalbergia ) have been include under the CITES Appendix II list – its second highest level of security . As per usual , the crux really come down to the nations it impacts to put these plans into action to make a dispute .
“ We are really thrilled [ with the new Cites protection ] , ” Lisa Handy of the EIA toldthe Guardian . “ It ’s really in the snick of time to save them from extinguishing . The trade has exploded exponentially in the last decade . Now it really fare down to enforcement . ”
