CHINA MUST ENSURE ITS ROSEWOOD DEMAND IS NOT DESTROYING A THAI WORLD HERITAGE SITE

LONDON: The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) today calls on China’s Redwood Committee and its parent timber trade federation to ensure their policies and members are not underwriting the destruction of a World Heritage Site in Thailand’s on-going and violent rosewood wars.

 

The call was made after the Thai Government claimed rapacious demand for Siam rosewood left it unable to stop numerous armed illegal logging gangs from stealing the precious timber from the Khao Yai-Dong Phayayen Forest Complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

 

Following a significant rise in incidents of rosewood theft from the forest, the World Heritage Committee has given Thailand until May 15 to explain the situation.

 

Songtham Suksawang, Director of Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), reported that high demand for the wood in the Chinese market has made it impossible to stamp out illegal logging in the forest complex, despite funds and manpower being allocated to address the problem.

 

Siam rosewood (Dalbergia cochinchinensis) was listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) at the 16^th meeting of the Conference of Parties (CoP16) in Bangkok in March.

 

The major driver of rosewood theft is China’s multi-million dollar market in luxury ‘Hongmu’ antique-style furniture. Surging demand and the increasing scarcity of Siam rosewood have conspired to raise prices offered by international traders to as much as US$50,000 per cubic meter.

 

The Hongmu market is overseen by a so-called Redwood Committee housed within China’s Timber & Wood Products Distribution Association (CTWPDA) – the largest timber trade federation in China. The Redwood Committee has more than 100 member companies involved in trade and manufacturing. Despite no legal sources existing, Siam rosewood is one of 33 species of precious and mostly endangered timber itemised by the Redwood Committee in a list of “legitimate” Hongmu materials.

 

EIA Forests Campaign head Faith Doherty said: “As long as China’s Redwood Committee and trade federations such as the CTWPDA continue to allow their members to trade in Siam Rosewood of illegal origin, all enforcement efforts by trade partners such as Thailand and other range state are being undermined.  

 

“With Siam Rosewood now listed on CITES Appendix II, China’s timber trade and Government have a clear responsibility to ensure they adequately implement this international convention. But this alone is not enough – China needs to address its wider consumption of illegally sourced timber by joining other major consumer markets such as the EU, the US, and Australia in banning it.”

 

EIA urges all Chinese timber associations to alert their members to the recent CITES rosewood listings and to take a strong lead in ensuring members are not sourcing rosewood illegally, while supporting legislative measures to prohibit trade in illegal timer in China’s market.

 

EIA supported the Thai Government’s efforts to secure CITES protection for Siam rosewood from the start. While appreciative of the pressures Chinese demand places on enforcement efforts in Thailand, Doherty stressed that Thailand itself must also be seen to be taking stronger, more decisive action to protect the species.

 

“The Thai Government needs to strengthen penalties, because fines for illegal rosewood logging are so low that it doesn’t matter if you’re caught. Arrests of agents and traders are also needed rather than the hundreds of arrests of villagers from both Thailand and Cambodia,” she added.

 

“In addition, the Government needs to support enforcement with realistic resources, and should convene a cross-border task force comprising Siam rosewood range states and China to zero-in on the agents and traders behind the illegal trade.”