Madagascar asks CITES to regulate rosewood and ebony
Jeremy Hancemongabay.com
September 29, 2011
"Regulating trade in these high-value timber species under CITES will help ensure that the benefits of trade flow to local people and it will also serve the global community by helping conserve these species, which will be to the benefit of entire ecosystems," CITES's Secretary-General John Scanlon said in a press release.
 Illegal rosewood logging in Masoala National Park. Photo by Rhett A. Butler |
Last year a research paper recommended that Madagascar request protection from CITES for its rosewood, arguing that a number of species were in danger of extinction.
A 2009 coup in Madagascar opened up an opportunity for loggers, pushed by foreign traders, to cut tens of thousands of hectares of forest in Madagascar's most biodiverse rainforests, including a number of protected areas. The infiltration into parks also led to widespread slaughter of some lemur-species for bushmeat.
Madagascar is famed for its biodiversity, including a wealth of plant and animal species found no-where else in the world. But widespread deforestation and forest degradation has left many species—including dozens of types of lemurs—at risk of extinction.
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