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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=rosewood&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/rosewood/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Rosewood</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/rosewood/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>New technologies offer hope in fight to save the world’s imperiled rosewoods</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-technologies-offer-hope-in-fight-to-save-the-worlds-imperiled-rosewoods/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-technologies-offer-hope-in-fight-to-save-the-worlds-imperiled-rosewoods/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Dec 2025 16:14:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Katarina Zimmer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/11134007/rosewood-feet-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311125</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China, Global, and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Rosewood, timber trade, Trade, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, Tropical hardwoods, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[News about the poaching and smuggling of threatened species often centers on products like tiger bone, rhino horn or pangolin scales. But much of the world’s illegally sourced wildlife products are actually trees — in particular, 33 hardwood species in the Dalbergia genus, better known as rosewood. Rosewood can sell for tens of thousands of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[News about the poaching and smuggling of threatened species often centers on products like tiger bone, rhino horn or pangolin scales. But much of the world’s illegally sourced wildlife products are actually trees — in particular, 33 hardwood species in the Dalbergia genus, better known as rosewood. Rosewood can sell for tens of thousands of dollars per cubic meter and has the highest overall trafficking value of any wildlife product in the world: Between 2014 and 2018, rosewood accounted for 32% of the monetary value of illegally traded wildlife products seized by law enforcement. But a recent paper in the journal Biological Conservation finds that new technologies could save the world’s rosewoods from being little more than plunder. Demand for the richly colored, aromatic and durable timber continues to grow in China, where rosewood furniture has long been a symbol of status and luxury. International regulations have failed to stop the rampant harvesting of the tropical trees, whose value only grows with their increasing rarity. Two Southeast Asian species — Siamese (Dalbergia cochinchinensis) and Burmese rosewood (D. oliveri) — are now critically endangered, driving rosewood traders to other rainforests in Africa and South America. This appetite threatens the very existence of the unique trees as well as their important ecological roles, such as enriching soil with nitrogen, reducing soil erosion, and providing habitat for wildlife. But technologies exist that could help stop the trees’ plight, according to the paper by a team of scientists at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden’s Center&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-technologies-offer-hope-in-fight-to-save-the-worlds-imperiled-rosewoods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/new-technologies-offer-hope-in-fight-to-save-the-worlds-imperiled-rosewoods/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311125</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Will CITES finally act to protect rosewood this month? (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/will-cites-finally-act-to-protect-rosewood-this-month-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/will-cites-finally-act-to-protect-rosewood-this-month-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Nov 2022 19:40:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mark Roberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/04174642/original_rosewood_madagascar_banner-768x454.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=262225</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Commentary, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Logging, Rosewood, timber trade, Trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar is said to be one of the top biodiversity hotspots in the world. About 80% of Madagascar’s unique biodiversity, numerous species found nowhere else on Earth, depends on its forest ecosystems. While the world stands idly by, deforestation of this critical island habitat continues unabated. UNESCO has put rainforests in Madagascar on its List [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar is said to be one of the top biodiversity hotspots in the world. About 80% of Madagascar’s unique biodiversity, numerous species found nowhere else on Earth, depends on its forest ecosystems. While the world stands idly by, deforestation of this critical island habitat continues unabated. UNESCO has put rainforests in Madagascar on its List of World Heritage in Danger. In 2013, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) listed all species of Malagasy rosewood and ebony on Appendix II, its list of species threatened with extinction. Madagascar has close to 65 species of rosewood and more than 60% of the 215–230 ebony species are only found only in that country. Environmentalists and scientists have called on CITES to up-list these species to Appendix I, arguing that only the full protection of CITES will save them from extinction. As an integral part of the Appendix II listings, CITES and Madagascar have banned the export of both rosewood and ebony. Nevertheless, there appears to be no end to the illegal rosewood trade. Action is needed now to protect the nearly 40,000 illegally-exported rosewood logs seized in Singapore, Kenya and Sri Lanka in 2014, the stockpiles of rosewood and ebony in Madagascar, and the remaining living Malagasy rosewood and ebony trees before they are all gone. Rosewood is valued for its rich red hue. Image courtesy of Environmental Investigation Agency. Singapore seizure In 2014, Singapore seized 29,434 rosewood logs, then worth more than $50 million and constituting the largest seizure&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/will-cites-finally-act-to-protect-rosewood-this-month-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/11/will-cites-finally-act-to-protect-rosewood-this-month-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-262225</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Overexploited and underprotected: Study urges action on Asia’s rosewoods</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/overexploited-and-underprotected-study-urges-action-on-asias-rosewoods/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/overexploited-and-underprotected-study-urges-action-on-asias-rosewoods/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jun 2022 03:35:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/06/13032237/Banner_Dalbergia_lanceolaria-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=257126</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, Thailand, Tropics, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Environment, Forests, Green, Illegal Logging, Logging, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Restoration, Rosewood, timber trade, Trade, Trees, Tropical hardwoods, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Rosewood trees are a mainstay of tropical forests across parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America. But their future looks bleak. Their fragrant, red-hued heartwood is prized by makers of luxury furniture, and illegal loggers and timber trafficking networks are systematically obliterating rosewoods from forest landscapes the world over to feed this demand. Halting the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Rosewood trees are a mainstay of tropical forests across parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America. But their future looks bleak. Their fragrant, red-hued heartwood is prized by makers of luxury furniture, and illegal loggers and timber trafficking networks are systematically obliterating rosewoods from forest landscapes the world over to feed this demand. Halting the illegal rosewood trade, which mainly supplies markets in China, is tricky: it’s a big business. The value of the illegal international trade in rosewood timber exceeds that of ivory, according to a 2020 report from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. To stem the destruction, in 2016 the entire genus of Dalbergia — a large group that includes all rosewood species — was added to Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), making it an offense to trade the species internationally without a permit. But despite the increased protections, trees are still cut down and illegally traded due to legislative loopholes and limited enforcement. Moreover, scientists and conservationists know very little about the isolated and fragmented rosewood populations that remain. A remnant rosewood forest in farmland in Central Lao. Image by National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (Lao) via Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA) To address this knowledge gap, an international team of scientists recently used a combination of species distribution data, spatial analysis and local expert knowledge to gauge where rosewood populations persist in the Greater Mekong region, a global hub of the rosewood trade.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/overexploited-and-underprotected-study-urges-action-on-asias-rosewoods/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/06/overexploited-and-underprotected-study-urges-action-on-asias-rosewoods/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-257126</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Madagascar’s insistence on using seized rosewood rattles conservationists</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/madagascars-insistence-on-using-seized-rosewood-rattles-conservationists/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/madagascars-insistence-on-using-seized-rosewood-rattles-conservationists/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Mar 2022 13:52:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/29135206/Rosewood-Stacked-for-River-Transport-Madagascar-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=254232</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Illegal Logging, International Trade, Logging, Politics, Rosewood, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Tropical hardwoods]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar is the custodian of some of the world’s most valuable contraband: seized rosewood worth millions of dollars on the international market. Since 2013, global trade in Malagasy rosewood has been banned under CITES, the international convention on the wildlife trade. Now, the African nation is proposing to use part of the seized timber domestically. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar is the custodian of some of the world’s most valuable contraband: seized rosewood worth millions of dollars on the international market. Since 2013, global trade in Malagasy rosewood has been banned under CITES, the international convention on the wildlife trade. Now, the African nation is proposing to use part of the seized timber domestically. Though the plan concerns less than 2% of the stockpile, if allowed, the decision could have far-reaching consequences for the illicit trade in the hardwood, conservationists say, highlighting the potential for abuse. It could set a dangerous precedent, opening the door for the remaining timber to be unlawfully funneled into the global market and drive illegal logging, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Transparency International (TI) said in a joint release. Madagascar says it will use the wood to build infrastructure and produce handicrafts to be sold in-country and for limited export of finished items, effectively removing it from CITES oversight. Illegally logged rosewood from Masoala and Marojejy in Antalaha, Madagascar, circa 2005. Image by Erik Patel via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). “CITES regulates international trade. Domestic trade in timber harvested in the same country is normally an internal business,” David Whitbourn, a spokesperson for the CITES secretariat, told Mongabay in an email. The CITES standing committee, with representatives from the six key geographical regions, met in Lyon, France, this March but did not draft a recommendation regarding Madagascar’s proposal. A decision is expected at the next conference of parties (COP19) in November, when&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/madagascars-insistence-on-using-seized-rosewood-rattles-conservationists/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/madagascars-insistence-on-using-seized-rosewood-rattles-conservationists/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-254232</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Kenya court orders return of $13m in seized rosewood to suspected traffickers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/kenya-court-orders-return-of-13m-in-seized-rosewood-to-suspected-traffickers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/kenya-court-orders-return-of-13m-in-seized-rosewood-to-suspected-traffickers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Dec 2021 12:26:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/28121333/Illegal_export_of_rosewood_Madagascar-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=251207</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Kenya, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Logging, Plantations, Politics, Protected Areas, Rosewood, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, Trade, Tropical Forests, and Tropical hardwoods]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In May 2014, the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) seized a consignment of wood at the port of Mombasa. Shipping records listed the cargo only as &#8220;wood&#8221; headed for Hong Kong: in fact, the MV Kota was carrying 646 metric tons of Malagasy rosewood (Dalbergia spp.), worth up to $13 million. KWS deemed the consignment illegal. A [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In May 2014, the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) seized a consignment of wood at the port of Mombasa. Shipping records listed the cargo only as &#8220;wood&#8221; headed for Hong Kong: in fact, the MV Kota was carrying 646 metric tons of Malagasy rosewood (Dalbergia spp.), worth up to $13 million. KWS deemed the consignment illegal. A Mombasa court ruled otherwise, and now the rosewood has been handed over to the Hong Kong-based company, Shihua. Rosewood is among the most heavily trafficked types of timber globally, and its extraction from Madagascar led to widespread illegal logging in some of the world&#8217;s most biodiversity-rich and threatened rainforests. This November, the Land and Environment Court in Mombasa upheld an earlier ruling by a lower court that CITES regulations restricting global trade in Malagasy rosewood were not in effect when KWS seized the timber. But Juan Carlos Vasquez, who heads the legal affairs unit of CITES, the global authority on the international trade in wild species, confirmed to Mongabay that Malagasy rosewood was listed in Appendix II of the convention on June 12, 2013. Species are placed on this list if unregulated trade threatens their survival. Madagascar&#8217;s own laws have prohibited rosewood timber exports since 2010. Kenya and Madagascar are both parties to CITES, so Malagasy rosewood cannot enter any CITES member country without proper documentation. But in its ruling, the Mombasa court noted that the consignee submitted permits from the Malagasy government authorizing the export. The company&#8217;s representatives provided a certificate of origin to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/kenya-court-orders-return-of-13m-in-seized-rosewood-to-suspected-traffickers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/kenya-court-orders-return-of-13m-in-seized-rosewood-to-suspected-traffickers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-251207</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Some guitar makers in pursuit of sustainable manufacturing</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/some-guitar-makers-in-pursuit-of-sustainable-manufacturing/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/some-guitar-makers-in-pursuit-of-sustainable-manufacturing/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Apr 2021 17:53:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Stephan Boissonneault]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/04/20172816/4-Furch-Factory-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=241828</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Czech Republic, Panama, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Consumer Action, Consumption, Forest Products, Forests, Rainforests, Rosewood, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Forest Management, Timber, Tropical Forests, and Tropical hardwoods]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The acoustic guitar industry has made a few eco-friendly leaps in recent years, mainly in terms of manufacturing materials. For example, companies like Martin Guitar and Gibson are now using Richlite, a synthetic plastic with wood properties, as an alternative to ebony (Diospyros ebenum) for their fretboards. Petr Furch’s personal mission is to lead the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The acoustic guitar industry has made a few eco-friendly leaps in recent years, mainly in terms of manufacturing materials. For example, companies like Martin Guitar and Gibson are now using Richlite, a synthetic plastic with wood properties, as an alternative to ebony (Diospyros ebenum) for their fretboards. Petr Furch’s personal mission is to lead the green guitar-making revolution — starting with his own company, Czech Republic-based Furch Guitars. In 2014, Furch took over as CEO of the guitar manufacturer that his father had founded, and since then has been finding creative ways to achieve this mission while looking for any opportunity to inspire other industry equals to do the same. But while Furch knows that the material aspect of guitar making is important from an environmental perspective, he says it’s only one side of the coin. The other side: most of the world’s guitar manufacturers still operate out of factories powered by natural gas or, in Furch’s case, coal. But in 2020, Furch switched to green energy for 100% of his guitar manufacturing at the company’s Velké Němčice factory, and the Furch Guitars website declares this has reduced its carbon footprint by two-thirds. The website lists biogas and biomass as some of its renewable energy sources, although whether they’re “green” is currently the subject of much debate. “In the production and the designing of the guitar it’s good just doing a quality kind of analysis of the steps you make,” Furch said in an interview. “So I looked at our&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/some-guitar-makers-in-pursuit-of-sustainable-manufacturing/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-241828</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fears for rosewood as Guinea-Bissau prepares to lift six-year logging ban</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/fears-for-rosewood-as-guinea-bissau-prepares-to-lift-six-year-logging-ban/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/fears-for-rosewood-as-guinea-bissau-prepares-to-lift-six-year-logging-ban/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jan 2021 17:41:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ricci Shryock]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/01/20125415/12-2020-GUINEA-BISSAU-SACRED-FORESTS-18-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=238827</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Guinea-Bissau, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Illegal Logging, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Rosewood, Timber, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Three men are piling wood on a solitary truck parked along the only the road to Djendo, a small town in eastern Guinea-Bissau. They work in silence, throwing rosewood, a high-quality timber especially prized in China, into the vehicle&#8217;s bed. A moratorium on cutting timber was put in place in the West African country in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Three men are piling wood on a solitary truck parked along the only the road to Djendo, a small town in eastern Guinea-Bissau. They work in silence, throwing rosewood, a high-quality timber especially prized in China, into the vehicle&#8217;s bed. A moratorium on cutting timber was put in place in the West African country in 2015, but the manager of this operation says these logs are dead wood, and thus legal to sell. A few months from now, he might not have to worry about explaining himself: high-level government officials in Guinea-Bissau are pushing to lift the logging ban. The council of ministers has drafted a decree lifting the moratorium that awaits only the president’s signature. Loading rosewood into a truck. Image by Ricci Shryock for Mongabay. Forestry agent Malam Djassi was posted to Djendo in 2019 — the first government official anyone here can remember assigned specifically to monitor logging. Recalling the period between 2012 and 2014, when illegal logging threatened to wipe out the country&#8217;s stock of rosewood trees entirely, he says he hopes the moratorium will not be lifted. “High numbers of large trees that existed at that time were almost wiped out,” he says. According to a 2018 report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), timber exports from Guinea-Bissau to China went from 61 tons in 2007 to close to 98,000 tons in 2014. “We think the state should extend the moratorium more so that the smallest trees grow and then open” to timber sales again,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/fears-for-rosewood-as-guinea-bissau-prepares-to-lift-six-year-logging-ban/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/01/fears-for-rosewood-as-guinea-bissau-prepares-to-lift-six-year-logging-ban/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-238827</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Madagascar moves to reopen domestic trade in non-precious timber</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/madagascar-moves-to-reopen-domestic-trade-in-non-precious-timber/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/madagascar-moves-to-reopen-domestic-trade-in-non-precious-timber/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Nov 2020 16:20:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rivonala Razafison]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/11/30160403/RRazafison_MadaWood_Photo1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=237291</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Rainforests, Rosewood, Timber, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — On Oct. 21, Madagascar’s council of ministers issued a decision to reopen the domestic market for so-called ordinary wood — non-precious timber logged from natural forests. This market had been closed for nearly two years, leaving loggers with deteriorating stockpiles of wood they were unable to sell. But timber markets are a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — On Oct. 21, Madagascar’s council of ministers issued a decision to reopen the domestic market for so-called ordinary wood — non-precious timber logged from natural forests. This market had been closed for nearly two years, leaving loggers with deteriorating stockpiles of wood they were unable to sell. But timber markets are a sensitive issue in Madagascar, where forests are rapidly shrinking, illegal logging is ubiquitous and most people depend on wood for fuel and building materials, and the decision sparked questions from the media. Two weeks later, on Nov. 2, the environment ministry held a press conference to clear up any confusion. Ministry personnel clarified that the government will not issue any new permits for commercial logging of ordinary wood, and that its export remains prohibited. They also confirmed that the move in no way applies to precious timber, whose stocks remain illegal to log, sell or export. The harvest and sale of exotic species, such as pine and eucalyptus, which are widely planted for timber and fuel, remains legal. Unprocessed pine wood in Moramanga district, eastern Madagascar, in November 2020. Pine, a commonly planted exotic species, is generally legal to harvest and sell. Image by Rivonala Razafison. A truck loaded with pine logs in Moramanga district in November 2020. Image by Rivonala Razafison. Trade in ordinary timber resumes In January 2019, the environment minister at the time, Alexandre Georget, issued a note suspending the legal exploitation, transport and export of ordinary wood across the island nation.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/madagascar-moves-to-reopen-domestic-trade-in-non-precious-timber/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/madagascar-moves-to-reopen-domestic-trade-in-non-precious-timber/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-237291</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Chinese demand and domestic instability are wiping out Senegal’s last forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/chinese-demand-and-domestic-instability-are-wiping-out-senegals-last-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/chinese-demand-and-domestic-instability-are-wiping-out-senegals-last-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Nov 2020 15:19:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Louise Hunt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/11/05143631/MG_5905-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=236421</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Gambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agroforestry, Climate, Crops, Deforestation, Drought, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Illegal Logging, Mangroves, Rainforests, Rosewood, Subsistence Agriculture, Timber, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“In the years when logging was not happening, sometimes you did not see the sunlight in the bush because of the tree cover,” said Musa Mballo, a forest protection activist from Velingara in the Casamance region of southern Senegal. After a decade of intensive illegal logging, endangered Pterocarpus erinaceus rosewood trees are becoming increasingly scarce [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“In the years when logging was not happening, sometimes you did not see the sunlight in the bush because of the tree cover,” said Musa Mballo, a forest protection activist from Velingara in the Casamance region of southern Senegal. After a decade of intensive illegal logging, endangered Pterocarpus erinaceus rosewood trees are becoming increasingly scarce in the Casamance. Observers told Mongabay this is driving trafficking further into remote rural communities, such as Mballo’s home in the northeast of the region, damaging the environment and livelihoods. “Most of the community relies on agriculture, but now we have this trafficking, the edible fruits in the forest are not growing. Women, especially, don’t have enough resources to sell, some don’t go into the forest because they are afraid of the traffickers. A lot of people are negatively affected,” he told Mongabay. Palm nut processors in Bandajikaki village, Senegal. The palm nuts are harvested from the community forest. The women also act as wardens to protect the forest from illegal timber cutting. ©Jason Florio/United Purpose. The scale of the illegal harvesting and smuggling was recently revealed in a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), which found that approximately 1.6 million rosewood trees were illegally logged in the Casamance and exported from the Gambia to China between June 2012 and April 2020. Previous EIA investigations revealed how trafficking of protected rosewood in West Africa’s dry forests has become the largest in the world, supplying China’s rapacious billion-dollar market for hongmu, a type of rosewood&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/chinese-demand-and-domestic-instability-are-wiping-out-senegals-last-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/chinese-demand-and-domestic-instability-are-wiping-out-senegals-last-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-236421</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>CITES appeals to countries to watch out for trafficked Malagasy rosewood</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/cites-appeals-to-countries-to-watch-out-for-trafficked-malagasy-rosewood/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/cites-appeals-to-countries-to-watch-out-for-trafficked-malagasy-rosewood/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2019 13:36:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/10/07132215/Illegal_rosewood_stockpiles_003-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=223157</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Madagascar, and Singapore]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Rosewood, Timber, timber trade, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[18-1804-152996-CSD]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[International wildlife trade regulators have issued an advisory drawing attention to $50 million worth of Malagasy rosewood logs seized in 2014 in Singapore that could potentially end up in the black market again. A Singapore court ordered the precious wood to be released from custody this April after it acquitted the trader who shipped it [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[International wildlife trade regulators have issued an advisory drawing attention to $50 million worth of Malagasy rosewood logs seized in 2014 in Singapore that could potentially end up in the black market again. A Singapore court ordered the precious wood to be released from custody this April after it acquitted the trader who shipped it into the country. The advisory from the secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), issued Sept. 26, calls on signatories to the treaty, which includes almost all nations, to be on the alert and take action if the contraband finds its way to their shores. The call came in the wake of discussions about the status of illegal rosewood originating from Madagascar at the convention’s 18th Conference of Parties in Geneva this past August. In 2013 CITES banned the export of Malagasy rosewood (genus Dalbergia) and ebony (genus Diospyros), but the ban has been difficult to enforce. Madagascar entered a period of political instability following a coup in 2009, when the state of law-and-order deteriorated dramatically. Illegal logging of rosewood was widespread, including inside national parks, and timber barons stockpiled the precious wood. In 2010, the country banned the export of rosewood, which is highly prized in countries like China, where it is used to manufacture high-end furniture. However, old and freshly cut logs alike continue to enter the illegal market. Coordination among countries through which the rosewood is channeled to its final destination is weak.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/cites-appeals-to-countries-to-watch-out-for-trafficked-malagasy-rosewood/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/cites-appeals-to-countries-to-watch-out-for-trafficked-malagasy-rosewood/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-223157</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Madagascar no longer insisting on selling its seized rosewood, for now</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/madagascar-no-longer-insisting-on-selling-its-seized-rosewood-for-now/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/madagascar-no-longer-insisting-on-selling-its-seized-rosewood-for-now/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Aug 2019 13:29:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/08/30131847/madagascar_2182-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=222095</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Rainforests, Rosewood, Timber, timber trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[18-1804-152996-CSD]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A ban on the international trade in rosewood, a prized timber, remains intact following the close this week of a global summit on the trade in wild animals and plants. What did change at the 18th Conference of the Parties (CoP18) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) was that Madagascar, a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A ban on the international trade in rosewood, a prized timber, remains intact following the close this week of a global summit on the trade in wild animals and plants. What did change at the 18th Conference of the Parties (CoP18) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) was that Madagascar, a key source country for illegal precious wood, withdrew its demand to be allowed to sell rosewood stocks that it had previously seized in the international market. “I reiterate once again a paradigm shift that Madagascar will not consider marketing,” Lala Ranaivomanana, secretary-general of Madagascar’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, said at the CITES summit in Geneva. He added that the country would hold off on any plans to try and sell the stockpile until it had resolved issues surrounding inventory management and control. While selling the rosewood remains an option in the future, the latest decision aligns Madagascar’s position more closely with that of CITES: that the country needs to do more to crack down on the illegal logging and timber trade before a relaxation or lifting of the ban is even considered. “The first thing they need to address is the enforcement issue. The potential conversation on exports and sustainable management will come after that,” said Isabel Camarena, an official with the CITES Secretariat who tracked the discussions. In a July interview Alexandre Georget, Madagascar’s environment minister, told Mongabay that they would not allow any exports of rosewood. In the past, the country&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/madagascar-no-longer-insisting-on-selling-its-seized-rosewood-for-now/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/madagascar-no-longer-insisting-on-selling-its-seized-rosewood-for-now/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-222095</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>We are planting trees everywhere: Q&#038;A with Madagascar’s environment minister</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/we-are-planting-everywhere-qa-with-madagascars-environment-minister/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/we-are-planting-everywhere-qa-with-madagascars-environment-minister/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2019 12:59:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/07/17125056/madagascar_masoala_0749-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=220521</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Forests, Governance, Habitat, Illegal Logging, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Reforestation, and Rosewood]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[18-1804-152996-CSD]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2008 Alexandre Georget, Madagascar’s current environment minister, helped found the country’s first green party, Vert Hasin’i Madagasikara. He did so with his then wife, Saraha Rabeharisoa, to bring attention to pressing environmental issues that plague the sprawling island nation, 90 percent of whose plant and animal species are found nowhere else on Earth. Georget [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2008 Alexandre Georget, Madagascar’s current environment minister, helped found the country’s first green party, Vert Hasin’i Madagasikara. He did so with his then wife, Saraha Rabeharisoa, to bring attention to pressing environmental issues that plague the sprawling island nation, 90 percent of whose plant and animal species are found nowhere else on Earth. Georget was appointed the environment minister by President Andry Rajoelina, who took office in January this year after a bitterly fought election. Since gaining independence in 1960, Madagascar has faced frequent political turmoil, and some hope that an era of political stability could be leveraged for better environmental protection. Addressing the U.N. Environment Assembly in March, the president declared that the island nation would reforest between 40,000 and 80,000 hectares (between 98,800 and 197,600 acres) of land every year. Under the Bonn Challenge, the country has already committed to reforest 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) of land by 2030, a goal distant from the president’s most ambitious declared annual targets. Madagascar has lost about half of its forests since the 1950s, and they continue to be razed at an alarming pace. High rates of poverty translate into heavy dependence on forests and massive illegal logging. Georget spoke to Mongabay recently by phone, explaining the environmental priorities of the Madagascar government, how it plans to meet its ambitious reforestation target, its position on the illegal trade in precious wood, and what role NGOs can play. Alexandre Georget, Madagascar’s environment minister. Image courtesy of Ministère de l&#8217;Environnement&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/we-are-planting-everywhere-qa-with-madagascars-environment-minister/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/we-are-planting-everywhere-qa-with-madagascars-environment-minister/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-220521</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conservationists call for lasting ban on trade in Malagasy precious timber</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/conservationists-call-for-lasting-ban-on-trade-in-malagasy-precious-timber/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/conservationists-call-for-lasting-ban-on-trade-in-malagasy-precious-timber/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 May 2019 11:14:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/05/03104422/madagascar_1861-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=218344</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Governance, Illegal Logging, Rainforests, Rosewood, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[18-1804-152996-CSD]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For over a decade Madagascar has wrestled with a thorny question: What to do with stockpiles of illegal precious timber in government custody? A new analysis contends that selling off the confiscated timber would fuel rather than curb illegal felling and trade of endangered tree species. What needs to be done, according to a paper [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For over a decade Madagascar has wrestled with a thorny question: What to do with stockpiles of illegal precious timber in government custody? A new analysis contends that selling off the confiscated timber would fuel rather than curb illegal felling and trade of endangered tree species. What needs to be done, according to a paper published recently in Biological Conservation, is to offer the hardwood species the highest level of protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) rather than sign off on a government plan to legally sell it. The fate of the stockpile could be decided at the next CITES conference of parties, which was scheduled to be in Sri Lanka later this May but has now been postponed following the terrorist attacks there on Easter. “Across Madagascar, these trees have been heavily exploited, even inside protected areas. Neglecting to move them up to Appendix I, can result in certain species being driven to extinction before being formally described,” authors, Patrick O. Waeber at the Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Derek Schuurman, product manager for Madagascar at a U.K. based tour company, and Lucienne Wilmé of the Washington, D.C.-based NGO World Resources Institute told Mongabay in a joint email response. All trade is banned for species listed in CITES Appendix I. Wood from tree species in two genera from Madagascar, Dalbergia (rosewood and palisander) and Diospyros (ebony), is considered precious timber. They’re coveted for their rich hue, fragrance and durability, and used in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/conservationists-call-for-lasting-ban-on-trade-in-malagasy-precious-timber/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/conservationists-call-for-lasting-ban-on-trade-in-malagasy-precious-timber/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-218344</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal logging poised to wipe Cambodian wildlife sanctuary off the map</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/illegal-logging-poised-to-wipe-cambodian-wildlife-sanctuary-off-the-map/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/illegal-logging-poised-to-wipe-cambodian-wildlife-sanctuary-off-the-map/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 May 2019 19:45:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kit Humphrey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/05/02190154/23-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=217978</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Culture, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Illegal Logging, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, Industry, Logging, Plantations, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Rosewood, Rubber, timber trade, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[4759]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As you approach Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary, five hours north of Phnom Penh, it’s difficult to tell exactly where the park begins. There is no audience of trees to greet you, no sign to welcome you. In many areas, there are no trees at all, the land more reminiscent of parched African savannah than Southeast [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As you approach Beng Per Wildlife Sanctuary, five hours north of Phnom Penh, it’s difficult to tell exactly where the park begins. There is no audience of trees to greet you, no sign to welcome you. In many areas, there are no trees at all, the land more reminiscent of parched African savannah than Southeast Asian rainforest. Where trees do appear, they stand in uniform rows, with vessels taped to their trunks — archetypal features of rubber plantations. While each area of terrain differs from the other, they typify the decimation of protected forest that’s ravaged the once great Beng Per for more than a decade. Vigilante groups and land defenders are going against the grain and doing what they can to protect the jungle, but they’re exceptional cases in a wider tale of loss. When first established in 1993, the park covered 2,425 square kilometers (940 square miles), nearly all of it forest and much of it old growth. By 2000, 1,990 square kilometers (770 square miles) of forest remained, of which more than half — 1,020 square kilometers (390 square miles) — was lost between 2001 and 2018, with the heaviest damage occurring from 2010 onward. This trend shows no sign of slowing. The Global Land Analysis and Discovery lab at the University of Maryland detected more than 27,000 deforestation alerts between Jan. 1 and April 25 this year. The consequences are dire, affecting not only native tree and animal species, but also the communities that call the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/illegal-logging-poised-to-wipe-cambodian-wildlife-sanctuary-off-the-map/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/illegal-logging-poised-to-wipe-cambodian-wildlife-sanctuary-off-the-map/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-217978</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Madagascar’s next president to take office, bears suspect eco record</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/madagascars-next-president-to-take-office-bears-suspect-eco-record/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/madagascars-next-president-to-take-office-bears-suspect-eco-record/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jan 2019 13:10:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/01/18123800/madagascar_masoala_0749-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=214732</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forests, Governance, Illegal Logging, Lemurs, Logging, Politics, Rainforests, Rosewood, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[18-1804-152996-CSD]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Andry Rajoelina is set to be sworn in as president of Madagascar on Jan. 19, following his victory over longtime rival Marc Ravalomanana in the final round of the country’s presidential election last month. Many conservationists and civil society representatives were disappointed by the result, as they deemed Rajoelina’s last stint in power a failure. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Andry Rajoelina is set to be sworn in as president of Madagascar on Jan. 19, following his victory over longtime rival Marc Ravalomanana in the final round of the country’s presidential election last month. Many conservationists and civil society representatives were disappointed by the result, as they deemed Rajoelina’s last stint in power a failure. He served as de facto president from 2009 to early 2014 after a coup d’état carried him to power. His administration was beset by corruption, especially regarding natural resource management, according to numerous reports. Top officials, including Rajoelina himself, were rumored to be involved in the illegal rosewood trade, which flourished during that period, damaging Madagascar’s sensitive and highly biodiverse forests. “The lack of transparency in the management of public resources was a persistent problem, and the rule of law was weaker than ever before,” Ketakandriana Rafitoson, executive director of Transparency International – Initiative Madagascar, wrote in an email to Mongabay about Rajoelina’s time as de facto president. “The trafficking of natural resources (rosewood, gold, gems, etc.) was growing wild,” she said, adding that government corruption levels spiked from 2009 to 2013. Andry Rajoelina, who will be sworn in as Madagascar’s president, with then-president of France Nicolas Sarkozy in 2011. Unlike his rival Marc Ravalomanana, Rajoelina is seen as having close ties with France, Madagascar’s former colonial power. Image by Jeannot Ramambazafy via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). A tumultuous rise In the late 2000s, Rajoelina was the young, hip mayor of Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/madagascars-next-president-to-take-office-bears-suspect-eco-record/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/01/madagascars-next-president-to-take-office-bears-suspect-eco-record/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-214732</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wildlife, ecotourism industry at stake in Madagascar&#8217;s election, says scientist</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/wildlife-ecotourism-industry-at-stake-in-madagascars-election-says-scientist/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/wildlife-ecotourism-industry-at-stake-in-madagascars-election-says-scientist/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Dec 2018 00:13:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/12/18003029/baobabs0149Z_1300px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=213692</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Illegal Logging, Lemurs, Logging, Politics, Rainforests, Rosewood, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar&#8217;s election on Wednesday could have major implications for the future of the island&#8217;s environment and wildlife &#8212; and by extension, its rising ecotourism sector &#8212; says a prominent conservation scientist. In an op-ed published this week in Al Jazeera, William F. Laurance, a researcher at James Cook University in Australia, warns that if Madagascar [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar&#8217;s election on Wednesday could have major implications for the future of the island&#8217;s environment and wildlife &#8212; and by extension, its rising ecotourism sector &#8212; says a prominent conservation scientist. In an op-ed published this week in Al Jazeera, William F. Laurance, a researcher at James Cook University in Australia, warns that if Madagascar elects former president Andry Rajoelina, the country&#8217;s dwindling natural resources could face renewed assault. Under Rajoelina&#8217;s previous reign, which followed a 2009 coup, Madagascar&#8217;s forests, wildlife, and coastal waters were pillaged. Rajoelina himself was linked to trafficking in rosewood timber: &#8220;Upon his removal, a stash of rosewood logs was found in the presidential palace,&#8221; writes Laurance. A critically endangered indri lemur (Indri indri), the largest lemur species. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. The environmental devastation under Rajoelina continued through his successor&#8217;s Hery Rajaonarimampianina&#8217;s rule, with a surge in deforestation and an auctioning off of community-managed fishing areas to foreign industrial fleets. With 95 percent of Madagascar&#8217;s lemurs classified as as either &#8220;endangered&#8221; or &#8220;critically endangered&#8221;, there is a real risk that a Rajoelina presidency could diminish some of the island&#8217;s biggest attractions for nature tourists. &#8220;We can see Rajoelina&#8217;s predatory attitude to the environment as demonstrated by his track record,&#8221; writes Laurance. &#8220;One must only look to the appalling state of the Malagasy rainforests to witness his rapaciousness.&#8221; &#8220;Appallingly, one of Rajoelina&#8217;s first acts was to legalize the felling of precious hardwoods by executive decree,&#8221; he continues. &#8220;The illicit trade flourished: after a year of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/wildlife-ecotourism-industry-at-stake-in-madagascars-election-says-scientist/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/wildlife-ecotourism-industry-at-stake-in-madagascars-election-says-scientist/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-213692</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>CITES rejects another Madagascar plan to sell illegal rosewood stockpiles</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/cites-rejects-another-madagascar-plan-to-sell-illegal-rosewood-stockpiles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/cites-rejects-another-madagascar-plan-to-sell-illegal-rosewood-stockpiles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Oct 2018 12:49:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/10/24110203/madagascar_ankarana_0307-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=211420</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Madagascar, and Russia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Products, Forests, Governance, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Illegal Logging, Law Enforcement, Logging, Mining, Organized Crime, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rosewood, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[ACF2017]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A single log of rosewood from Madagascar can sell for thousands of dollars in China, and a bed made from the wood can cost as much as $1 million. But an embargo on international rosewood sales under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) makes the sale of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A single log of rosewood from Madagascar can sell for thousands of dollars in China, and a bed made from the wood can cost as much as $1 million. But an embargo on international rosewood sales under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) makes the sale of Madagascar rosewood illegal. This has left people in Madagascar with the task of figuring out what to do with all of the rosewood that’s already been logged, but remains in country — a huge supply of logs and planks collectively worth tens of millions of dollars. At a meeting in Sochi, Russia, earlier this month, CITES’s Standing Committee rejected Madagascar’s latest business plan to sell off its rosewood stockpiles, largely because the plan called for local timber barons to be paid for their wood. Environmental groups argued that operators who logged illegally should not be rewarded for it. “We found several shortcomings in the plan but the main issue was potential benefits for people who’ve been involved in illegal activity,” Susanne Breitkopf, who attended the meeting in Sochi, told Mongabay. Breitkopf is a forest policy manager at the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. “This would set a very worrying precedent,” she said. At the CITES meeting, delegations from several African countries also opposed Madagascar’s plan because they feared their own timber barons would learn the wrong lesson from the deal, Breitkopf said. Carved rosewood furniture. Image by Jane Tan Kok/Pixabay Porous stockpiles&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/cites-rejects-another-madagascar-plan-to-sell-illegal-rosewood-stockpiles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/cites-rejects-another-madagascar-plan-to-sell-illegal-rosewood-stockpiles/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-211420</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodia accuses Vietnam of complicity in illegal cross-border logging</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/cambodia-accuses-vietnam-of-complicity-in-illegal-cross-border-logging/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/cambodia-accuses-vietnam-of-complicity-in-illegal-cross-border-logging/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Oct 2018 10:28:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kit Humphrey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/10/01185455/Illegal_rosewood_stockpiles_003-768x469.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=211237</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Cambodia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Endangered Species, Forests, Illegal Logging, Logging, Rainforests, Rosewood, timber trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.3]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[HANOI — Cambodia has asked Interpol to investigate Vietnam after accusing its neighbor of knowingly accepting fraudulent permits for rare, illegally logged rosewood timber for transport across their shared border. Siamese rosewood (Dalbergia cochinchinensis) is one of the most valuable species of tree in the world to timber criminals. A single cubic meter can sell [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[HANOI — Cambodia has asked Interpol to investigate Vietnam after accusing its neighbor of knowingly accepting fraudulent permits for rare, illegally logged rosewood timber for transport across their shared border. Siamese rosewood (Dalbergia cochinchinensis) is one of the most valuable species of tree in the world to timber criminals. A single cubic meter can sell for as much as $5,000 in Cambodia, although that amount goes up significantly once it’s smuggled into Vietnam or China. The potential illegal profits are tantalizing: a single, ornately carved bedpost has been known to sell for as much as $1 million in Shanghai. Even after Cambodia banned logging of the rare and protected tree in 2013, stocks of the species have been devastated across the border with Vietnam by an insatiable industry. In 2017, Cambodia submitted letters to the U.N.’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which reveal how government officials requested Vietnam take action against the logging. Ty Sokhun, head of Cambodia’s CITES Management Authority, said in a letter to the U.N.’s International Environment House in October 2017 that Vietnam “continued to allow the entry into the country of rosewood, repeatedly referencing CITES permits, notwithstanding that they had been previously informed on several occasions of the illegality of those permits.” Jago Wadley, senior forests campaigner with the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), said that although there were likely to have been errors on both sides, Vietnam appeared to be at fault on this occasion. “Ultimately a state&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/cambodia-accuses-vietnam-of-complicity-in-illegal-cross-border-logging/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/cambodia-accuses-vietnam-of-complicity-in-illegal-cross-border-logging/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-211237</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Madagascar proposes paying illegal loggers to audit or buy their rosewood</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/madagascar-proposes-paying-illegal-loggers-to-audit-or-buy-their-rosewood/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/madagascar-proposes-paying-illegal-loggers-to-audit-or-buy-their-rosewood/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Aug 2018 11:47:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rowan Moore Gerety]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/06/19115551/animals_zh_061_Banner-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=209104</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Products, Forests, Governance, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Law Enforcement, Logging, Mining, National Parks, Organized Crime, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rosewood, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G00042425]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nobody knows just how much rosewood Madagascar’s timber barons have hidden away in caches throughout the country. Buried in the sand, sunken in rivers, or tucked away in remote, walled compounds, these illicit stockpiles are thought to be worth tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars in all, the product of a wave of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nobody knows just how much rosewood Madagascar’s timber barons have hidden away in caches throughout the country. Buried in the sand, sunken in rivers, or tucked away in remote, walled compounds, these illicit stockpiles are thought to be worth tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars in all, the product of a wave of illegal logging that laid waste to the country’s national parks during a political crisis surrounding a 2009 coup d’état. But after years of Sisyphean attempts to figure out the extent of the haul, Madagascar’s government is now proposing paying loggers for access to their illicit stockpiles in order to keep tabs on the wood, or even buying the wood back from them directly. By doing so, the government hopes to clear the way for the wood to be exported legally so the country can at last achieve “stock zero,” that is, eliminate all stockpiles of cut rosewood to make it easier to keep tabs on any new logging. “It is clear the wood is illegal,” said Nanie Ratsifandrihamanana, who runs the Madagascar program for the international conservation NGO World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). As such, she says she’s worried that compensating operators who submit to government monitoring or a buyback program would “send a wrong message of rewarding people who broke the law.” The Madagascar government made its latest proposal informally in a two-day workshop in the capital, Antananarivo, in June. The World Bank facilitated the workshop, which included representatives from other intergovernmental organizations,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/madagascar-proposes-paying-illegal-loggers-to-audit-or-buy-their-rosewood/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/madagascar-proposes-paying-illegal-loggers-to-audit-or-buy-their-rosewood/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-209104</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Madagascar: Yet another anti-trafficking activist convicted</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/madagascar-yet-another-anti-trafficking-activist-convicted/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/madagascar-yet-another-anti-trafficking-activist-convicted/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jun 2018 12:11:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/06/19115551/animals_zh_061_Banner-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=207553</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar and Endangered Environmentalists]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Ecology, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forest Products, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Green, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Law Enforcement, Logging, Organized Crime, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rosewood, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G00042425]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An activist working to stem corruption and wildlife trafficking in northeastern Madagascar was convicted and immediately released earlier this month — a tactic that has become common in the island nation and is seen as a way of cracking down on environmental activism. The charges against Christopher Magnenjika included “rebellion” and insulting local officials. He spent [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An activist working to stem corruption and wildlife trafficking in northeastern Madagascar was convicted and immediately released earlier this month — a tactic that has become common in the island nation and is seen as a way of cracking down on environmental activism. The charges against Christopher Magnenjika included “rebellion” and insulting local officials. He spent more than three weeks in prison before a court pronounced him guilty and fined him on June 8. Magnenjika is the volunteer communications coordinator for Lampogno, a local group that fights against the trafficking of natural resources, such as rosewood (Dalbergiaspp.), a valuable tropical hardwood that grows in the area. He has called out corruption not just in the illegal rosewood trade but also in the school system and the ferry transport system in his village of Rantabe, south of the city of Maroantsetra. Christopher Magnenjika, a Malagasy activist who was tried, convicted, and released earlier this month. Image courtesy of Clovis Razafimalala. His recent case makes him at least the tenth Malagasy activist to be imprisoned in recent years, and several others have faced intimidation. “There is a striking resemblance between Christopher’s case and that of other environmental activists in Madagascar, who have also faced accusations of ‘rebellion’ as an excuse to silence them,” Makmid Kamara, Amnesty International’s deputy director of global issues, said in a statement. Magnenjika’s case bears similarities to that of Clovis Razafimalala, the Lampogno coalition’s president, who was imprisoned for 10 months before being tried, convicted, fined and released on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/madagascar-yet-another-anti-trafficking-activist-convicted/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/madagascar-yet-another-anti-trafficking-activist-convicted/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-207553</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Environmental reporting in Vietnam often a comedy of errors</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/environmental-reporting-in-vietnam-often-a-comedy-of-errors/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/environmental-reporting-in-vietnam-often-a-comedy-of-errors/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jan 2018 08:37:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Michael Tatarski]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/29143756/IMG_5795edit-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=203319</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asia and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Forests, Freedom of Information, Illegal Logging, Journalism, Rainforests, Rosewood, timber trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.3]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam &#8211; This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but reporting on the environment in Vietnam is not an easy task. The one-party state was recently ranked 175 out of 180 in Reporters Without Borders’ 2017 World Press Freedom Index, between Sudan and China. Vietnam’s major newspapers are state-owned, and nearly everything [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam &#8211; This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but reporting on the environment in Vietnam is not an easy task. The one-party state was recently ranked 175 out of 180 in Reporters Without Borders’ 2017 World Press Freedom Index, between Sudan and China. Vietnam’s major newspapers are state-owned, and nearly everything published on paper within the country must go through a censor before it hits the streets. The internet is not restricted in the same way that it is in China, but it is common knowledge that social media networks like Facebook are monitored by government ministries. On the ground, this translates to heavily restricted access for journalists, cagey responses to questions, and absolutely zero interest from anyone involved in the government in talking to the press. Over the last year in particular, numerous citizen journalists have received lengthy prison sentences for writing about corruption and environmental abuses. Since starting as a Vietnam-based correspondent for Mongabay in 2016, I’ve come to rely on NGOs such as the WWF, Forest Trends and Fauna and Flora International (FFI) for access to information and guides when in the field reporting. I quickly learned that emails to government ministries go unread. I’ve gone on four reporting trips in Vietnam for Mongabay; three in the country’s north and one in a national park that is home to several of the world’s largest, most spectacular caves in the central region on the border with Laos. Somewhat surprisingly, given the often suffocating reporting atmosphere&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/environmental-reporting-in-vietnam-often-a-comedy-of-errors/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/environmental-reporting-in-vietnam-often-a-comedy-of-errors/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-203319</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>CITES rejects Madagascar’s bid to sell rosewood and ebony stockpiles</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/12/cites-rejects-madagascars-bid-to-sell-rosewood-and-ebony-stockpiles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/12/cites-rejects-madagascars-bid-to-sell-rosewood-and-ebony-stockpiles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Dec 2017 13:01:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/12/12124516/animals_00653-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=202014</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Europe, Madagascar, and Switzerland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Crime, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Products, Forests, Governance, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Illegal Logging, Logging, National Parks, Organized Crime, Parks, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rosewood, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In August, the government of Madagascar drafted a business plan to sell its stockpiles of rosewood and ebony — hundreds of thousands of logs. The plan required the approval of CITES, which has banned the trade of all species of Malagasy rosewood (Dalbergia spp.) and ebony (Diospyros spp.) since 2013. On December 1 during a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In August, the government of Madagascar drafted a business plan to sell its stockpiles of rosewood and ebony — hundreds of thousands of logs. The plan required the approval of CITES, which has banned the trade of all species of Malagasy rosewood (Dalbergia spp.) and ebony (Diospyros spp.) since 2013. On December 1 during a five-day meeting of its standing committee in Geneva, CITES rejected the plan because of the government’s lack of progress in tackling the so-called rosewood crisis and its failure, thus far, to audit enough of the stockpiles. Illegal logging of rosewood and other precious timber spiked in Madagascar’s northeastern rainforests, including in national parks, following a 2009 coup. The logging has since declined but the fate of stockpiled wood has remained an open question. Madagascar’s government controls only a small portion of the stockpiles. Most of the rosewood covered by the business plan is in “declared” stockpiles that remain in the possession of timber traders and have never been fully counted or verified. Most observers believe that timber barons have over-declared the number of logs in their stockpiles so that they can keep adding to them, and that the Stockpiled rosewood logs outside the provincial forestry and environment office in the northeastern city of Antalaha fill more than half the courtyard to head-height, but local officials there have no record of how much wood they are charged with securing. Photo by Rowan Moore Gerety for Mongabay. stockpiles are now being used as clearinghouses for newly cut,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/12/cites-rejects-madagascars-bid-to-sell-rosewood-and-ebony-stockpiles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/12/cites-rejects-madagascars-bid-to-sell-rosewood-and-ebony-stockpiles/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-202014</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Madagascar petitions CITES to sell millions in stolen rosewood</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/madagascar-petitions-cites-to-sell-millions-in-stolen-rosewood/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/madagascar-petitions-cites-to-sell-millions-in-stolen-rosewood/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Nov 2017 15:02:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Dan AshbyLucy Taylor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/11/13122056/DAshbyLTaylor_Rosewood_GUIDE-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=201091</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Products, Forests, Governance, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Law Enforcement, Logging, Mining, National Parks, Organized Crime, Parks, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rosewood, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SAVA REGION, Madagascar — Madagascar is applying to sell millions of dollars’ worth of illegally logged timber, prompting fears of a bonanza for traffickers. The country has stockpiled tens of thousands of precious rosewood logs seized from illegal loggers who cut them from beautiful, ostensibly protected national parks. An export ban has been in place [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SAVA REGION, Madagascar — Madagascar is applying to sell millions of dollars’ worth of illegally logged timber, prompting fears of a bonanza for traffickers. The country has stockpiled tens of thousands of precious rosewood logs seized from illegal loggers who cut them from beautiful, ostensibly protected national parks. An export ban has been in place since 2010, but Madagascar has now applied to the wildlife regulators under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to sell thousands of tons of the wood to China, Japan, the United States and the European Union. It also wants to facilitate sales in five other countries where stocks are being held. The CITES Standing Committee will make a recommendation later this month on whether sales should go ahead. The government’s own director of forestry in the affected Sava region in northern Madagascar admitted to Mongabay that he fears that the “rosewood mafia” still owns many stocks. “It’s hard to tell who are the legitimate owners and who are the dangerous people, so it’s like a mafia action,” said Arsonina Bera. “That’s why I’m saying it’s better to destroy the wood because otherwise the mafia would further intervene in our lives.” Members of parliament and other public officials own stockpiles, according to Bera. The UK-based NGO TRAFFIC estimates that 98 percent of all Madagascan rosewood (genus Dalbergia) is exported to China, where it is prized for its deep red color and often crafted into high-end furniture. Rosewood has become the world’s biggest wildlife&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/madagascar-petitions-cites-to-sell-millions-in-stolen-rosewood/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/madagascar-petitions-cites-to-sell-millions-in-stolen-rosewood/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-201091</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Logjam: Inside Madagascar’s illegal-rosewood stockpiles</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/logjam-inside-madagascars-illegal-rosewood-stockpiles/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/logjam-inside-madagascars-illegal-rosewood-stockpiles/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Nov 2017 21:17:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rowan Moore Gerety]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/11/07231138/RMooreGerety_Rosewood_Fossa-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=200924</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Products, Forests, Governance, Green, Habitat, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Law Enforcement, Logging, Mining, National Parks, Organized Crime, Parks, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rosewood, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ANTALAHA, Madagascar — The piles of rosewood logs outside Chantal Rasoanirina’s office filled more than half the courtyard to head height. Each log, wet and weathered, was marked with a faded bar code left by a team that came from the capital city of Antananarivo to audit the stockpile between October and December of 2015. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ANTALAHA, Madagascar — The piles of rosewood logs outside Chantal Rasoanirina’s office filled more than half the courtyard to head height. Each log, wet and weathered, was marked with a faded bar code left by a team that came from the capital city of Antananarivo to audit the stockpile between October and December of 2015. Rasoanirina, a forestry official here, looked out at the wood through her doorway with dismay. Some of the logs had been there for more than five years. Others the visitors from the capital had brought in by boat from remote outposts. She never learned the final count when they left that December, and said there had been no movement whatsoever in the past 18 months. “We’re an ‘intermediary site’ for the state — I don’t know where it goes next,” she shrugged. From her perspective, overseeing the stockpile has been a nerve-wracking, thankless task; she’d rather not answer for it at all. “Lots of people come by and ask questions,” she said. “It would be good if this rosewood disappeared, so there wouldn’t be any more questions about it.” Many of the logs stocked outside the provincial forestry and environment office in Antalaha bear the marks of multiple rosewood inventories carried out since 2010: barcodes affixed in late 2015, as well as blue, yellow, and red paint from earlier counts. Photo by Rowan Moore Gerety for Mongabay. But the rosewood here, and in 72 similar stockpiles of seized logs up and down Madagascar’s east coast,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/logjam-inside-madagascars-illegal-rosewood-stockpiles/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/logjam-inside-madagascars-illegal-rosewood-stockpiles/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-200924</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Another Madagascar environmental activist imprisoned</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/another-madagascar-environmental-activist-imprisoned/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/another-madagascar-environmental-activist-imprisoned/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Oct 2017 12:35:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/10/20122954/ECarver_Activists_uroplatus_fimbriatus227-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=200264</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar and Endangered Environmentalists]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Ecology, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forest Products, Forests, Gold Mining, Governance, Green, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Law Enforcement, Logging, Mining, National Parks, Organized Crime, Parks, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rosewood, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar &#8212; In Madagascar, speaking out against corporate wrongdoing or government corruption can be dangerous business. So it took some courage for Raleva, a 61-year-old farmer, to stand up and ask questions at a meeting in his village in southeast Madagascar on September 27. A Chinese-Malagasy company, previously expelled from the area, had come [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar &#8212; In Madagascar, speaking out against corporate wrongdoing or government corruption can be dangerous business. So it took some courage for Raleva, a 61-year-old farmer, to stand up and ask questions at a meeting in his village in southeast Madagascar on September 27. A Chinese-Malagasy company, previously expelled from the area, had come to announce that it would resume its gold-mining work. Company representatives had brought with them the “chef de district,” a powerful local official. The conflict began in August 2016, when the mining company, managed by Gianna Mac Lai Sime, a Malagasy woman of Asian descent who lives in the nearby city of Mananjary, came to mine the area. Madagascar’s mining ministry shut down the operation, citing a lack of permits. The company has since submitted an application to the National Environment Office, but no permits have been issued, according to Hery Rajaomanana, the head of the office’s environmental impact unit. Yet at the fateful meeting three weeks ago, the company told the people of Vohilava, Raleva’s village, that the permits had been granted. When Raleva demanded to see them, he was arrested, and has been locked up ever since. “He should not have to spend one night in jail,” Tamara Léger, who runs the Madagascar desk for Amnesty International Southern Africa, told Mongabay. But such is the life of an activist in Madagascar. In recent years, those fighting wildlife trafficking or land grabbing have, in the end, often been targeted by the government. “The criminal&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/another-madagascar-environmental-activist-imprisoned/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/another-madagascar-environmental-activist-imprisoned/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-200264</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Anti-trafficking activist held without trial in Madagascar</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/anti-trafficking-activist-held-without-trial-in-madagascar/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/anti-trafficking-activist-held-without-trial-in-madagascar/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2017 13:51:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fabienne Rafidiharinirina]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/05/08134345/madagascar_lemurs_0026-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=195575</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Endangered Environmentalists]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Ecology, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Policy, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Forest Products, Forests, Governance, Green, Human Rights, Illegal Logging, Law Enforcement, Logging, National Parks, Organized Crime, Parks, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rosewood, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Clovis Razafimalala heads Lampogno, an organization seeking an end to illegal rosewood trafficking in northeastern Madagascar. Charged with unauthorized rebellion and burning state files and property during a protest he maintains he did not participate in, he has been imprisoned without trial since September 2016. Rosewood, a suite of species in the genus Dalbergia, is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Clovis Razafimalala heads Lampogno, an organization seeking an end to illegal rosewood trafficking in northeastern Madagascar. Charged with unauthorized rebellion and burning state files and property during a protest he maintains he did not participate in, he has been imprisoned without trial since September 2016. Rosewood, a suite of species in the genus Dalbergia, is one of the world’s most sought-after hardwoods, primarily to feed demand in China for the manufacture of luxury furniture. Several species endemic to Madagascar are listed as endangered or vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. These have been subject to heavy, destructive logging particularly in the country’s national parks and protected areas, a situation that flared up following a 2009 coup. Malagasy law prohibits the export of rosewood, and its trade is currently banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). In a phone call and an emailed statement from prison in the eastern city of Tamatave, Razafimalala recently told Mongabay that his fight against rosewood traffickers has been going on for years. He and his fellow activists have sought to raise public awareness, held workshops and press conferences, and lobbied officials, all the while operating under threats of death or imprisonment, he said. Clovis Razafimalala. Photo courtesy of Clovis Razafimalala. According to Razafimalala the story started in April 2009, soon after the coup. That’s when he and five friends began hosting a weekly public education program on a local radio station, Radio 2000,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/anti-trafficking-activist-held-without-trial-in-madagascar/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/anti-trafficking-activist-held-without-trial-in-madagascar/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-195575</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal trade threatens nearly half the world&#8217;s natural heritage sites: WWF</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/04/illegal-trade-threatens-nearly-half-the-worlds-natural-heritage-sites-wwf/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/04/illegal-trade-threatens-nearly-half-the-worlds-natural-heritage-sites-wwf/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Apr 2017 07:50:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/04/27073206/Tiger-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=195118</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Central America, Global, South America, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Elephants, Endangered Environmentalists, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Plants, Protected Areas, Rhinos, Rosewood, Tigers, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and World Heritage Convention]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Wildlife crime plagues nearly half of the world&#8217;s natural UNESCO World Heritage sites, according to a new WWF report. Illegal harvesting &#8212; poaching, illegal logging and illegal fishing &#8212; of rare species protected under CITES (Convention on International trade in Endangered Species), and their trafficking, occurs in 45 percent of the more than 200 natural [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Wildlife crime plagues nearly half of the world&#8217;s natural UNESCO World Heritage sites, according to a new WWF report. Illegal harvesting &#8212; poaching, illegal logging and illegal fishing &#8212; of rare species protected under CITES (Convention on International trade in Endangered Species), and their trafficking, occurs in 45 percent of the more than 200 natural World Heritage sites, the study reported. Poaching of threatened animal species, such as elephants, rhinos and tigers, has been reported in at least 43 World Heritage sites, for example. Illegal logging of high-value tree species like rosewood and ebony was found to occur in 26 heritage properties, and illegal fishing has been reported from 18 out of the current 39 marine and coastal properties. Illegal rosewood stockpiles in Antalaha, Madagascar, in 2007. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Natural World Heritage sites, from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to the Sundarbans in India and Bangladesh, Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Galápagos Islands, include some of the world&#8217;s most iconic species. Many of these sites are also the last refuges of critically endangered species. For example, Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia is believed to host the last remaining wild population of around 60 critically endangered Javan rhinos. Similarly, the Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California is home to the critically endangered vaquita, the world&#8217;s smallest porpoise. The extremely rare vaquita is now estimated to be down to the last 30 individuals. Conservationists fear that if current levels&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/04/illegal-trade-threatens-nearly-half-the-worlds-natural-heritage-sites-wwf/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/04/illegal-trade-threatens-nearly-half-the-worlds-natural-heritage-sites-wwf/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-195118</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study finds more than 350k trees illegally felled in Madagascar&#8217;s protected areas in five-year span</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/02/study-finds-more-than-350k-trees-illegally-felled-in-madagascars-protected-areas-in-five-year-span/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/02/study-finds-more-than-350k-trees-illegally-felled-in-madagascars-protected-areas-in-five-year-span/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Feb 2017 17:22:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/02/23171133/1280px-Illegal_rosewood_stockpiles_002-708x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=193440</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Forestry, Forests, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Law Enforcement, Logging, Research, Rosewood, Timber, Timber Laws, timber trade, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A study released this month by TRAFFIC, an NGO that monitors the wildlife trade, finds that governance has been so lacking in the forests of Madagascar in recent years that hundreds of thousands of trees have been illegally cut down in protected areas. More than 350,000 trees were felled between March 2010 and March 2015, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[A study released this month by TRAFFIC, an NGO that monitors the wildlife trade, finds that governance has been so lacking in the forests of Madagascar in recent years that hundreds of thousands of trees have been illegally cut down in protected areas. More than 350,000 trees were felled between March 2010 and March 2015, the study states, despite being in areas that have been granted official protected status. At least one million logs were illegally exported from Madagascar during those years — that’s more than 150,000 metric tons-worth of logs, per the study. The primary target of illegal loggers is rosewood and palisander, both species belonging to the genus Dalbergia, though other precious hardwood species like ebony (in the genus Diospyros) are targeted as well. “Poor governance and corruption led to an anarchic situation with no control over timber harvesting resulting in an all-out ‘timber-rush’ with widespread felling of rosewood and ebony trees in protected areas across Madagascar, from which it will take years for the environment to recover,” Roland Melisch, TRAFFIC’s Senior Programme Director for Africa, said in a statement. Madagascar’s precious hardwood timber species are in high demand in Europe and the United States, where they’re used in the manufacture of musical instruments, and in Asia, where they’re used in high-end furniture, especially in China. The TRAFFIC study cites numerous factors that contribute to the poor management of precious timber in Madagascar, including a lack of consistent regulations governing the logging of the selectively targeted species, allegations&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/02/study-finds-more-than-350k-trees-illegally-felled-in-madagascars-protected-areas-in-five-year-span/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/02/study-finds-more-than-350k-trees-illegally-felled-in-madagascars-protected-areas-in-five-year-span/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-193440</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>UK greenheart restriction could put pressure on Guyana’s logging economy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/uk-greenheart-restriction-could-put-pressure-on-guyanas-logging-economy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/uk-greenheart-restriction-could-put-pressure-on-guyanas-logging-economy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Dec 2016 18:53:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Akola Thompson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/12/13144747/logging-concession-large-768x432.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=191646</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Guyana and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Certification, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Governance, Logging, Rainforests, Rosewood, and timber trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KWAKWANI, Guyana &#8211; On most weekday mornings, 46-year-old Jennifer Edwards wakes up in the town of Kwakwani, deep in the heart of Guyana’s southern logging country. She goes about her morning ritual, sees her family off, and then heads to work at her co-managed logging concession about 30 miles away. It’s tough work, and just [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KWAKWANI, Guyana &#8211; On most weekday mornings, 46-year-old Jennifer Edwards wakes up in the town of Kwakwani, deep in the heart of Guyana’s southern logging country. She goes about her morning ritual, sees her family off, and then heads to work at her co-managed logging concession about 30 miles away. It’s tough work, and just getting there is a challenge. “Most of we don’t own vehicles and so to go in, so we either take a ride in with a logger…or we hire something,” Edwards said in Guyanese Creole, the dialect commonly used amongst area residents, in an interview with Mongabay. “Sometimes you hope and pray that someone going your direction, ‘cause to hire something is expensive.” Involved in the logging industry for over 25 years, a few years back Edwards partnered with 51 year-old Devina Palls, a member of the regional forest production association. Formed in 2001 to help small loggers gain logging concessions, the association now has over 180 members and 16,000 acres under the State Forest Permit. Once on the job, Edwards oversees two workers and examines and measures greenheart (Chlorocardium rodiei) and wamara – or Guyana rosewood &#8211; (Swartzia leiocalycina) tree species selected for harvest. Greenheart is a tropical hardwood particularly suited for marine and freshwater construction, and is crucial to Guyana’s forestry industry. It is one of the few places in the world where greenheart – one of the toughest and most durable woods known to man – can be found. For small logging concession&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/uk-greenheart-restriction-could-put-pressure-on-guyanas-logging-economy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/uk-greenheart-restriction-could-put-pressure-on-guyanas-logging-economy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-191646</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Victory for forests: Rosewood gets enhanced protection at wildlife summit</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/victory-for-forests-rosewood-gets-enhanced-protection-at-wildlife-summit/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/victory-for-forests-rosewood-gets-enhanced-protection-at-wildlife-summit/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Oct 2016 12:01:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/10/01185455/Illegal_rosewood_stockpiles_003-768x469.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=189908</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Central America, China, Global, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Illegal Logging, International Trade, Law Enforcement, Logging, Rosewood, timber trade, Trade, Trees, Tropical Forests, Tropical hardwoods, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The multi-billion-dollar rosewood trade has wreaked havoc on some of the world’s most endangered old-growth forests. But now, protection for rosewood — the most trafficked wild product in the world — has received a boost. At a recent conservation meeting, governments voted to include all rosewood species belonging to Dalbergia genus under CITES protection, launching [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[The multi-billion-dollar rosewood trade has wreaked havoc on some of the world’s most endangered old-growth forests. But now, protection for rosewood — the most trafficked wild product in the world — has received a boost. At a recent conservation meeting, governments voted to include all rosewood species belonging to Dalbergia genus under CITES protection, launching a clampdown on the illegal trade of rosewood used for making luxury furniture in China. This increased CITES protection means that all international trade in Dalbergia rosewoods will be subject to trade restrictions. The decision was taken at the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP17) to CITES in Johannesburg, South Africa. “These listings send a strong signal to governments in countries where Dalbergia species are still found, that trade may only be permitted when accompanied by documentation verifying that the specimen in question was harvested legally and without further detriment to the health of the species – some of which, such as Siamese rosewood (D. cochinchinensis), have been harvested nearly to the point of commercial extinction,” Naomi Basik Treanor, Manager of the Forest Policy, Trade, and Finance program at Forest Trends, told Mongabay. China, and to a lesser extent from Vietnam, is the major market for luxury rosewood products. Photo by anonymous, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Rosewood refers to a large group of deeply-hued, durable timbers of high economic value, largely used for making expensive furniture as well as musical instruments like guitar. The majority of rosewoods belong to Dalbergia genus.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/victory-for-forests-rosewood-gets-enhanced-protection-at-wildlife-summit/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/victory-for-forests-rosewood-gets-enhanced-protection-at-wildlife-summit/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-189908</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>&#8216;An optimistic place to start&#8217;: Myanmar enacts national logging ban</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/an-optimistic-place-to-start-myanmar-enacts-national-logging-ban/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/an-optimistic-place-to-start-myanmar-enacts-national-logging-ban/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Aug 2016 21:04:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/08/01194848/0803-Panthera_tigris_corbetti_Tierpark_Berlin_832-714-118-440x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=187987</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forest Reporting Network and Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Illegal Logging, Logging, Rosewood, timber trade, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Rumors that have been building for months have come to fruition, with Myanmar announcing a national logging ban effective immediately. Although temporary, conservationists are lauding the ban, which will run until the end of March 2017. Myanmar has seen an uptick in deforestation in recent years, with satellite data from the University of Maryland showing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Rumors that have been building for months have come to fruition, with Myanmar announcing a national logging ban effective immediately. Although temporary, conservationists are lauding the ban, which will run until the end of March 2017. Myanmar has seen an uptick in deforestation in recent years, with satellite data from the University of Maryland showing the country lost nearly 5 percent (2 million hectares) of its tree cover from 2001 through 2014. (Note: tree cover includes both forests and tree plantations.) Of this, 2014 saw more than a quarter-million hectares lost – more than any previous year during the study period. According to environmental watchdogs, overexploitation of Myanmar&#8217;s forests have been driven by corruption and mismanagement in the country&#8217;s timber industry sector. They say the new ban is a big step in the right direction. “This is a decision that demonstrates clear intent to tackle corruption within the forestry sector by Myanmar’s National League for Democracy-led Government, which only came to power in March,&#8221; said Faith Doherty of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). “Of course, there is no one-policy solution to the problem and much work remains to be done, but this is a hugely encouraging and an optimistic place to start.” Myanmar lost more than 2 million hectares of tree cover from 2001 through 2014. One of the states most affected by logging is Kachin, which lies along the country&#8217;s northeastern border with China. The state contains some of Myanmar&#8217;s most extensive intact forest landscapes &#8211; particularly large, continuous&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/an-optimistic-place-to-start-myanmar-enacts-national-logging-ban/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/an-optimistic-place-to-start-myanmar-enacts-national-logging-ban/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-187987</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>From endangered species to commodities: report reveals scale of wildlife crime</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/from-endangered-species-to-commodities-report-reveals-scale-of-wildlife-crime/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/from-endangered-species-to-commodities-report-reveals-scale-of-wildlife-crime/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jun 2016 19:22:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Apoorva Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/06/01201652/south_africa_kruger_0665-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=187009</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Crime, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Logging, Mammals, Pangolins, Plants, Reptiles, Rosewood, Tigers, Traditional Chinese Medicine, trafficking, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Wildlife trafficking is a global problem, revealed the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in their first-ever World Wildlife Crime Report. Released late last month, the report finds, among other things, that more ivory has been seized than cocaine, and that broad corruption is facilitating illegal trade in plants and animals. Developed by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Wildlife trafficking is a global problem, revealed the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in their first-ever World Wildlife Crime Report. Released late last month, the report finds, among other things, that more ivory has been seized than cocaine, and that broad corruption is facilitating illegal trade in plants and animals. Developed by and part of UNODC’s ongoing Global Programme on Wildlife and Forest Crime, the report uses data provided by partner organizations under the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime like the CITES Secretariat and the World Customs Organization, and included an analysis of 164,000 wildlife crime related seizures from 120 different countries. “Based on the latest and best available data, and building on UNODC’s established expertise in researching and analysing multifarious aspects of transnational organized crime, this report comes at a decisive time, when the international community has clearly recognized the urgency of saving our planet’s flora and fauna from the predations of organized criminals,” Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of UNODC said during his remarks at the report’s launch. Image courtesy of UNODC, World Wildlife Crime Report: Trafficking in protected species, 2016. Image courtesy of UNODC, World Wildlife Crime Report: Trafficking in protected species, 2016. Iconic species like tigers are now hanging on by a thread, he said, adding that populations of African elephants and rhinos, too, are under constant pressure from poaching. “But the threat of wildlife crime does not stop with these majestic animals….it also includes thousands and thousands of lesser-known animals, as well&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/from-endangered-species-to-commodities-report-reveals-scale-of-wildlife-crime/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-187009</doi>				</item>
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