New timber ban questioned
As of January, another of Cambodia’s highly traded varieties of rosewood will be protected by an international convention as an endangered species, but given past “dodgy trade”, observers are sceptical of how meaningful that protection will be. Demand from the Chinese market for Myanmarese rosewood soared in 2013 after one of its cousins – the much sought-after Siamese rosewood – was added to Annex 2 of the UN Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species and the Cambodian government outlawed all harvest and trade in the precious hardwood. Last month, at a meeting of its 183 member states in Johannesburg, CITES elected to add Burmese rosewood to Annex 2. Listing a species under Annex 2 means that all exports must first be certified by the country of origin’s CITES management authority. The management authority is required to assess – among other things – whether the specimen was legally acquired and whether its harvest and export would be detrimental to the country’s remaining stocks of its species.
