January 10, 1997
U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE PROPOSES SWEEPING
PROTECTION FOR THREATENED AMAZON MAHOGANY
ENVIRONMENTALISTS APPLAUD BOLD U.S. MOVE
"The administration's bold proposal for limiting trade in
Amazon mahogany and protecting its rainforest environment
displays the kind of international leadership we should expect
from the United States. This could be the single most important
measure to protect the world's rainforests of the decade"
Randall Hayes - Executive Director, Rainforest Action Network
Environmentalists applaud the Fish and Wildlife Service's announcement that
the U.S. will seek sweeping protective measures for the embattled Amazon
big-leaf mahogany tree. For years, environmentalists have staged a bitter
fight against the timber industry and its lobbyists to achieve
international protection for big-leaf mahogany, which has become a symbol
of rainforest destruction.
Today's announcement by the administration means that the international
community will vote on the U.S. proposal at the next meeting of the
Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), to be
held in Zimbabwe in June. This same convention passed international trade
regulations that have protected elephants and gorillas from extinction.
In answer to the United States' leading role as a consumer of mahogany, 137
leading U.S. environmental groups sent a letter to Vice President Al Gore
and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, asking the U.S. government to
take an active role in seeking CITES protection for the threatened tree
species. Environmental groups that signed the letter included: Audobon
Society, Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental
Investigation Agency, Friends of the Earth USA, Greenpeace, Natural
Resources Defense Council, Rainforest Action Network, EarthCulture,
Rainforest Relief, Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, and Western Ancient
Forests Campaign.
According to scientists, mahogany logging is a leading force behind the
destruction of the Amazon rainforest. The species is at such a risk that
the president of Brazil placed a ban on new mahogany logging concessions
for the next two years. Scientists and environmentalists alike hope that
the rampant trade in illegally cut mahogany would be drastically curtailed
by the international regulations.
The United States is the world's leading consumer of tropical hardwoods.
Both U.S. mahogany trade and Brazil's deforestation-rates are on the rise
at a time when other nations are importing dramatically less tropical
timber. Nearly two-thirds of the mahogany exported from Latin America ends
up in the U.S. where it is made into such luxury goods as furniture,
picture frames, caskets, and toilet seats. Bolivia, the leading mahogany
exporting country, announced December 18 that it desired U.S. support in
proposing CITES protection for big-leaf mahogany. This powerful alliance
of rainforest nation and consumer nation bodes well for the success of the
measure in June.
Rainforest Action Network works to protect the Earth's rainforests and
support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots
organizing, and non-violent direct action.
###
(
geocities.com/rainforest)