A rose by any other name. Credit: Erik Patel, CC BY-SA View full size image

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

We are inclined to think that trees are a renewable natural resource. Yet precious hardwood trees have already been almost completely logged out from many countries across the tropics. Myanmar is the latest country to experience the insatiable demand for its precious rosewood.

Rosewood, also known as bois de rose, is an umbrella term for a whole group of tropical timber species, mostly from the genus Dalbergia, Pterocarpus, Diospyros, and Milletia, which all have a dark red hue and high quality timber in common. The vast majority of rosewood is imported to China where it’s fashioned into luxurious, highly-priced ornamental furniture in the Ming and Quing dynasty style.

Myanmar, one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in Asia, has also several species of rosewood highly prized by the Chinese furniture trade. Even though Myanmar’s forest and hardwood stocks have been diminishing for several decades already (less than 10% of the land is now forested, the rosewood logging and smuggling has increased to an unprecedented level in the last three years.

In 2013 alone, Myanmar exported 237,000m³ of rosewood to China, triple the volume of the previous year. This amounts to one thirteenth of the estimated remaining rosewood stock of Myanmar – at current logging rates, Myanmar’s forests will have been stripped of rosewood in just 13 years.

As Chinese hunger for the luxuriant, dark red timber grows and spreads across the greater Mekong region, rosewood species might face not only commercial extinction, but also final, biological extinction.

It is hardly just the loss of a few species that is at stake. Forest overexploited for timber is likely to lose many species of animals, its ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere deteriorates, and it is more likely to experience fires. Logging also brings about more hunting and increases the chances of complete deforestation.

In Myanmar illegal logging also brings with it a raft of socioeconomic problems. Loggers undertake long and dangerous scouting expeditions into the forest, or take the risk of timber smuggling in conflict-ridden border regions, such as Kachin at the border with Yunnan province, China – one of the main rosewood smuggling routes. Not every logger returns from these expeditions. Besides the fact that logging in the tropics is rated as one of the most dangerous jobs, there is in Myanmar an added danger of being shot in a timber-related conflict. Moreover, loggers are often rewarded by various stimulating drugs.

So why isn’t Myanmar establishing commercial rosewood plantations? Some tropical timber can indeed be mass-produced in plantations, especially faster growing species such as rubberwood, eucalyptus, or teak. But the extremely slow growing, high density rosewood trees take many decades to grow to a commercially viable size, requiring several generations of tree planters to wait for the profit. Such long-term investment is commendable, but unlikely in a conflict-ridden, poor country like Myanmar, with unstable land tenure and an explosive political climate.

Act now or lose it

It is in Myanmar’s interest to completely stop the illegal logging and export of rosewood to China. As almost all processing of Burmese rosewood is done in China, no value is added in Myanmar. Worse still, almost no tax is generated: Myanmar lost an estimated US$6 billion through illegal logging between 2013 and 2014. Instead of the desperately needed cash for healthcare, education, and environmental protection, laundered rosewood money goes to corrupt officials and government cronies.

If Myanmar wants to escape its rosewood crisis with at least some viable rosewood populations left, it should take lessons from other countries that have already undergone the “rosewood massacre”. On April 1 this year, the Myanmar government put in place a ban on raw timber export, but without enforcement this cannot be effective. Myanmar has to show its dedication to a permanent, non-negotiable, exception-free rosewood export ban. In Madagascar, we have an example of how temporary and unclear bans only lead to a more dynamic and thriving rosewood black market. During periods of temporary bans, illegal rosewood logging continues, and traders simply accumulate rosewood stockpiles. Meanwhile, rosewood prices go up, stimulating even bigger bouts of logging when the ban is lifted.

However, even an effective national ban on rosewood export might not be enough to stop the rosewood crisis in Myanmar. In some cases, a national export ban caused China’s rosewood appetite to shift to a new country. In other cases, for example Vietnam, China simply grabbed the opportunity of cheaper labour and moved its basic rosewood processing to Vietnam, effectively circumventing the raw timber export ban. This may bring some economic benefit to Vietnam, but does nothing to alleviate the pressure on the forests.

Of the 33 species that pass China’s strict hongmu quality standards for rosewood, more than a third is already deemed vulnerable by the IUCN Red List of Threatened species and six are listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The convention binds signatory countries to regulate or stop trade in the listed species, depending on the degree of protection.

Whereas China offers high levels of support to protect its growing rosewood industry, for customers and businesses, it appears to have a complete lack of interest in regulating the industry’s environmental impact or improving its sustainability. Europe, the US and Australia all tightened their regulations regarding rosewood import in recent years. But with Chinese domestic demand growing significantly since 2011, only stricter regulations in China can save Myanmar’s rosewood forests.

Zuzana Burivalova does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates — and become part of the discussion — on Facebook, Twitter and Google +. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Live Science.

Thai rosewood gets international protection to curb China trade

(Reuters) - Thai rosewood, which fetches exorbitant prices on the international market, was granted protection under international law on Tuesday, with China the main target, but it was not immediately clear how much effect it will have.

A 1989 National Logging Ban already prohibits logging of all rosewood and other precious wood species in Thailand. But huge demand and weak law enforcement means Thai rosewood is smuggled into neighboring countries and shipped to end-users, principally China.

Member states at the annual Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) voted to list Thai rosewood under Appendix II of the CITES which regulates trade of threatened species through logging permits and agreed quotas.

"This is a significant step forward for this desperately threatened species. Finally we have a legal tool to use in China, the main destination and where rosewood prices on the black market are spurring a flood of smuggling," said Faith Doherty, head of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) Forests Campaign.

Rising demand from China's wealthy elite led to a 40 percent increase in traditional rosewood furniture production by Chinese companies in 2010 with prices increasing by 15-40 percent annually, fuelled by speculative investments in "rare wood" products by rich Chinese, says the EIA.

Illegal rosewood logging is dogged by violence and corruption fuelled by its high market price. Thai rosewood can fetch up to $50,000 per cubic meter.

Even the smallest log is valuable. Last year, 45 Cambodian loggers were shot dead by Thai authorities while out searching for rosewood, according to the Cambodian government, although the Thai authorities dispute that figure.

The exploitation of rosewood has led to a 66 percent reduction in Thai rosewood trees between 2005 to 2011, according to the Plant Varieties Protection Division at the Department of Agriculture.

The listing of ramin, a tropical hardwood native to Indonesia, in CITES Appendix II has helped curb large-scale laundering of the timber from Indonesia through to Malaysia.

(Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre in Bangkok and Prak Chan Thul in Phnom Penh; Editing by Alan Raybould and Nick Macfie)

We need Wamara protected.

Housing and You…Wamara – an exotic wood in high demand

By Leonard Gildarie

This week I learnt a little about a wood called wamara. I love purpleheart and crabwood for their beauty. I like greenheart for its resistance to water conditions. All these beautiful types of wood are found in Guyana.But wamara is in a class by itself. It is an exotic wood in high demand for its beauty for making floors and walls. A hardwood, some of the furniture pieces I have seen are simply unbelievable. Wamara, also called Guyana Rosewood, is found a lot here and in a few other countries.

A staircase made from the exotic wamara.

There are questions now over the harvesting of this wood, as one Asian company is now under intense scrutiny for questionable practices and allegations that it is involved in illegal logging activities. I am fiercely protective of this dear land of ours. I do believe we can move this country to a level comparable to Singapore and other successful countries. It will call for strong leadership, the will to succeed and honesty. We do have many, many resources here that are in high demand worldwide. Our bauxite, gold, sugar, and lumber. Then how do we remain poor? I see farmers dumping produce because or little market or poor prices. For relevance to this series of articles, the point is that we must value, and value highly, what we have in this country. I do hope that we think deeply and maybe push more aggressively to set this country on a firmer course than it is right now. For the remainder of the column, I will divert a little from our usual fare of housing, but it is something I think I should share, because it could be of importance to many of our readers, especially those living in Guyana. A few years ago while on a working trip to Kwakwani, located in the Upper Berbice River area, I fell ill. The area, like what happens so very often, had suffered from overflowing banks, from heavy rains. There were lots of flood waters. For a few days I suffered from a strong fever, not paying much mind. Another case of flu, I thought. It became progressively worse and I ended up at Woodlands. The doctor admitted me right away for one week. It was severe case of dengue. He warned me that it will never leave the system and that I had to take care. That even the whiff of flu was enough. He was right. A journalist’s work is no child’s play. It calls for long hours – painstaking work that can take you to ungodly hours. So it was no big deal when less than two weeks ago, I came down with the fever. I thought again that it was the flu. For a few days I went to work with the ‘chills’, feeling cold one moment and hot the next. Last Saturday, I almost fell asleep at the wheel of the car. The problem was that it was in the morning. After driving into my neighbour’s driveway and breaking a piece of the wall, I knew it was serious. I went to Woodlands again. The emergency room was filled with persons, some of them crying. It soon became clear that they were suffering from what I had…severe joint pains, fever, swollen ankles and a several red spots. For that one day, at least 90 cases with symptoms similar to what I had experienced had been to the emergency section. I spoke to the doctor, like a good reporter, and what I learnt was worrying. For a few days, patients had been coming in droves. Doctors suspected Chikungunya, an illness that has been making its rounds in the region. Similar to dengue, the flu also comes with severe joint pains and fever. I didn’t have dengue, but my case was also suspected to be one of Chikungunya. I decided to raise this issue here as there has been no word from the Government over the past week as to how severe the problem is. At GPHC, officials have been reporting a dramatic increase in the number of suspected cases at both its emergency and out-patient departments. The Guyana Watch team on Friday said that its outreach programme had stumbled on several suspected cases. I received a call from a top Government functionary Friday night asking us to check on the Berbice situation where an outbreak is occurring. While Chikungunya is not deadly, it can lead to long term problems if left untreated. I am extremely upset over the silence of the Health Ministry on this problem. A lot of the folks didn’t even know what it is… which meant that not enough is being done to educate our people who remain at risk. How could this be in this day and age? I can’t for any reason understand the silence. In any other countries, the Health Ministry or its equivalent would have been under flak. Not here. We have a cowboy society. Please do continue to send those comments gildarie@yahoo.com or call weekdays on 2258491. May God bless Guyana!

We have to suspend party loyalties and close ranks when it comes to foreign investors. We must ensure that they do not exploit our country and our people.

Table and Chairs made from Guyana's Wamara:

Wamara Guyana Rose Wood:

Soon Guyana will lose this species: Wamara destined for China

Floor of Wamara (purple ebony) with all matched panels of California Claro Walnut both inside and outside of all units, cieling is of Sky blue leather with ...

Decor with Guyana's Wamara: Soon there will be no more of this wood: Blame the corrupt PPP/C

I'm with you on this point, Wally. There needs to be a national outcry against foreigners' indiscriminate exploitation of our rainforest.

Problem is, there is credible allegation that powerful government and ruling party functionaries have been bribed royally to look the other way. In that situation all parties will not close ranks.

This thing looks like Jagdeo's prepaid casket.

I am with you guys on this too.

Watch how they raping we wood. 

JB, I thought this was your mamoo's house.

Me mamoo have 4 house. 

Houses or logies?

Orlando, 2 in guyana, one in TT. All have 2000 USD cognac and wisky on bar. 

Are the ones in Orlando and TT rental properties or are they eyesores in the neighbourhood?

Nice mansion. We family keep option open for when PPP chase we out. Me father have 6 mansions. 

Gyal, tomarra yuh guh tell me ah yu own all ah NY, FL, TT and Guyana. Keep on dreamin'.

Me building me mansion in TT. Living there when me marry next year. 

Imagine two companies control 9% of the total land mass of Guyana, given to them so that they can rape and plunder until the land is left bare. Meanwhile, on the coast, poor people are struggling and the PPP tiefmen are building their mansions with the kickbacks. 

BURMA

Extinction Looms as Notorious Rosewood Loggers Set Sights on Burma Species, Group Warns

By PAUL VRIEZE / THE IRRAWADDY| Tuesday, June 24, 2014 |

4

A warehouse in Dong Ha , Vietnam, housed hundreds of tons of illegally logged Siamese rosewood. (Photo: EIA)

 

RANGOON — Burmese tree species tamalan and padauk are disappearing at an extremely rapid pace as Chinese traders have begun targeting their high-value wood, and the species could be logged to extinction in Burma within as little as three years, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has warned.

Voracious Chinese demand for so-called rosewood species used to make “Hongmu” luxury furniture has set rosewood prices soaring in the past five years, giving rise to an illegal and aggressive trade in Mekong region countries.

 

In Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, rosewood species have all but disappeared, and the trade has fueled corruption and violence, according to the UK-based group, which said that an investigation into the situation in Burma reveals that Chinese traders have now turned to Burmese rosewood species to supply the Hongmu industry.

 

“We know from investigating this that padauk and tamalan are next. If the Myanmar government doesn’t move they are going to be in the same situation as Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia—Laos already has nothing left,” Faith Dorethy, EIA’s forest campaign team leader, told The Irrawaddy in an interview in Rangoon. “Myanmar is the next frontier in rosewood.”

 

EIA research of Chinese trade data found that import of tamalan (also known as Burmese tulipwood) and Burmese padauk has skyrocketed in recent years.

 

Over the period 20

00-2013, China imported 624,000 cubic meters of Burmese rosewoods with a value of US$737 million, but a third of this wood was imported in 2013 alone. “Signs of extreme growth are already showing for 2014,” EIA said, adding that in the first quarter of this year the value of rosewood imports soared to about $240 million, more than double the whole 2012 trade.

The rapid increase in Burmese rosewood imports means that, “Virtually overnight, Myanmar has become the biggest Hongmu log supplier to China worldwide, surpassing more traditional suppliers such as Vietnam and Laos,” the agency said in a briefing provided to The Irrawaddy.

A reported spike in illegal seizures of tamalan and arrests of illegal loggers by Burmese authorities in recent months offered further indications of a rapid increase in the illicit rosewood trade, EIA said. It noted that media reports indicate that logging has “dramatically increased in Sagaing Division.”

 

Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Forestry data estimates that Burma has stocks of 1.6 million cubic meters of tamalan and 1.4 million cubic meter of padauk, according to EIA. It warned that if Chinese imports continue at 2013-2014 rates, “A realistic timeframe for commercial extinction would be somewhere between 3-13 years. Clearly, there is little room for complacency if these species are to be saved.”

EIA has sent the results of its investigation to the Burmese government and urged it to register tamalan and padauk as threatened species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix III, so that the government can seek technical assistance from CITES to regulate domestic trade. Subsequently, it should seek CITES III listing, which would ban all international trade in tamalan and padauk.

“The first step the government can take is to show political will and engage with the CITES process,” said Dorethy, adding that Burma should also pressure China to ban all import of Burmese logs.

Ba Ba Chor, head of the Myanmar Timber Merchants Association, told The Irrawaddy that the booming rosewood trade “is an open secret,” adding that the deputy environment minister has announced in recent months that authorities confiscated around 15,000 tons of tamalan and padauk.

“So if we can catch 15,000 tons, who knows how much [rosewood] escaped,” said Ba Ba Chor, who added that he only deals in teak and regular hardwoods.

New research by EIA found that Chinese imports of illegally logged Burmese rosewood species is skyrocketing. (Graph: EIA)

He said he supported EIA’s recommendation to list tamalan and padauk under CITES and to pressure China into regulating cross-border timber trade, before adding, “They should be listed as endangered; the problem is that to make the law is very easy, but to implement the law is very difficult.”

Staff at the Ministry of Environment’s Forest Department said senior officials were not available for comment on the EIA report.

Officials have previously blamed lawlessness created by the conflict with ethnic Kachin rebels in northern Burma for the rampant timber trade, but claimed that the recently formed Forest Police Department was successfully cracking down on illegal logging in many parts of Burma.

 

Burma’s reformist government has indicated that it is willing to reduce deforestation and regulate the timber industry. Beginning April 1, it banned the export of raw logs and allowed only sawn wood to be exported.

Rare Woods Sought After in China

EIA has earlier spoken out against the clear-cutting of hardwood species in Burma, such as teak, through illegal logging, logging concessions and expansion of plantations. This has been occurring on a massive scale in northern Burma in the past decade, with an estimated $5.7 billion worth of timber smuggled overland into China from 2000 to 2013 through unregulated trade, the agency said in March.

The rosewood trade is different in that the high-value species grow among other trees in the forest and are located by local villagers and brokers, after which loggers come to take out individual trees.

The brownish-red rosewood is prized in China for crafting traditional Hongmu furniture. This Qing and Ming dynasty-style furniture disappeared during the Cultural Revolution, but in recent years replicas have become a status symbol among China’s nouveau riche who pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for Hongmu sets made from the increasingly rare wood.

Dorethy said illegal rosewood trade was proliferating throughout the Mekong region “because of the Hongmu industry and the fact that they have a standard of species that qualify as Hongmu—those species are what traders, companies and loggers are going for.”

The Hongmu industry, which according to EIA enjoys Chinese state support, identifies 33 rosewood species from across the globe as suitable for crafting furniture. Six species are from Burma, and tamalan and padauk are the most sought after.

Tamalan is mostly found in Sagaing Division, and to a lesser extent in Shan and Kachin states, and Mandalay Division. Padauk is concentrated in Shan State and found in Magwe, Mandalay and Sagaing divisions.

Soaring Prices, Violence and Corruption

With declining rosewood stocks in the Mekong region and strong Chinese demand, prices for tamalan and padauk have risen sharply in Burma, and as brokers search for increasingly rare trees, impoverished villagers are being sucked into the trade, according to local timber traders.

A trader, who asked not to be named, said, “Actually most of the trade is in tamalan. Padauk is very rare, we don’t have much padauk anymore. In [Kachin State] if a villager found a padauk tree, they can get $50 or $100 just to show the location of the tree.”

He said tamalan was being sold in Kachin State “at seven times the price of teak,” which would constitute prices of between $10,000 to $15,000 per cubic meter, a fortune in the impoverished communities of northern Burma.

EIA said criminal gangs run by Chinese traders influence the supply chain down to village level, while authorities, border officials and rebel groups are taxing or taking bribes to allow the lucrative trade.

Ba Ba Chor, of the Myanmar Timber Association, said, “It’s a long route from the forest to the border, so you can imagine that all are involved—security persons, administrative persons, all are involved. Local traders, also the army, the KIA [Kachin Independence Army], Chinese traders. It’s kind of a mafia business.”

Dorethy said Burmese rosewoods were being logged unsustainably and without government permits and trucked into China’s Yunnan Province, despite the fact that Yunnan authorities officially instated a log import ban in 2006 and in violation of Burma’s log export ban from April this year.

She described the rapidly expanding rosewood trade in Burma as “a crisis” and said, “The consequences are not just environmental but also social.

“Right now, the number one species [demanded by Chinese traders] is Siamese rosewood, there is about two or three years left and with that comes an increasing violence towards park rangers and villagers—it’s a war zone in Thailand’s forests right now.”

“In Thailand, villagers are being paid in yaba [to log] by brokers,” she said, referring to the local term for methamphetamine tablets. “There have been dozens of killings of Cambodian loggers crossing into Thai forests, and there has been an increase of Thai rangers getting killed trying to protect the last trees.”

 

She added that the government should be “more transparent” about the problem of large-scale rosewood logging, adding that auctioning of seized tamalan and padauk stocks had been shrouded in secrecy.

“So how do we know that the companies that are involved in illegal logging are not the same companies buying up the timber through these auctions?” Dorethy said.

 

 

 

 

Exotic, pricey wood species being shipped out of Guyana

August 17, 2014 | By KNews | Filed Under News 

As the controversy surrounding Bai Shan Lin’s operations in Guyana continues, the main question is why the company is exporting large quantities of exotic woods such as “Locust and Wamara”.

Conservationists have been arguing that countries where these “exotic” woods are found should not export large quantities since they are considered an “invasive species”.

Invasive species, also called invasive exotics or simply exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions.

Sometimes called Guyana Rosewood for its lustrous, dense, and colour, Wamara technically isn’t true rosewood (Dalbergia genus), but is in what could arguably be viewed as one of the most under-appreciated genera of tropical hardwoods: Swartzia.
This genus is filled with a variety of colorful and striped woods, most of which remain obscure. It is considered an “exotic wood” in many parts of the world.

The Locust tree is native to the southeastern United States, but has been widely planted and naturalized elsewhere in temperate North America, Europe, Southern Africa and Asia and is considered an invasive species in some areas.

Pricing for the species…
Bai Shan Lin on July 2009, last, exported 558 pieces of Locust Sawn Timber from Guyana.
In October 2009, the company also exported Wamara Sawn Timber. A total of 5303 pieces were sent out in two containers. World Market demand for these two species of wood could fetch a heavy price.  The “Wamara” which is being sold by the cubic meter can fetch a price of between US$200 and US$600.
Kaieteur News was told that the “Wamara” logs can be sold from between US$260 and US$290. Depending on the demand, the prices can triple, making it one of the best selling timber products being exported.
It is believed that Bai Shan Lin and other logging companies have not been declaring “Wamara and Locust” when exporting. Rather they have been passing this off as mixed hard woods.
Several sources within the Ministry of Natural Resources have said that the Wamara business is among the most lucrative business ventures that Bai Shan Lin is currently involved in.
This newspaper was also told that low level ministry workers along with forestry officials who are tasked with monitoring the export of timber are not able to complete their task. It is being reported that since Bai Shan Lin along with several others entered into joint ventures, it has been “almost impossible” to keep a tab on how much timber is being exported from Guyana.
Bai Shan Lin, a Chinese logging company, has big plans for Guyana: forest concessions covering 960,000 hectares; a 20-kilometre river gold mining concession; a 500-hectare Guyana-China Timber Industry Economic and Trading Cooperation Park and a 160-hectare real estate development.
Despite the scale of the planned operations, Bai Shan Lin’s agreements with the government of Guyana are not public and there has been no discussion in the National Assembly about the company’s plans.

In Guyana, it is illegal for a logging company to take over another logging company’s operation, unless officially authorised by the President. Yet Bai Shan Lin has managed to enter into large scale joint ventures with a number of locals.

I DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS ARTICLE.

WAMARA WAS NOT A WELL USED WOOD, SO IF IT IS HARVESTED, SO WHAT.

THE QUESTION REALLY SHOULD BE

Why the wood mills and processing plants have not been set up in Guyana?

The evidence has now been established that we are not fully reaping the forest.

The other question should be, how much royality Bai shan lin paying?

The other question should be why was this company granted duty free concession when the promise of the processing plant has not been delivered.

Guitar fretboards are made of rosewood. It is a difficult wood to source given the Chinese are not selling to anyone and they control the global market.WAMARA is a good substitute. It is actually a the best for the job. One tree can produce over a thousand of these and imagine if you are selling them at real value to luthiers in Japan, the us or Mexico.

Where there is wamara there is bullet wood ( balata tree) Both of these needs to be protected.

There is also Essential oil of rosewood.

Many of the woods there have essential oils that no one investigates. Lutaballi has a spicy sent for example and I remember smelling the finished wood is one of the ways you know the specie.

The point is the botanical value of these trees can be tremendous and that is lost. Crabwood oil you know is used a lot here and is expensive. At home we do not care for it. Who knows what kinds of oils there exist that can out perform oregano oil in factors of tens as anti bacterial or anti viral agents and we will never know because these idiots want to line their pockets and give it away to the Chinese.

What pisses me off is the Chinese do not give anything for nothing. I keep mentioning the Pandas. All pandas born elsewhere must go back to china because they are "chinese citizens". The US pays China more for renting pandas each year than we get for all our lumber. That should put to shame these fellows in the PPP.