2 minute read
Blood Timber
The Hongmu trade is also linked to, and drives, violence in source and transit countries. In West Africa, Hongmu species are increasingly known as “blood 9mbers” due to connec9ons between illegal Hongmu trade and rebel group uprisings; for example, in the Senegalese Casamance, in Cote d’Ivoire and in northern Nigeria in territories controlled by the Muslim extremist group Boko Haram.
In Thailand, more than 150 forest rangers, police, soldiers and illegal loggers have been killed in firefights during rosewood enforcement opera9ons in recent years.
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Siamese Rosewood (Dalbergia cochinchinensis) being guarded in Phu Pha Yon NaBonal Park, Thailand, 2013
With the rapid deple9on of Siamese rosewood (Dalbergia cochinchinensis) in the greater Mekong subregion, most standing stocks are now restricted to protected areas.
Thailand has some of the best-resourced protected areas in the region, staffed by a rela9vely wellequipped forest ranger force. Despite this high level of site-based protec9on, Siamese rosewood con9nues to be harvested illegally from the country’s protected areas, with even the roots of this species sought aIer. In the absence of effec9ve legisla9on regula9ng 9mber imports into China and Vietnam, and with the growing-value of this increasingly rare species, site-based enforcement will con9nue to be ineffec9ve and inefficient in controlling illegal logging for trade.
The trade in Hongmu species is unsustainable. It is es9mated that in Myanmar, Pterocarpus macrocarpus and Dalbergia oliveri are predicted to become commercially ex9nct within the next 3 - 13 years.
Another example concerns Dalbergia cochinchinensis (Siamese rosewood). In 2011, Thailand es9mated its standing stock at 63,500m3. In 2013, The stock was es9mated to have declined to 22,000m3.
With the commercial ex9nc9on of Huang Hua Li (Dalbergia ordorifia) in China and Zitan (red sandalwood Pterocarpus santalinus) in India, and the CITES restric9on placed on the laOer, the trade in Siamese rosewood (Dalbergia cochinchinensis) grew rapidly and Siamese rosewood became the most soughtaIer Hongmu species globally.
The main species now domina9ng the Hongmu trade in South-East Asia are Burmese rosewood (Dalbergia oliveri/ bariensis) and padauk (Pterocarpus macrocarpus/pedatus), distributed within the Mekong countries of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar. Since 2000, half of China’s Hongmu imports have come from these countries.
The proximity of these countries to China, their weak forest governance and the presence of high-value Hongmu species have made them targets for the criminal networks that underpin much of the global trade.
Stocks in Africa are being similarly depleted. The main African Hongmu species being harvested is Pterocarpus erinaceus, beOer known as ‘kosso’ in China. Petrocarpus erinaceus is found in the savanna forests of west Africa. Over a six year period, Chinese imports of kosso logs increased about 500-fold by value and volume, from 2,788m3 worth US$ one million in 2009 to 705,117m3 worth US$496 million in 2014. During the third quarter of 2015, approximately 42 per cent of the value and 65 per cent of the volume of China’s Hongmu log imports came from west Africa.
Hongmu log yard, Guanlan market in Shenzhen City, China, 2013.
Hongmu furniture showroom, China, 2013.
