Between the 3rd and 15th of November, the 12th year anniversary of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) will be celebrated in Santiago, Chile.
The governments of Guatemala and Nicaragua are presenting a proposal to include mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) in Appendix II of the convention in order to control its trade and avoid possible extinction as a result of unsustainable logging activities. Even though the proposal is supported by a comprehensive scientific study that demonstrates that mahogany is becoming scarce due to illegal logging and the degradation of its habitat, the group Gremial Forestry of Guatemala, which consists of the country’s largest logging companies, opposes any regulations of the international trade in mahogany. The loggers have recently begun pressuring Guatemala’s government to remove the country’s support for the proposal, and, as a result, the National Commission of Protected Areas (CONAP) has organized meetings to discuss the issue.
ParksWatch has been one of three environmental organizations invited to the meetings, which have been characterized by the logging industry’s adamant opposition to including mahogany in CITES II. ParksWatch, on the other hand, has argued that if the illegal trade of mahogany is not regulated, Guatemala’s tropical forests will become critically endangered. The controversy is growing, and whether or not Guatemala will continue to support the proposal will be debated in meetings over the next few weeks.
Illegal logging is one of the biggest threats to the tropical forests of Guatemala and other Latin American countries. Currently, close to 20% of the mahogany that is sold from Guatemala to other parts of the world is the product of illegal logging. The majority of Guatemala’s mahogany of commercial size is found within the Maya Biosphere Reserve in the northern state of Peten. In order to control illegal logging, CONAP conceded 300,000 ha of the reserve to communities and companies who promised to certify that the trees were logged sustainably in order to minimize forest degradation. However, many areas of the reserve are not monitored, and, as a result, the extraction of mahogany is degrading the most important tropical forest north of Amazonia. ParksWatch has verified through numerous expeditions to the interior of the reserve, that illegal logging is directly affecting El Mirador-Rio Azul National Park, the Natural Monument Yaxhá – Nakum – Naranjo, and the Protected Biotope San Miguel la Palotada, three of the reserves most important core zones. The regulation of international trade of this species is a fundamental tool to stop the degradation of this vitally important protected area.
The international trade of endangered species of wild flora and fauna generates millions of dollars and is responsible for the disappearance of numerous species. The creation of CITES was born out of the acknowledgement that the over-exploitation of endangered species must be prevented in order to protect worldwide biodiversity. Even though CITES is not the ultimate solution to protecting endangered species, it is a powerful tool that can help prevent illegal activities and preserve Guatemala’s fragile biodiversity.
(Top photo: One of the many sawmills inside Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve.)
ParksWatch: October 2003