Most Chinese were unaware that across the globe in Johannesburg, South Africa, decisions passed at an international convention meeting will have long lasting impact on many industries in China, including the Hongmu furniture industry producing luxury reproductions made from endangered tree species such as rosewood
At the 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP17) we will be campaigning to increase protection of vulnerable rosewood species under the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Demand for tropical rosewood species in China's Hongmu (red wood) furniture industry threatens their survival in the wild.
EIA campaigners participated in an important meeting of the Standing Committee of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Geneva and addressed a range of issues involving wildlife and timber trade
Two forest rangers, Sieng Darong and Sab Yoh, have been murdered in Preah Vihear Protected Forest, Cambodia. They were shot by illegal loggers, one of which has been tied to the Cambodian military, with high-powered rifles. The main driver of these crimes is unsustainable demand for rosewood timber in Vietnam and China
Field studies by EIA in Indonesia, Myanmar, Russia, Laos, Vietnam, Mozambique, Madagascar and China have found China’s demand for timber is driving illegal logging with serious global consequence, irreparably damaging forest ecosystems, pushing down incomes in forest communities and driving corruption and conflict
Siamese rosewood (Dalbergia cochinchinesis) is a species that has lived longer than human beings on this planet earth. Yet recent decades of rampant demand for high-end furniture are driving the species to the brink of extinction