Wk6DiscussionDuein1daysUrgent.zip

    Wk 6 Discussion (Due in 1 days) Urgent/..Wk 6 Discussion (Required Assignment) Urgent.docx

    Must be 100% Original Work Assignment must be follow Rubric Superior Criteria

    Plz read My Note, Important tips (Wrote on 2nd Page) and also sample paper attached.

    Must be use attached Three Article

    NOTE: I hv attached 3 Articles & include each Article have (3 para) three paragraph summary, Analysis and application to the study.

    Selected topic: Sustainable supply chain management in Rosewood trade (Annotated Bibliography must be write on related this topic & Apply)

    MY Notes: (Must see sample paper)

    Sample Annotated Bibliography attached so must be follow & minimum 3 pages required & three (3) peer-reviewed sources (no older than 5 years).

    (4-5 Pages required )Must be include Abstract/Intro like in sample

    Course: DDBA – Doctoral Study Mentoring

    Selected topic: Sustainable supply chain management in Rosewood trade

    Discussion 2: Annotated Bibliography

    In each week of this course, you will research and select three (3) peer-reviewed, scholarly sources to develop an annotated bibliography that you can use in your Doctoral Study. You will need to take the three sources and synthesize the references into a single narrative annotated bibliography that compares/contrasts or supports your study. For example, you may develop three references that will fit into the Nature of the Study (or any other component) and then the synthesized version will help you in developing your Prospectus/Proposal. Please see this week’s Learning Resources for the Sample Annotated Bibliography Template, which you should use to complete your annotated bibliography.

    By Day 3

    Post your synthesized annotated bibliography narrative that includes an explanation of how these references relate to one or more components of your Doctoral Study and incorporates specific references to the Doctoral Study Rubric.

    Refer to the Week 6 Discussion 2 Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this rubric to assess your work.

    Important tips: Include each Article annotated bibliography have three paragraph summary, Analysis and applies to the study

    Walden's recommendations for formatting an AB includes three areas, typically formatted in three paragraphs: 

    This first paragraph of the annotation summarizes the source. It outlines the main findings and primary methods of the study.

    Summary: What did the author do? Why? What did he/she find?

    This second paragraph of the annotation analyzes the source. It explains the benefits of the source but also the limitations.

    Analysis: Was the author’s method sound? What information was missing? Is this a scholarly source?

    This third paragraph of the annotation applies the source. It explains how the source’s ideas, research, and information can be applied to other contexts.

    Application: Does this article apply to the literature? How would you be able to apply this method/study to your particular study? Is the article universal?

    In general, annotated bibliographies should avoid referring to the first or second person (I, me, my, we, our, you, and us). Instead, students should aim to be objective and remove themselves from annotations. However, there may be some exceptions to this guideline. Check with your instructor if you are unsure about whether he/she will allow you to use “I” in your annotated bibliography.

    Must be use Below Three Article for Annotated Bibliography & related intro & topic

    Innes, J. L. (2010). Madagascar rosewood, illegal logging and the Tropical Timber Trade. Madagascar Conservation & Development, 5(1).

    Ke, Zhang, and Zeng Zhi. “The Trade of Malagasy Rosewood and Ebony in China.” TRAFFIC Bulletin 29, no.1 (2017): 23.

    Obiri, D. B., Abukari, H., Oduro, K. A., Quartey, R. K., Dawoe, E. L., Twintoh, J. J., & Opuni-Frimpong, E. (2022). Rosewood (Pterocarpus erinaceus) as a de facto forest common for local communities in Ghana. International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation, 14(1), 1–13.

    Assignment must be follow Rubric Superior Criteria

    Rubric Detail

     

     

    Superior

    Excellent

    Satisfactory

    Marginal

    Unsatisfactory

    Not Submitted

    Element 1: Annotated Bibliography (post and attach document)

    6.6 (30%)

    Student posts and includes an attachment of his/her annotated bibliography which includes three peer-reviewed, scholarly sources that are thoroughly synthesized into a single, well-written narrative annotated bibliography that explicitly compares/contrasts or supports his/her study. A thorough and detailed explanation of how the sources relate to his/her study is evident.

    6.27 (28.5%)

    Student posts and includes an attachment of his/her annotated bibliography which includes three peer-reviewed, scholarly sources that are thoroughly synthesized into a single, well-written narrative annotated bibliography that explicitly compares/contrasts or supports his/her study. A detailed explanation of how the sources relate to his/her study is evident. One or two minor details are missing or lack clarity.

    5.61 (25.5%)

    Student posts and includes an attachment of his/her annotated bibliography which includes three peer-reviewed, scholarly sources that are synthesized into a single narrative annotated bibliography that explicitly compares/contrasts or supports his/her study. An explanation with some details of how the sources relate to his/her study is evident.

    4.95 (22.5%)

    Student posts and includes an attachment of his/her annotated bibliography which includes three peer-reviewed, scholarly sources that are somewhat synthesized into a single narrative annotated bibliography that compares/contrasts or supports his/her study. A cursory statement of how the sources relate to his/her study is evident.

    3.3 (15%)

    Does not meet minimal standards and/or is posted late.

    (0%)

    Did not submit element.

    Element 2: Follow-up Responses

    8.8 (40%)

    On Day 5 and on Day 7, student's responses fully contribute to the quality of interaction by offering constructive critique, suggestions, in-depth questions, and/or additional resources related to peers' annotated bibliography. Student demonstrates active engagement with more than one peer on at least two days in the discussion forum (or with Instructor if there are no other peers/posts).

    8.36 (38%)

    On Day 5 and on Day 7, student shares some constructive critique, suggestions, in-depth questions, and/or additional resources related to peers' annotated bibliography, but more depth and/or clarity around ideas is needed. Student demonstrates active engagement with more than one peer on at least two days in the discussion forum (or with Instructor if there are no other peers/posts).

    7.48 (34%)

    Student did not post on Day 5 and on Day 7, but he/she did engage with at least one peer (or with Instructor if there are no other peers/posts) during the week offering constructive feedback related to peers' annotated bibliography.

    6.6 (30%)

    Student posts to at least one peer (or with Instructor if there are no other peers/posts) but response is cursory and/or off topic.

    4.4 (20%)

    Does not meet minimal standards and/or student posted late.

    (0%)

    Did not submit element.

    Element 3: Written Delivery Style & Grammar

    3.3 (15%)

    Student consistently follows APA writing style and basic rules of formal English grammar and written essay style. Student communicates in a cohesive, logical style. There are no spelling or grammar errors.

    3.13 (14.25%)

    Student consistently follows APA writing style and basic rules of formal English grammar and written essay style. Student communicates in a cohesive, logical style. There are one or two minor errors in spelling or grammar.

    2.81 (12.75%)

    Student mostly follows APA writing style and basic rules of formal English grammar and written essay style. Student mostly communicates in a cohesive, logical style. There are some errors in spelling or grammar.

    2.48 (11.25%)

    Student does not follow APA writing style and basic rules of formal English grammar and written essay style and does not communicate in a cohesive, logical style.

    1.65 (7.5%)

    Does not meet minimal standards.

    (0%)

    Did not submit element.

    Element 4: Formal and Appropriate Documentation of Evidence, Attribution of Ideas (APA Citations)

    3.3 (15%)

    Student demonstrates full adherence to scholarly reference requirements and adheres to APA style with respect to source attribution, references, heading and subheading logic, table of contents and lists of charts, etc. There are no APA errors.

    3.13 (14.25%)

    Student demonstrates full adherence to scholarly reference requirements and adheres to APA style with respect to source attribution, references, heading and subheading logic, table of contents and lists of charts, etc. There are one or two minor errors in APA style or format.

    2.81 (12.75%)

    Student mostly adheres to scholarly reference requirements and/or mostly adheres to APA style with respect to source attribution, references, heading and subheading logic, table of contents and lists of charts, etc. Some errors in APA format and style are evident.

    2.48 (11.25%)

    Student demonstrates weak or inconsistent adherence scholarly reference requirements and/or weak or inconsistent adherence to APA style with respect to source attribution, references, heading and subheading logic, table of contents and lists of charts, etc. Several errors in APA format and style are evident.

    1.65 (7.5%)

    Does not meet minimal standards.

    (0%)

    Did not submit element.

    Wk 6 Discussion (Due in 1 days) Urgent/.Sample_Annotated_Bibliography.doc

    PAGE

    1

    Sample Annotated Bibliography

    Student Name Here

    Walden University

    Sample Annotated Bibliography

    Autism research continues to grapple with activities that best serve the purpose of fostering positive interpersonal relationships for children who struggle with autism. Children have benefited from therapy sessions that provide ongoing activities to aid autistic children’s ability to engage in healthy social interactions. However, less is known about how K–12 schools might implement programs for this group of individuals to provide additional opportunities for growth, or even if and how school programs would be of assistance in the end. There is a gap, then, in understanding the possibilities of implementing such programs in schools to foster the social and thus mental health of children with autism.

    Annotated Bibliography

    Kenny, M. C., Dinehart, L. H., & Winick, C. B. (2016). Child-centered play therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder. In A. A. Drewes & C. E. Schaefer (Eds.), Play therapy in middle childhood (pp. 103–147). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    In this chapter, Kenny, Dinehart, and Winick provided a case study of the treatment of a 10-year-old boy diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ADS). Kenny et al. described the rationale and theory behind the use of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) in the treatment of a child with ASD. Specifically, children with ADS often have sociobehavioral problems that can be improved when they have a safe therapy space for expressing themselves emotionally through play that assists in their interpersonal development. The authors outlined the progress made by the patient in addressing the social and communicative impairments associated with ASD. Additionally, the authors explained the role that parents have in implementing CCPT in the patient’s treatment. Their research on the success of CCPT used qualitative data collected by observing the patient in multiple therapy sessions.

    CCPT follows research carried out by other theorists who have identified the role of play in supporting cognition and interpersonal relationships. This case study is relevant to the current conversation surrounding the emerging trend toward CCPT treatment in adolescents with ASD as it illustrates how CCPT can be successfully implemented in a therapeutic setting to improve the patient’s communication and socialization skills. However, Kenny et al. acknowledged that CCPT has limitations—children with ADS, who are not highly functioning and or are more severely emotionally underdeveloped, are likely not suited for this type of therapy.

    Kenny et al.’s explanation of this treatments’s implementation is useful for professionals in the psychology field who work with adolescents with ASD. This piece is also useful to parents of adolescents with ASD, as it discusses the role that parents can play in successfully implementing the treatment. However, more information is needed to determine if this program would be suitable as part of a K–12 school program focused on the needs of children with ASD.

    Stagmitti, K. (2016). Play therapy for school-age children with high-functioning autism. In A.A. Drewes and C. E. Schaefer (Eds.), Play therapy in middle cildhood (pp. 237–255). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Stagmitti discussed how the Learn to Play program fosters the social and personal development of children who have high functioning autism. The program is designed as a series of play sessions carried out over time, each session aiming to help children with high functioning autism learn to engage in complex play activities with their therapist and on their own. The program is beneficial for children who are 1- to 8-years old if they are already communicating with others both nonverbally and verbally. Through this program, the therapist works with autistic children by initiating play activities, helping children direct their attention to the activity, eventually helping them begin to initiate play on their own by moving past the play narrative created by the therapist and adding new, logical steps in the play scenario themselves. The underlying rationale for the program is that there is a link between the ability of children with autism to create imaginary play scenarios that are increasingly more complex and the development of emotional well-being and social skills in these children. Study results from the program have shown that the program is successful: Children have developed personal and social skills of several increment levels in a short time. While Stagmitti provided evidence that the Learn to Play program was successful, she also acknowledged that more research was needed to fully understand the long-term benefits of the program.

    Stagmitti offered an insightful overview of the program; however, her discussion was focused on children identified as having high-functioning autism, and, therefore, it is not clear if and how this program works for those not identified as high-functioning. Additionally, Stagmitti noted that the program is already initiated in some schools but did not provide discussion on whether there were differences or similarities in the success of this program in that setting.

    Although Stagmitti’s overview of the Learn to Play program was helpful for understanding the possibility for this program to be a supplementary addition in the K–12 school system, more research is needed to understand exactly how the program might be implemented, the benefits of implementation, and the drawbacks. Without this additional information, it would be difficult for a researcher to use Stigmitti’s research as a basis for changes in other programs. However, it does provide useful context and ideas that researchers can use to develop additional research programs.

    Wimpory, D. C., & Nash, S. (1999). Musical interaction therapy–Therapeutic play for children with autism. Child Language and Teaching Therapy, 15(1), 17–28. doi:10.1037/14776-014

    Wimpory and Nash provided a case study for implementing music interaction therapy as part of play therapy aimed at cultivating communication skills in infants with ASD. The researchers based their argument on films taken of play-based therapy sessions that introduced music interaction therapy. To assess the success of music play, Wimpory and Nash filmed the follow-up play-based interaction between the parent and the child. The follow-up interactions revealed that 20 months after the introduction of music play, the patient developed prolonged playful interaction with both the psychologist and the parent. The follow-up films also revealed that children initiated spontaneously pretend play during these later sessions. After the introduction of music, the patient began to develop appropriate language skills.

    Since the publication date for this case study is 1999, the results are dated. Although this technique is useful, emerging research in the field has undoubtedly changed in the time since the article was published. Wimpory and Nash wrote this article for a specific audience, including psychologists and researchers working with infants diagnosed with ASD. This focus also means that other researchers beyond these fields may not find the researcher’s findings applicable.

    This research is useful to those looking for background information on the implementation of music into play-based therapy in infants with ASD. Wimpory and Nash presented a basis for this technique and outlined its initial development. Thus, this case study can be useful in further trials when paired with more recent research.

    �The format of an annotated bibliography can change depending on the assignment and instructor preference, but the typical format for an annotated bibliography in academic writing is a list of reference entries with each entry followed by an annotation (hence the name, “annotated bibliography”).

    However, APA does not have specific rules or guidelines for annotated bibliographies, so be sure to ask your instructor for any course-specific requirements that may vary from the general format.

    �An introduction is a helpful addition to your annotated bibliography to tell your reader (a) your topic and focus for your research and (b) the general context of your topic.

    Although your assignment instructions may not explicitly ask for an introduction, your instructor might expect you to include one. If you are not sure, be sure to ask your instructor.

    �Use a Level 1 heading titled “Annotated Bibliography” or any other wording your instructor has given you to indicate to your reader that the annotations will go next and separate this section from the introduction paragraph above.

    �Format your reference entries per APA, as well as follow APA style when writing your paragraphs. However, as mentioned above, this is the extent of the formatting requirements APA has for annotated bibliographies.

    The content of the paragraphs and how many paragraphs you include in each annotation follows academic writing conventions, your assignment guidelines, and your instructor preferences.

    �This first paragraph of the annotation summarizes the source. It outlines the main findings and primary methods of the study.

    �This second paragraph of the annotation analyzes the source. It explains the benefits of the source but also the limitations.

    �This third paragraph of the annotation applies the source. It explains how the source’s ideas, research, and information can be applied to other contexts.

    In general, annotated bibliographies should avoid referring to the first or second person (I, me, my, we, our, you, and us). Instead, students should aim to be objective and remove themselves from annotations. However, there may be some exceptions to this guideline. Check with your instructor if you are unsure about whether he/she will allow you to use “I” in your annotated bibliography.

    Wk 6 Discussion (Due in 1 days) Urgent/Madagascar rosewood, illegal logging.pdf

    M A D A G A S C A R C O N S E R VAT I O N & D E V E L O P M E N T VO LU M E 5 | I S SU E 1 — JUNE 2 0 10 PA G E 6

    SPOTLIGHTS

    Madagascar rosewood, illegal logging and the tropical timber trade

    ABSTRACTAlthough deforestation rates in the tropics are reportedly slow-

    ing, the loss of both forest area and forest quality remains a

    significant issue for many countries. This is particularly true

    of Madagascar, where recent government instability has ena-

    bled a significant increase in the incidence of illegal logging of

    Dalbergia species from National Parks such as Marojejy and

    Masoala. The logs are exported with relative ease as export

    permits are being made available. While attempts have been

    made to improve the management of tropical forests, in 2005,

    the International Tropical Timber Organization considered that

    only 7 % of tropical production forests were being managed

    sustainably. Given the challenges associated with halting illegal

    logging at source, emphasis has shifted to the control of the

    trade in forest products. The Convention on the International

    Trade in Endangered Species provides a mechanism to restrict

    such trade, but the Madagascan Dalbergia species are not

    listed. In the USA, the recent amendments to the ‘Lacey Act’

    could provide a significant disincentive to the import of illegally

    logged wood products, but it remains to be seen whether this

    Act can be enforced effectively.

    RÉSUMÉBien que les taux de déboisement sous les tropiques seraient

    à la basse, il n’en demeure pas moins que la perte de la cou-

    verture forestière et de la qualité des forêts restent des sujets

    sensibles pour de nombreux pays. Cela s’est avéré d’autant

    plus vrai à Madagascar que de récents troubles politiques

    ont été accompagnés par une augmentation significative de

    l’exploitation illicite de bois précieux, dont les bois de rose et les

    palissandres (Dalbergia spp.) dans les parcs nationaux comme

    ceux de Marojejy ou de Masoala. Les bois sont exportés assez

    facilement avec la délivrance de permis d’exportation dans un

    cadre législatif changeant. Dans le monde, il y a bien eu des

    essais d’amélioration de la gestion des forêts tropicales mais

    en 2005, l’Organisation internationale des bois tropicaux con-

    sidérait que seulement 7 % des produits sylvicoles issus des

    forêts tropicales étaient exploités de manière pérenne. Compte

    tenu de la difficulté à s’attaquer aux sources de l’exploitation

    illégale pour y mettre un terme, une attention particulière a été

    portée sur le contrôle du commerce des produits forestiers. La

    convention sur le commerce international des espèces de faune

    et de flore sauvages menacées d’extinction connue par son

    sigle CITES constitue un mécanisme permettant de limiter un

    tel commerce mais les espèces malgaches du genre Dalbergia

    pour les bois de rose et les palissandres ou Diospyros pour les

    ébènes ne figurent pas sur les listes de la CITES. Aux États – Unis,

    le nouvel amendement au ‘Lacey Act’ pourrait permettre de

    freiner de manière significative l’importation de produits fores-

    tiers exploités illégalement mais il faut voir si cette Loi pourra

    effectivement être imposée.

    KEYWORDS: Rosewood, Dalbergia, illegal logging, World

    Heritage Convention, CITES.

    MOTS CLEFS : bois de rose, Dalbergia, exploitation forestière

    illégale, Convention du Patrimoine Mondial, CITES.

    DEFORESTATION AND GOVERNANCE IN THE TROPICSSince the threat of an embargo on tropical forest products in

    the 1980s, considerable attention has been given to efforts

    being made to stop deforestation in the tropics. Between 2000

    and 2010, 3.4 million ha of forest in Africa and four million ha

    of forest in South America (including some temperate forest)

    were converted to other forms of land use (FAO 2010). Although

    some have suggested that the latest figures from FAO suggest

    that rates of loss of tropical forests are slowing, the long – term

    data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO 2009)

    suggest that the rates have changed little since the early 1980s.

    Many tropical countries have enacted legislation to try and halt

    deforestation, but the flow of logs has continued, even from

    countries where all native forests are, in theory, protected. In

    such countries, ineffective enforcement or even the active

    collusion of government authorities have enabled illegal logging

    to continue and exports to take place. In some cases, includ-

    ing Madagascar, unstable political conditions have provided

    the opportunity for illegal logging to proliferate, and insecure

    governments focused on short – term priorities have often

    facilitated the logging.

    Despite the numerous fora discussing illegal logging and

    other topics of interest to the international forest policy commu-

    nity over the past 25 years, little agreement has been reached

    over actions to deal with illegal logging, reduce deforestation or

    increase the proportion of the world’s forests that are sustain-

    ably managed (Humphreys 2006). A 2006 report by the Interna-

    tional Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO 2006) indicated that

    John L. Innes University of British ColumbiaFaculty of Forestry

    Department of Forest Resources Management

    2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    E – mail:[email protected]

    Madagascar Conservation & Development is the journal

    of Madagascar Wildlife Conservation (MWC) and the

    Jane Goodall Institute (JGI Switzerland). It is produced

    under the responsibility of these institutions. The views

    expressed in contributions to MCD are solely those of

    the authors and not those of the journal editors or the

    publishers.

    All the Issues and articles are freely available at

    http://www.mwc-info.net/en/services/journal.htm

    Contact Journal MCD

    [email protected] for general inquiries MCD

    [email protected] for supporting the journal

    Journal Madagascar Conservation & Development

    Institute and Museum of Anthropology

    University of Zurich

    Winterthurerstrasse 190

    CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland

    [email protected] for general inquiries

    Postfach 2701

    CH-8021 Zürich, Switzerland

    Logement 11, Cité Andohaniato

    Antananarivo 101, Madagascar

    [email protected] for general inquiries JGI

    Jane Goodall Institute Schweiz

    Postfach 2807

    8033 Zürich

    Switzerland

    M A D A G A S C A R C O N S E R VAT I O N & D E V E L O P M E N T VO LU M E 5 | I S SU E 1 — JUNE 2 0 10 PA G E 7

    only 7 % of the 353 million ha of natural production forest in its

    producer member countries were sustainably managed. There

    is some debate over whether such figures actually represent

    sustainable management, as the presence of a management

    plan does not necessarily reflect whether or not a forest is being

    managed sustainably (Cerutti et al. 2008, Nasi and Frost 2009).

    The FAO has attempted to gather better information on this,

    but in their latest assessment, no response was obtained from

    countries representing 38 % of the global forest area, so no

    accurate global figures can be reported (FAO 2010).

    Some progress is evident amongst the regional ‘Forest

    Law, Enforcement, and Governance’ groups, and some impor-

    tant bilateral initiatives have emerged, especially as a result of

    the EU Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance

    and Trade. Government procurement policies in consumer

    countries have emerged as a potential means by which the

    demand for illegally – sourced wood could be curbed, and

    an increasing number of countries have adopted these

    (Simula 2010). However, the extent of enforcement is unclear.

    Amongst the potential market – based mechanisms, certification

    was long intended to be a tool that would reward those in the

    tropics managing their forests sustainably and to separate prod-

    ucts derived from well – managed forests from the products of

    deforestation (Bass et al. 2001), but uptake of this procedure has

    been disappointingly slow. Recent evidence suggests that even

    in certified forests, illegal logging is still occurring, suggesting

    significant problems with the auditing process (Nsoh 2009). In

    the following, I concentrate on one aspect of the international

    timber trade, illegal logging. In particular, I focus on the trade in

    rosewood originating from Madagascar.

    ILLEGAL LOGGINGThere are many difficulties with the concept of illegal log-

    ging, not least its definition (Tacconi 2007, Brown et al. 2008).

    However, many take a fairly straightforward approach and

    define it as the harvest, transport, sale or purchase of timber in

    contravention to national laws. As such it includes timber taken

    without a license, timber taken from protected areas, timber

    stolen from private property, timber taken without paying the

    correct stumpage and a range of other forms of abuse. The

    ‘U.S. Lacey Act’, to be enforceable, has provided the definitions

    to be used in the USA. Modified to be specific to logging, the

    definition of an illegally sourced product includes the theft of

    logs, the taking of logs from an officially protected area, the

    taking of logs from other types of ‘officially designated’ areas

    recognized by a country’s laws and regulations, the taking

    of logs without, or contrary to, the required authorization, the

    failure to pay appropriate royalties, taxes or fees associated

    with the log’s harvest, transport or commerce, and the con-

    travening of laws governing export or trans – shipment. For a

    contravention of the Lacey Act to occur, a person must trade this

    illegally sourced product in U.S. interstate or foreign commerce.

    This requires an offender to “import, export, transport, sell,

    receive, acquire, or purchase” the product. Much will depend

    on the efficacy of the mandatory species labelling, which it will

    be an offence to violate, but checking that the wood really does

    come from a specific species will be extremely difficult without

    detailed laboratory testing.

    The 2008 amendment to the Lacey Act has provisions for

    prosecutions through either criminal or civil action, or through

    forfeiture. Civil penalties of up to $ US 10,000 are being applied

    to any party who, in exercising due care, could reasonably have

    been expected to know that trade in the plant or wildlife in ques-

    tion was illegal. Civil penalties are also applied to any party that

    knowingly commits an offence associated with false labelling

    or knowingly violates the declaration requirements. The size of

    the penalty depends on the nature, circumstances, extent, and

    gravity of the offence, and the culpability and ability to pay of the

    offender. Forfeiture also occurs in civil cases. Any illegal timber

    or products made from illegal timber brought into the U.S. may

    be seized whether or not the person involved knew about the

    illegal nature of the product.

    Criminal prosecutions under the Lacey Act are divided

    into misdemeanours and felonies. The division is based on the

    knowledge of the offender and the intent (mens rea) to commit

    a crime. The crime is classed a misdemeanour if the govern-

    ment determines that the offender should have known that the

    handling of the goods was illegal. In such cases, the offender is

    expected to have exercised due care in determining the poten-

    tial illegality of the goods. Individuals are subject to fines of up

    to $ US 100,000 and organizations to fines of up to $ US 200,000

    and / or imprisonment for up to one year. Felonies occur when

    the government can show that the offender knew, or was gener-

    ally aware, that handling of the product was illegal. The value

    of the product must exceed $ US 350. Penalties include prison

    sentences of up to five years, and fines of up to $ US 250,000

    (individuals) or $ US 500,000 (corporations).

    An often – used excuse to justify commerce in illegally

    sourced materials is that if they are purchased on the open

    market, it is the responsibility of the source country to police

    its own territories. In some cases, this argument is reinforced

    by the logs passing through another country – the forestry

    equivalent of money – laundering. For example, in the case of

    Madagascar, many rosewood logs shipped from ports such as

    Vohémar and Toamasina pass through the ports of Mayotte

    or Mauritius (Barrett et al. 2010), where they are then sold on

    to the European Union, China and elsewhere (Global Witness

    and Environmental Investigation Agency 2009). Within an inter-

    national context, law enforcement is essentially a national

    responsibility. It is reiterated in Principle 3 of the Convention

    on Biological Diversity “States have, in accordance with the

    Charter of the United Nations and the principles of interna-

    tional law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources

    p u r s u a n t t o t h e i r own environmental policies, and the

    responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdic-

    tion or control to not cause damage to the environment

    of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national

    jurisdiction”. However, under the Lacey Act, it will be an offence

    t o t ra d e i n i l l e g a l l y – s o u rc e d p r o d u c t s , e v e n w h e n t h e

    authorities of the source country have knowingly or unknow-

    ingly allowed the trade to occur.

    A key issue is enforcement. On March 24, 2010, the

    transitional authority in Madagascar issued a decree prohibit-

    ing all exports of rosewood and other precious timber for a

    period of two to five years (decree no. 2010 – 141). However,

    it appears that the decree has not been completely endorsed

    by the government, enabling logging in national parks, such

    as Masoala National Park, to continue (Bohannon 2010). In

    addition, the current decree allows rosewood exports to occur

    with a ministerial order. This has created considerable uncer-

    M A D A G A S C A R C O N S E R VAT I O N & D E V E L O P M E N T VO LU M E 5 | I S SU E 1 — JUNE 2 0 10 PA G E 8

    tainty which, combined with the local difficulties of enforcement,

    have created ideal conditions for illegal logging to flourish.

    LOGGING BANS AND CITESTrade in endangered species is officially controlled through

    the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species

    (CITES). However, only one species of rosewood, the Brazilian

    rosewood (Dalbergia nigra), is listed under Appendix I of

    CITES, indicating a ban on all international trade in the spe-

    cies. Two further species (D. retusa and D. stevensonii) have

    their Guatemalan populations listed under Appendix III, which

    indicates that a party has requested cooperation from other

    countries to prevent unsustainable or illegal harvesting. Some

    of the demand for rosewood from Madagascar can be directly

    attributed to the shortage of supply of Brazilian rosewood, an

    unintended consequence of the CITES ban in its trading. With

    48 species of rosewood (Dalbergia spp.) present in Madagascar

    (Bosser and Rabevohitra 1996, 2005, Du Puy et al. 2002), any

    separation of logs belonging to listed species from those that

    are unlisted will be difficult (Bohannon 2010). Consequently, a

    listing under CITES will need to cover all the Dalbergia species

    present in Madagascar if it is to be enforceable. Other species

    are also threatened, including the ebonies (Diospyros spp.).

    With the ebonies, it is even uncertain how many species

    there are in Madagascar, with many specimens awaiting

    formal identification and naming.

    CITES has not always been an effective way to ensure the

    conservation of trees. A good example is provided by broad-

    leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla). This species is widely

    distributed throughout the Neotropics, but has been placed on

    the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, where it is classed

    as ‘vulnerable’, meaning that it is considered as facing a high

    risk of extinction in the wild in the near future. The species was

    initially listed under Appendix III by Costa Rica in 1995, but other

    countries did not follow suit for several years, meaning that

    imports from some countries were legal, while those from Costa

    Rica required special certificates. This resulted in substantial

    difficulties of enforcement (CITES Management Authority of the

    USA 2001, TRAFFIC 2002). It was moved to Appendix II of CITES

    in 2003, a classification that restricts exports, but still enables

    export certificates to be issued if it can be demonstrated that “the

    anticipated impact of current or proposed harvests on species’

    population status will be non – detrimental to the species in its

    role in the ecosystem” (CITES 2009). No import certificates are

    required if the authorities of the importing country are satisfied

    that trade in the species will not be detrimental to the survival of

    the species in the wild (which seems inconsistent with the IUCN

    listing). Importing countries must also be satisfied that the wood

    has been obtained legally. Individual countries have experienced

    many problems in managing the logging of the species and in

    restricting exports (CITES 2008a, b), and the ongoing debate

    over this species demonstrates just how difficult enforcement

    of trade restrictions on timber species can be.

    The history of the ban on rosewood exports is interesting.

    A qualified ban was introduced by government decree in 2000

    (decree no. 11832 / 2000). Despite the ban, there has been a

    steady amount of logging and export, normally through ministe-

    rial permits (Schuurman and Lowry 2009). This was reversed

    on 28 January 2009, when a new decree authorized rosewood

    exports. With a military coup occurring in March 2009, the new

    government allowed exports to continue and it was only with

    the March 2010 decree that logging of rosewood was again

    banned. However, as mentioned above, it remains possible

    to get a ministerial decree to enable the export of rosewood

    from Madagascar. The lifting of the ban enabled massive

    logging operations to take place, much occurring in the Maro-

    jejy and Masoala National Parks (Schuurman and Lowry 2009,

    Wilmé et al. 2009a). Increased logging also took place in Makira

    Natural Park, although this classification does allow some

    logging to occur under normal circumstances. The first exports

    occurred as early as April 2009 (Débois 2009).

    In trying to regulate any trade, an important problem will be

    the difficulty of identifying individual species. Even labelling the

    wood ‘Madagascar rosewood’ will not necessarily help since in

    the timber trade, this term is used ambiguously. For example,

    the website of Winwood Products (a UK company) states “Mada-

    gascar Rosewood is also called Kali, Kararo, Landojan, Landosan

    M’boul, Mukali, Mukangu, Muna, N’Kali, osan, Tanganyika Nuss

    and Tutu. The species occur from Guinea to Ethiopia, and is also

    found in Zambia and Gabon” (Winwood 2010). A quick internet

    search revealed numerous rosewood items for sale in the U.S.

    made from Madagascar rosewood, particularly acoustic guitars,

    as well as lumber (from Dalbergia baroni, known as ‘palissan-

    dre’). The difficulties of enforcing any ban are currently being

    tested: The Nashville plant of Gibson Guitar Corporation is under

    investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for violations

    of the Lacey Act, allegedly for the use of Madagascar rosewood.

    This is the first investigation of a case involving wood made

    under the 2008 revision of the Lacey Act. Gibson Guitar has

    previously been recognized for its recognition of the problems

    associated with illegal logging, and has been sourcing mahog-

    any from legal, certified sources in Honduras and Guatemala

    (Rainforest Alliance 2010). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will

    have to demonstrate that illegalities involving other wood have

    occurred, providing an interesting test case of direct relevance

    to the trade in Madagascar rosewood. As Gibson Guitar has a

    chain of custody certificate issued by the Forest Stewardship

    Council (FSC), and has been subject to annual inspections by the

    FSC, the case also demonstrates the potential difficulties associ-

    ated with the voluntary forms of wood product regulation.

    While there may be difficulty in identifying the species that

    logs in a port are derived from, or the sources of timber at a

    manufacturing facility, there is a sound understanding of who

    in Madagascar is cutting the rosewood, who is selling it, who

    is transporting it and who is buying it (Wilmé et al. 2009a). This

    contrasts with many other illegal logging situations around the

    world, where the attribution of responsibility is much more

    complex. The potential financial income from the trade in illegal

    rosewood is substantial, and the 1,137 container – loads known

    to have been exported in 2009 would have sold for more than

    $ US 200 million (Wilmé et al. 2009a). This presents problems for

    the Madagascar authorities, as there are substantial stockpiles

    of illegally harvested rosewood logs (Wilmé et al. 2009b).

    A major destination for tropical hardwoods is China.

    Madagascar rosewood is no exception, and there is a high

    demand for this product for the manufacture of traditional

    Chinese furniture (Wilmé et al. 2009a). Much of this is sold

    within China, but some is exported to the USA, and will be

    subject to the restrictions imposed by the Lacey Act. China is

    currently in the process of introducing certification programs

    M A D A G A S C A R C O N S E R VAT I O N & D E V E L O P M E N T VO LU M E 5 | I S SU E 1 — JUNE 2 0 10 PA G E 9

    that have clear chain of custody requirements, but if North

    America is a good example, very little effort will be made to

    ensure that furniture products come from legal and sustain-

    ably managed (i.e., certified) sources. However, there are also a

    range of other destinations for Madagascar rosewood, including

    North America and Europe.

    THE FUTUREThe ongoing problems associated with the logging and export

    of rosewood from Madagascar has illustrated the many chal-

    lenges faced by those attempting to put a halt to illegal logging

    and ensure the long – term survival of individual tree species.

    Clearly, designating a reserve is insufficient if there is no

    capacity or will to enforce the reserve. Similarly, designating

    a species as protected will also fail if there is no enforce –

    ment. The international forest policy community has been

    ineffective in both stopping deforestation and encouraging the

    more sustainable management of forests. International bodies

    such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United

    Nations do not have the power to ensure enforcement, and its

    reliance of contributions from individual member states severely

    limits its ability to monitor what is occurring. The International

    Tropical Timber Organization could play a greater role, but so

    far has not done so, again partly because of its organizational

    structure. As a first step, Madagascar needs to have its rose-

    wood species listed by the Convention on International Trade

    in Endangered Species.

    While governmental and inter – governmental processes

    can be of value, there is an urgent need for the independ-

    ent monitoring of forests. To a certain extent, this is being

    done on a voluntary basis through the certification movement.

    However, the case of Gibson Guitar Corp. described above will

    demonstrate just how effective this is. There is a strong case

    for a more rigorous, independent process of forest monitoring

    with some form of legal powers. Such processes are extremely

    difficult to implement when they impinge on national sover-

    eignty, as demonstrated by the failure to establish a legal-

    ly – binding global forest convention to date. Organizations such

    as the World Resources Institute in Washington D. C. may be

    a suitable alternative, provided that they can demonstrate a

    non – partisan approach to their work.

    For Madagascar, an important step would be for the govern-

    ment of Madagascar to request that Marojejy and Masaola

    National Parks, both of which are UNESCO World Heritage

    sites, be included in the ‘list of World Heritage in danger’. This

    would be in accordance with Article 11(4) of the ‘Convention

    Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural

    Heritage’. This convention has the capability of forming an effec-

    tive means to ensure the protection of important natural forests

    worldwide, but so far has not been very effective in doing so.

    Greater international attention needs to be given to this and

    other conventions, and mechanisms to ensure that signatory

    countries respect them are needed.

    National mechanisms will only occur when there is a

    political will for the actions. At present, the government of

    Madagascar has not indicated that it is willing to shut down

    the export of rosewood, creating the opportunity for the

    continued degradation of forests where rosewood occurs,

    including those supposedly protected in reserves. Clearly, pres-

    sure needs to be brought to bear on the Madagascar government

    so that the long – term benefits of forest conservation will

    become more apparent.

    REFERENCESBarrett, M. A., Brown, J. L., Morikawa, M. K., Labat, J.-N. and Yoder, A. D.

    2010. CITES designation for endangered rosewood in Madagascar. Science 328: 1109-1110. (doi: 10.1126/science.1187740)

    Bass, S., Thornber, K., Markopoulos, M., Roberts, S. and Grieg-Grah, M. 2001. Certification’s Impacts on Forests, Stakeholders and Supply Chains. International Institute for Environment and Development, London.

    Bohannon, J. 2010. Madagascar’s forests get a reprieve – but for how long? Science 328: 23-24. (doi: 10.1126/science.328.5974.23)

    Bosser, J. & Rabevohitra, R. 1996. Taxa et noms nouveaux dans le genre Dalbergia (Papilionaceae) à Madagascar et aux Comores. Bulletin du Museum national d’Histoire naturelle, 4e sér, 18: 171-212.

    Bosser, J. & Rabevohitra, R. 2005. Espèces nouvelles dans le genre Dalbergia (Fabaceae, Papilionaceae) à Madagascar. Adansonia 27, 2: 209-216.

    Brown, D., Schreckenberg, K., Bird, N., Cerutti, P., Del Gatto, F., Diaw, C., Fomété, T., Luttrell, C., Navarro, G., Oberndorf, R., Thiel, H. and Wells, A. 2008. Legal Timber: Verification and Governance in the Forest Sector. ODI, London.

    Cerutti, P. O., Nasi, R. and Tacconi, L. (2008). Sustainable forest manage-ment in Cameroon needs more than approved forest management plans. Ecology and Society 13, 2: 36 [online] <http://www.ecology-andsociety.org/vol13/iss2/art36/>.

    CITES. 2008a. Progress Report of the Joint ITTO-CITES Timber Project: First Regional Meeting. Presented to the 17th Meeting of the Plants Committee, Geneva (Switzerland), 15-19 April 2008. Document 16.1.2. <http://www.cites.org/eng/com/PC/17/E-PC17-16-02.pdf> accessed 21 May 2010.

    CITES. 2008b. Progress Report on the Implementation of the Action Plan for Big-leaf Mahogany. Presented to the 17th Meeting of the Plants Committee, Geneva (Switzerland), 15-19 April 2008. Document 16.1.1. Available at <http://www.cites.org/eng/com/PC/17/E-PC17-16-01-01.pdf>.

    CITES. 2009. International expert workshop on non – detriment findings. Report presented to the 18th meeting of the Plants Committee, Buenos Aires (Argentina), 17-21 March 2009. Document PC18 Doc 14.1. Available at <http://www.cites.org/eng/com/PC/18/E-PC18-14-01.pdf>.

    CITES Management Authority of the USA. 2001. National Report of the United States of America to the First Meeting of the Mahogany Working Group, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, 3-5 October 2001. MWG1 Document 8.9. Available at <http://www.cites.org/eng/prog/MWG/MWG1/E-MWG1-Doc-08-09-US.pdf>.

    Débois, R. 2009. La fièvre de l’or rouge saigne la forêt malgache. Univers Maoré 13: 8-15.

    Du Puy, D. J., Labat, J.-N., Rabevohitra, R., Villiers, J.-F., Bosser, J. and Moat, J. 2002. The Leguminosae of Madagascar. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, U. K.

    FAO. 2009. State of the World’s Forests 2009. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy.

    FAO. 2010. World’s Forests 2010 – Key Findings. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Available at <http://www.fao.org/forestry/static/data/fra2010/KeyFindings-en.pdf>.

    Global Witness and Environmental Investigation Agency 2009. Investigation into the Illegal Felling, Transport and Export of Precious Wood in SAVA Region Madagascar. Available at <http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/887/en/field_investigation_into_ille-gal_logging_in_madaga>.

    Humphreys, D. 2006. Logjam: Deforestation and the Crisis of Global Governance. Earthscan, London.

    ITTO (2006). Status of Tropical Forest Management 2005. ITTO Technical Series Mo. 24, ITTO, Yokohama, Japan.

    Nasi, R. and Frost, P. G. H. 2009. Sustainable forest management in the tropics: Is everything in order but the patient still dying? Ecology and Society 14, 2: 40. [online] <http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art40/>

    M A D A G A S C A R C O N S E R VAT I O N & D E V E L O P M E N T VO LU M E 5 | I S SU E 1 — JUNE 2 0 10 PA G E 10

    Nsoh, W. 2009. Controlling Illegal Logging and the Trade in Illegally Harvested Timber: An Assessment of Forest / Timber Certification as an Instrument to Ensure Legal and Sustainable Timber Production. VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, Saarbrücken, Germany.

    Rainforest Alliance. 2010. Statement in response to the United States Fish & Wildlife Service’s investigation of Gibson Guitar Corporation. Available at <http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/forestry.cfm?id=gibson_usfws> accessed on 22 May 2010.

    Schuurman, D. and Lowry II, P. P. 2009. The Madagascar rosewood massacre. Madagascar Conservation & Development 4, 2: 98-102.

    Simula, M. 2010. The Pros and Cons of Procurement. Developments and Progress in Timber Procurement Policies as Tools for Promoting the Sustainable Management of Tropical Forests. Technical series No. 34. International Tropical Timber Organization, Yokohama, Japan.

    Tacconi, L. (ed.) 2007. Illegal Logging: Law Enforcement, Livelihoods, and the Timber Trade. Earthscan, London.

    TRAFFIC. 2002. CITES Appendix III implementation for big-leafed mahogany Swietenia macrophylla. TRAFFIC On-line Report Series 1. Available at: <www.traffic.org/forestry-reports/traffic_pub_forestry4.pdf>. Accessed 22 May 2010.

    Wilmé, L., Schuurman, D., Lowry II, P. P. and Raven, P. H. 2009a. Precious trees pay off – but who pays? An update. Document prepared for the COP15, Copenhagen Meeting, 7-15 December 2009. Available at <http://www.illegal-logging.info/uploads?PosterrosewoodUpdate09Dec2009.pdf>.

    Wilmé, L., Schuurman, D. and Lowry II, P. P. 2009b. A forest counterpart fund: Madagascar’s wounded forests can erase the debt owed to them while securing their future, with support from the citizens of Madagascar. Lemur News 14, in press.

    Winwood 2010. <http://www.winwood-products.com/eng/timber-products/veneer/madagascar_rosewood.htm> accessed 21 May 2010.

    • MCD_2010_vol5_iss1_LR7 06.pdf
    • MCD_2010_vol5_iss1_LR7 000.pdf
    • MCD_2010_vol5_iss1_LR7 07.pdf
    • MCD_2010_vol5_iss1_LR7 08.pdf
    • MCD_2010_vol5_iss1_LR7 09.pdf
    • MCD_2010_vol5_iss1_LR7 10.pdf

    Wk 6 Discussion (Due in 1 days) Urgent/Rosewood (Pterocarpus erinaceus) as a de facto.pdf

    Vol. 14(1), pp. 1-13, January-March 2022

    DOI: 10.5897/IJBC2021.1512

    Article Number: 40F9CEC68434

    ISSN 2141-243X

    Copyright©2022

    Author(s) retain the copyright of this article

    http://www.academicjournals.org/IJBC

    International Journal of Biodiversity and

    Conservation

    Full Length Research Paper

    Rosewood (Pterocarpus erinaceus) as a de facto forest common for local communities in Ghana

    Obiri D. B.1, Abukari H.

    2*, Oduro K. A.

    1, Quartey R. K.

    3, Dawoe E. L. K.

    3, Twintoh J. J.

    1 and

    Opuni-Frimpong E.4

    1CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, P. O. Box UP63, Kumasi, Ghana.

    2Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Management, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment,

    University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana. 3Department of Agroforestry, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and

    Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. 4University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana.

    Received 16 August, 2021; Accepted 29 October, 2021

    This paper discusses how rosewood as a common-pool resource is managed and utilized at the local community level in the wake of aggravated exploitation of the resource for export to feed external markets. Non-probability sampling technique coupled with focus group discussion was used to collect primary data from two administrative districts in the transitional zone between the savannah and high forest in Ghana. In all, researchers interacted with 96 respondents in a survey and 77 participants in focus group discussions in 6 communities. The results indicate that the governance structure and management strategy for the sustainable use of rosewood and other forest commons are ineffective in the studied communities. Illegal rosewood harvesting thrived due to weak institutional structures, poor community knowledge of the value of rosewood logs in the international market and poor public knowledge about a ban on the harvesting and export of rosewood. Sustainable management and utilization of rosewood and other forest commons on village lands (lands outsider protected areas) could be improved if local communities are empowered and given technical support to manage forest resources on their lands. The conduct of natural capital accounting in forest resources and communicating the result to local communities could help residents appreciate the true value of forest resources and probably aspire for a greater quota of benefits. With a better understanding of the value of a forest, residents may be motivated to protect it from unsustainable use. Key words: Institutional structures, natural resource use, sustainable management, illegal logging.

    INTRODUCTION Pterocarpus erinaceus Poir, a rosewood species, is a deciduous tree of African savannas and dry forests. It is

    usually found in open dry forests of semiarid and sub-humid lands with a mean annual rainfall of 600–1200 mm

    *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected].

    Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution

    License 4.0 International License

    2 Int. J. Biodivers. Conserv. and mean annual temperature ranging from 15 to 32°C (Adjonou et al., 2020). The tree thrives on all soil types,preferably light to medium, free-draining, acid to neutral soils. It is drought tolerant thus has resilience towards the yearly savanna bush fires (Adjonou et al., 2019). Generally, rosewoods are hardwood species used to produce expensive furniture patronized by the elite class mostly in Asia (Zhu, 2020). The wood is also useful in the production of railway slippers, musical instruments, recreational products (e.g. chess pieces), and decorating the interior of ships. Rosewoods are species with significant economic importance to local communities across Africa (Dumenu, 2019; Ahmed et al., 2016; Dumenu and Bandoh, 2016). The use of rosewood species for fodder, charcoal, carving tools and instruments, building materials, and medicine are common in West African countries such as Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo (Ahmed et al., 2016).

    In Ghana, P. erinaceus occurs in ten out of sixteen administrative regions, namely; Ashanti, Bono East, Bono, Ahafo, Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper East, Upper West, and Oti regions. Ahafo region is said to have the highest volume of rosewood and in 2013 was estimated to have contributed about 70% of total rosewood production in the country (TIDD/FC, 2014). P. erinaceus has traditionally been exploited by local people in the savannas of Ghana mainly for charcoal and fuelwood production (Dumenu, 2019; Dumenu and Bandoh, 2016). P. erinaceus is also important in northern Ghana for the construction of musical instruments and farm tools such as the xylophone and the hand-hoe, respectively (Dumenu and Bandoh, 2016). As a leguminous tree, it has nitrogen-fixing ability and its foliage is a nutritious fodder for animals (Dumenu, 2019). It is also a medicinal plant used in concoctions for treating various diseases among residents in the areas where it occurs in Ghana. Until 2005, the greatest use of rosewood was for charcoal, produced mainly by women in the northern sector of Ghana (Bosu, 2014), thus the rate of exploitation was low. Commercial exploitation of the species began when international demand for it increased. In a space of 10 years (2003-2013), an estimated 111,110 m

    3 of rosewood had been exploited in

    Ghana (Dumenu and Bandoh, 2016). The estimated figure does not account for the high incidence of illegal harvesting. In 2014, Ghana was ranked second to Nigeria in Africa and fourth in the world among top suppliers of rosewood logs to China by volume (Treanor, 2015). A high incidence of illegal harvesting of rosewood in Ghana occurs as a result of poor regulation of harvesting (Bosu, 2013). P. erinaceus is not a traditional timber species in Ghana and so regulating its exploitation is not as strict as it is for the traditional timber species in the high forest zone. Though permits are often given to timber contractors to exploit P. erinaceus, monitoring to ensure compliance is often weak or non-existent (Saibu, 2016).

    Dumenu and Bandoh (2016) point out the species has

    become vulnerable due to its population structure and relatively slow growth rate. They conclude that the level of exploitation before a ban in 2014 was unsustainable. Due to indiscriminate commercial logging of rosewood, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources through the Forestry Commission imposed a series of bans on the harvesting, issuance and processing of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) permits for the export of the species. (Abdul-Rahaman et al., 2016). The first ban was imposed in July 2014 while the second and third bans were declared in March 2019 and July 2021, respectively (MLNR, 2021; Abdul-Rahaman et al., 2016). The first ban was lifted in August 2017, ostensibly to salvage lying logs in regions where the species occur. The ban was reimposed as a result of poor enforcement and continuous illegal exploitation of rosewood. The latest ban imposed in 2021 is described as an outright ban on the harvesting and export of rosewood. While this ban is in force, all confiscated rosewood shall be auctioned only to players in the domestic market, and no rosewood acquired through such auctions shall be permitted for export, as was the case in previous bans. This implies, the Forestry Commission (the mandated state regulatory body) would not issue CITES permits to export Rosewood, whether the wood was acquired legally or otherwise (MLNR, 2021). Apart from ecological imbalances that could occur in the wake of rosewood extinction, some local livelihoods may be lost as the plant is important for economic activities such as charcoal production and the carving of tools and instruments. However, implementation of the ban was reported to be ineffective due to corruption and lack of enforcement of regulations (Abdul-Rahaman et al., 2016). Other reasons could be lack of community consultations and limited knowledge about the potential of the species for producing items of high economic value.

    Although several studies have described the extent and nature of exploitation in Ghana (Aabeyir et al., 2011; Bosu, 2013; Treanor, 2015; Ansah, 2015; Dumenu and Bandoh, 2016), there is limited information on the socio-economic role of rosewood in local communities’ livelihood and the impact of the recent extensive exploitation on their livelihood. The effects of governance and management of rosewood as a common-pool forest resource have not also been nuanced. This study is aimed at understanding the local context for governance, management, and exploitation of rosewood in the forest-savanna transitional zone in Ghana. Such understanding could inform decisions towards the design of strategies for sustainable management and utilization of the species and other forest commons in Ghana. Specifically, the study examines characteristics of the resource user group (the local communities), the socioeconomic importance of P. erinaceus to local communities, and institutional arrangements in place for the governance, management, and utilization of rosewood as a common-

    pool resource. Theoretical framework The study is based on the common property theory (CPT). The CPT is essentially a corpus of literature from different disciplines that tries to explain the historical and contemporary institutional governance and management of valued natural resources such as forests, fisheries, oceans, atmospheric sinks, and even genetic material (Trejos and Flores, 2021; Pokrant, 2010). The CPT was fundamentally developed to get an understanding of the problems of managing valuable resources that are open to the use of all (principle of the difficulty of exclusion of users). One person’s use of such common-pool resources reduces what is available to other users (principle of subtractability or rivalry), and usually, overuse/misuse and degradation occur in the long run (Slaev and Collier, 2018).

    The study of forests as a common property has been one of the central scholarly approaches for developing the CPT, as many of the earliest contributions focused on forest studies (NRC, 1986; Singh, 1986; McCay and Acheson, 1987; Berkes, 1989; Stanley, 1991). This may be partly because forests produce multiple products that are of interest to many stakeholders for different purposes. Particularly, scholars have shown keen interest in the relevance of forests to the livelihoods of multitudes of rural residents across the world (Agrawal, 2007). Forests serve as important livelihood resources for local communities in agrarian and developing areas where much of subsistence still come from the natural environment (Widianingsih et al., 2016). Institutional arrangements for governance and management of forests are becoming more complex in contemporary times due to its multiple roles for global conservation and local livelihoods (Thompson, 2018), which often introduce more competing interests. It is therefore difficult to design lasting solutions to governance and management problems emanating from the use of forest commons because landscapes, demographics, development processes, and political alliances keep changing with time (Nightingale, 2019).

    Agrawal (2001) posits that four clusters of variables are important for the successful governance of forest commons: the characteristics of the resource system, the user group, the institutional arrangements, and the external environment. These categories have been used in other empirical efforts to examine how governance-related variables affect forest conditions (van Laerhoven et al., 2020). The categories are also conveniently viewed as socio-political and economic variables (represented by ‘user group’), biophysical and edaphic factors (represented by the cluster of variables classified as ‘resource system’s characteristics), and demographic, market, macro-political, and other contextual factors

    Obiri et al. 3 (represented by the category of factors termed ‘external environment’) (van Laerhoven et al., 2020). How these variables or factors are made to interact with each other to produce desirable results is what is termed institutional arrangements. Characteristics of the resource system In a broader sense, resource characteristics relevant to governance and management of common-pool resources include the boundaries, whether the resource is mobile, the extent to which resource units can be stored, rate and predictability of flow of benefits from the resource system, and ease of monitoring resource conditions (Nightingale, 2019; Agrawal, 2007). These are characteristics that help resource users to institutionalize governance through rules and regulations. While it is possible to change some of these features with technology and institutional arrangements (e.g. forest size, forest boundary, and ease of monitoring), others are almost impossible to alter (e.g. whether the resource is mobile). Biophysical characteristics such as soils, topography, fire, and pests are often considered in research on forest change and deforestation, but little attention has been paid to the significance of these factors on the management of forests commons. Even scholarly works that engage biophysical variables to give an understanding of forest conditions often end up using property rights, socio-economics, or politics to explain outcomes (Newton et al., 2015). User group In analyzing user group characteristics, researchers have often considered the size, boundary, level of heterogeneity of the group, interdependence among group members, and level of dependence on forest resources (Newton et al., 2015; van Laerhoven et al., 2020). Group size and heterogeneity may have a great impact on forests commons since they affect the ability of the group to take collective action. Disputes are often associated with governance decisions when a group is large and/or has poorly-defined boundaries (Hemant et al., 2019). Group heterogeneity usually occurs along ethnicity, indigeneity, gender, religion, wealth, and many other socially-defined groups, depending on the context and locality. The effect of heterogeneity on the governance of forests commons is always contested since the variables involved are many and influence each other. However, a significant portion of literature in this field suggests that almost invariably, group members with superior economic and political power often have a greater say in the governance of forest commons and gain a greater share of benefits accruing from the resource (van Laerhoven et al., 2020).

    4 Int. J. Biodivers. Conserv. Institutional arrangements Institutional arrangements can be a pivotal factor in the governance and management of forest resources. Research on how different institutional set-ups affect forest conditions has been of great interest to researchers in the sector since the concept of forests commons emerged. The output from this research has helped clarify understanding of how rules affect the behavior of forest users. It is generally recognized that when rules are locally made and can easily be understood and enforced, they are likely to lead to effective governance (Hemant et al., 2019). Again, such rules should be able to cover a wide range of possible violations, deal with potential conflicts, and instill accountability in resource users and officials. Although these rules are helpful, their better form will come from good policies, and effective implementation will be influenced by local and national politics (Merino-Saum et al., 2018). The external environment External environment regarding governance and management of forest commons are context-specific, and often refers to demographic, cultural, technological, and market-related factors. Other factors include the nature of state agencies, international aid flows, and the level of involvement of other actors and forces such as NGOs (Agrawal, 2007). Though some scholars consider external issues as less important compared to institutional matters (Nkhata et al., 2012; Young, 1994), others are of the view that changes in population and market forces are equally important in influencing forest condition (Bray et al., 2006; Power, 2006). Technological innovation has the potential to increase the efficiency of harvesting and processing of forest products, but it can also disrupt institutional mechanisms that defined and held together forests' commons (Hemant et al., 2019). For example, technology makes it easy for individuals to exploit forest common resources beyond sustainable levels and run stocks depleted. Foreign inflows into developing countries that go with conditions may also catalyze the depletion of forest resources. For instance, the International Monetary Fund loans to Ghana in the 1980s promoted the wood processing industry which in turn encouraged excessive logging and for that matter deforestation (Oduro et al., 2015). MATERIALS AND METHODS The study area The study was conducted in two districts, Kintampo North and Nkoransa North in the Kintampo Forest Districts (GFD) of the Bono East Region of Ghana (Figure 1). Kintampo North is located between latitudes 8° 45’N and 7° 45’N and longitudes 1° 20’W and

    2° 1’E with a population of 95,480 (GSS, 2014). Nkoransa North is located within longitude 10 10’ and 10 55’ W and latitude 70 20’ and 70 55’ N. The district has a population of 65,895 (GSS, 2014). Both districts are located in the forest-savannah transition zone of Ghana with the wet-semi equatorial type of climate and mean annual temperature and rainfall of 27°C and 1,800 mm, respectively. The rains occur in two seasons; from May to July and from September to October. The vegetation is savanna woodland with scattered trees including Acacia species, Anogeissus leiocarpus, P. erinaceus, and Vitellaria paradoxa. The soils are predominantly savanna orchrosols (richer in organic matter and nutrients). Traditionally, the local economy is agrarian with agriculture engaging 60% of households (GSS, 2014). Agricultural production is largely under rain-fed conditions and common crops grown include yam, maize, cassava, and groundnuts.

    Kintampo and Nkoransa North Districts in the Kintampo Forest District are major areas for the production, collection, and transportation of charcoal. Farmers generally supplement farming with charcoal production as a significant source of income to support their families. The population of most trees is severely declined near townships and may be found only some 20 km away. Rosewood exploitation is highly prevalent in the area.

    Sampling technique and sample size

    The KFD was selected for the study because there was widespread rosewood harvesting in the area. To effectively achieve the aim of the study through the methods employed, three communities each were purposively selected based on the extent of rosewood harvesting activities (Campbell et al., 2020). The selected communities include Bonsu, Dotobaa, and Brahoho in the Nkoranza North District and Dawadawa No. 2, Busuama, and Portor in the Kintampo Municipal. Households represented sampling units and 16 households were selected from each community using the linear snowball sampling technique (Anieting and Mosugu, 2017). This sampling technique was chosen because rosewood loggers do not form a population that can easily be identified. They are scattered but they know each other. In all, 96 household representatives were interviewed. Residents who lived in the community for more than 10 years and were involved in the rosewood business were targeted.

    Methods of data collection

    Secondary data for the study was collected by reviewing relevant literature from various sources including the internet, hardcopy books in libraries, and documents from government institutions. Primary data was collected using focus group discussions (FGD) and non-probability sampling techniques (snowball sampling). The FGDs involved residents who were in rosewood businesses, landowners, farmers, and community leaders. One FGD was held in each of the six communities in the two administrative districts and the number of participants ranged from from ten to fifteen. Seventy-seven (77) individuals participated in the FGDs. The checklist of questions to guide the discussions centered on the governance, management, and utilization of forest resources in general and rosewood in particular. Other questions were around the importance of rosewood to residents in the community, especially those involved in the exploitation of rosewood for sale to merchants who exported the logs. Finally, there were questions on land tenure and land use rights in the communities visited.

    Other questions targeted at people who were into rosewood exploitation for traditional economic uses such as charcoal production and carving, and those who were logging the species mainly for timber to sell to merchants engaged in exporting

    Obiri et al. 5

    Figure 1. Map of the study area showing study districts and communities.

    Table 1. Age category of respondents in the Kintampo Forest District.

    Age category Number of respondents (N = 96) Percent

    20 – 29 8 8.3

    30 – 39 23 24.0

    40 – 49 37 38.5

    50 – 59 25 26.0

    60+ 3 3.1

    Total 96 100

    the logs. For this, 16 individuals were interviewed in each of the six communities giving a total of 96 respondents. Going by the sampling technique employed, the first respondent were identified through a tipoff. The first respondent then volunteered information about the next potential respondent and the process repeated until we got the required number of 16 respondents in each community. Where a potential respondent would not grant an interview, researchers would fall back on previous interviewees to suggest new potential respondents. The questionnaire was structured into four sections covering demographic information of respondents, governance issues, management structures in place for the exploitation of rosewood, the extent of exploitation, perception of availability of rosewood for timber and perceived drivers of the extensive exploitation of the resource.

    Perception of the relative distribution of rosewood compared with other important species in the study area was assessed. Questions in this section measured the perception of respondents on the abundance of rosewood, relative to other species that were used as substitutes for rosewood in the study communities.

    Data analysis Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 and Microsoft Excel were used to produce descriptive statistics. The results have been presented in tables, graphs and text.

    RESULTS Demographic information of respondents: Characteristics of the resource user group

    A total of 96 respondents were interviewed with 57.3% of them being male and 42.7% being female. Almost 90.0% of all respondents were in the active working-age bracket (30 – 59 years) as this is the energetic group that is involved in farming activities (Table 1).

    6 Int. J. Biodivers. Conserv. Over half of the total respondents (63.5%) have had some form of formal education with the majority (50.0%) ending at the junior high school (JHS) level and only 12.5% proceeding to the senior high school (SHS) level. About one-third (36.5%) had no formal education and only one respondent had tertiary education. The ethnicity of respondents was well mixed, as natives and non-natives occurred almost equally with 53.1 and 46.9%, respectively. Since the study area is agrarian, the majority of respondents (87.5%) were farmers while 5.2 and 7.3% were engaged in charcoal production and other trades, respectively. Other trades mentioned included petty trading, agriculture machinery operation, and over-the-counter chemical selling. However, residents who had farming as their main occupation also engaged in other livelihood activities to supplement their income. They take up these activities (e.g. charcoal production, hunting, construction labor work, etc.) when they have downtime from their farming activities. Importance of rosewood as a traditional resource: The resource base Per the views of respondents, rosewood has a substantial function in local communities in the Kintampo Forest District as it is recognized as an essential customary resource by 75% of the respondents. Although international demand for rosewood made it an instant export commodity in Ghana, it appeared many residents in the study area did not know the international market value of the species. Many attested that demand for rosewood logs in their communities had gone up sharply, it became clear in the FGDs, that few people knew about the international demand and value of the species which made it an instant export commodity. Consequently, landowners continue to lease out concessions as if they were going to be used for traditional production activities like charcoal production. However, people who joined the brisk rosewood business as loggers, loaders, guides, etc., were happy with their earnings because according to them it was far better than proceeds from charcoal production. It appeared that most young men and women who worked for rosewood merchants in the communities were hitherto involved in charcoal production. As rosewood continued to diminish in the Kintampo Forest District, residents shifted to the use of alternative tree species to produce traditional tools and equipment like gunstocks and pestles.

    In terms of traditional benefits derived from rosewood, 61% of the respondents indicated that rosewood was often harvested as a raw material for various purposes including charcoal production, carpentry works to produce door and window frames, and carving of gunstocks and agricultural tools. However, only 18% of respondents indicated that they made income from the sale of rosewood logs to merchants, suggesting that the

    involvement of residents in the rosewood business was minimal. The majority of loggers and merchants may have been outsiders. A small number of the respondents (7%) however opined that rosewood was important as fodder for animals, whilst 13% placed value on the species for its ecological role of nitrogen fixation. Rosewood abundance in the local communities: The resource system Based on the perception of respondents, rosewood was reported to be the least abundant among local species occurring in the Kintampo Forest District. Figure 2 shows the perceived abundance of rosewood in comparison with other tree species occurring in the studied areas. Residents revealed that it was becoming difficult to get rosewood for traditional uses like charcoal production and fodder harvesting for livestock. This development started putting pressure on other tree species that are used alternatively for charcoal. For example, due to the increasing scarcity of rosewood, it was revealed at an FGD that many charcoal producers who preferred rosewood had shifted to Kane (A. leiocarpus) as alternative species for charcoal production. This shift may put pressure on Kane too and the combined pressure on P. erinaceus and A. leiocarpus may trigger rapid deforestation and ecological imbalance in the Kintampo Forest District.

    Combretum glutinosum and Terminalia mollis were perceived to be more abundant than P. erinaceus because the former are alternatives to the latter for charcoal production. Hence, respondents compared the availability of species usually used for producing customary items. The perceived reduction in stand density of rosewood was attributed to its over-exploitation. Few respondents attached importance to the resource for its new status as an export commodity. This is apparently due to a lack of knowledge of its value shift from low demand timber to high demand timber. However, no stocks were taken on the species, and for that matter, actual volumes were not known to inform sustainable levels of exploitation. Institutional arrangements: Governance and management of rosewood as a common-pool resource Interaction with local authorities and key informants revealed that before the sharp increase in demand for rosewood, there were no rules in place for its harvesting. This is because the level of exploitation of the resource was considered to be at sustainable levels thereby warranting no limitation to exploitation. Typical with the exploitation of common-pool resources in Ghana, neither national nor local-level authorities have any working

    Obiri et al. 7

    Figure 2. Perception of residents on the occurrence of Pterocarpus erinoceus compared with other similar naturally occurring species at same locations.

    governance structures to regulate harvesting levels and the sharing of benefits accruing from rosewood. Trees occurring in off-reserve areas in Ghana are held in trust by the president for the people and therefore the Forestry Commission is the statutory institution with the responsibility to manage and regulate the exploitation of such trees. However, by convention, citizens at the local community level do not need to apply for any permit before exploiting trees as a customary resource for their day-to-day needs. This situation, therefore, makes trees and other resources in off-reserve areas in Ghana appear as common-pool resources. However, during the rush for rosewood, some traditional authorities (chiefs) arrogated to themselves the power of issuing felling permits to individuals and groups for fees and royalties. After the ban was placed on the harvesting and export of rosewood, some kind of loose management structure was put in place for government agencies and the local communities (Table 2). However, monitoring and enforcement of the ban and other forest regulations were still poor as the illegal acts of felling and trading in rosewood continued under fake and inappropriate salvage permits. It would appear that some government officials in charge of the regulation and some elites in the local communities were behind the illegal harvesting of the species. Salvage Permits were issued to some contractors to cover their illegal activities. Salvage Permits usually state the particular species, number, diameter classes of threes to be salvaged in an identified area within a stipulated time frame. However, some players in the rosewood business alleged that none of the specifics mentioned above were clearly stated in the permits issued to contractors to ‘salvage’ rosewood. Residents also reported that fresh cutting was made in the name of the salvage permits which is illegal.

    External environment: Factors that influence over-exploitation of rosewood Major factors that led to the extensive exploitation of rosewood were identified as market-related and poor resources governance (regulation). Figure 2 presents details of the reasons for the over-exploitation of rosewood. As wood quality may be the main factor driving the high demand for rosewood in the international market, residents in the KFD might not have been privy to this fact because they could not link wood quality to the rising demand for rosewood logs in their communities. Almost two-thirds of respondents cited harvesting ‘to sell logs for income’ as the main reason for the over-exploitation, yet only 4% of respondents indicated that rosewood was in high demand for its wood quality (Figure 3). Demand for rosewood from external markets was therefore the major driver of overexploitation of the species in the KFD.

    As a sign of poor resource governance, even information on the ban on rosewood exploitation was not effectively communicated to the local communities since over two-thirds (68%) of respondents did not know there was such a ban. The use of rosewood for socio-cultural purposes remains minimal since rosewood is used with other species for these purposes (e.g. carving and charcoal production). Efficiency of public education on forest policies and sustainable use of forest resources It was discovered from the FGDs that residents of the studied communities had little knowledge about laws and policies about the sustainable use of forest resources in

    8 Int. J. Biodivers. Conserv.

    Table 2. Misshape governance and management structure put in place when a ban was imposed on rosewood exploitation.

    Policy action Responsible institution

    Government (Forestry commission) Traditional community

    Official ban on commercial exploitation

    To be imposed by the state mandated body; the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources through the Forestry Commission

    To be educated on the guidelines of the ban. To support state actors in implementing the ban

    Official permit issued for salvage harvesting

    To be issued by the Forestry Commission

    Traditional leaders to help state actors in checking permits of loggers and fishing out illegal operators

    Harvesting of wood from dead trees for fuel

    Extreme and dubious cases to be reported to state actors

    To be monitored by local actors, e.g. chiefs and other community leaders

    Harvesting of only branches from live trees for firewood

    Guidelines to be given by the Forestry Commission

    Local actors, e.g. chiefs and other community leaders to monitor and ensure compliance with the guidelines

    Figure 3. Residents’ perception of the reasons for rosewood extensive exploitation in the Kintampo Forest District.

    the country. Many revealed that they did not know it was important to regulate the harvesting of trees outside logging concessions or state-owned protected areas. Rosewood until its value shift, was considered a low-valued timber species since it was only used for traditional

    exploits such as fodder, medicine firewood, and charcoal production. When demand for it increased in Asia and its status changed from low-priced to high-priced timber, many of the resource owners (local communities) did not know about it. Timber merchants took advantage and

    Obiri et al. 9

    Figure 4. Respondents’ knowledge about the ban on the harvesting and export of rosewood in Ghana.

    bought concessions at ridiculously low prices from local landowners. The merchants also got cheap labor from residents which led to overexploitation of the resource. When the government banned the harvesting and export of rosewood, few residents in rosewood endowed communities knew about it (Figure 4).

    This facilitated the continuous illegal logging of the species. It appeared that communication of the ban was carried mainly in the print media (national newspapers) which are hardly consumed by rural residents. A more efficient communication could have been through local radio stations in local dialects. DISCUSSION The resource user group (the local communities) Findings of the current study reveal that local communities in the KFD are heterogeneous in terms of ethnicity which may explain why there is no traditional resource management system in place to check the exploitation of forest resources including rosewood. Some ethnic groups in northern Ghana (e.g. the Dagbamba and Tallensi) do have well-structured political institutions with oversight responsibility on how forest and wildlife resources are managed and exploited on traditional lands (Bonye, 2007). The presence of such structures in the communities within the KFD could help

    check the over-exploitation of rosewood in the area. Heterogeneity of a group may not promote what Nkhata et al. (2012) described as collective identity, which refers to the common meaning, experiences, and expectations that drive the group’s attitude towards the management and utilization of a resource.

    Lack of a well-defined user group (the members of a community in this case) is a characteristic of communities in the KFD. Generally, in Ghana, local community authorities do not keep a register of people in a community and so outsiders can easily move into the territory of a village and take any resource without notice. Interactions with participants in FGDs revealed that the majority of people who engaged in rosewood logging in the KFD were outsiders, and many of them cut rosewood without the knowledge of village authorities and landowners. Though rosewood is recognized as an important customary resource, dependence on it as the main source of traditional livelihood is low. The majority of people in the KFD are into farming as against charcoal production, carving, and carpentry that involve the use of rosewood as raw material. Even for those who use rosewood in their main livelihood activities, there are other species used as substitutes and complements for the purposes mentioned above, and this may explain why residents in the KFD did not give any special attention to rosewood until the mad rush for it. Agrawal (2007) suggests that the degree of dependence of a group on a forest resource could be proportional to the attention

    10 Int. J. Biodivers. Conserv. given to the resource in terms of its management. The general lack of knowledge about the value of forest resources in Ghana may be due to a lack of valuation of natural resources to put a market value on them. It is easy for people to appreciate the importance of a resource when they can put a monetary value on it (Christie et al., 2012). Apart from traditional uses of forest and wildlife resources, residents (especially those in rural communities) hardly know the economic value of forest resources.

    Rosewood as a forest common of importance to the community

    Rosewood is very well recognized as an important customary resource in communities within the KFD. However, it was indicated through FGDs that characteristics relevant for effective governance of forest commons are not known for rosewood in the local communities. Agrawal (2007) recognized some resource characteristics relevant to effective governance of forest commons as the size of the resource base, the boundaries, whether the resource is mobile, the extent to which resource units can be stored, rate and predictability of flow of benefits from the resource base, and ease of monitoring the resource conditions. Local communities in the KFD like others in Ghana, who use traditional resources without any structured management systems, do not take cognizance of these characteristics and this allows outsiders easy access to common-pool resources. It became clear after discussions with the local communities that, abundance and distribution of rosewood within the village lands were not known. This suggests that the value of the resource could not be estimated, hence the apparent lack of attention on its exploitation mainly by outsiders. Dumenu and Bandoh (2016) reported that even the Forestry Commission which is the state organization entrusted with the management of forest resources did not have actual volumes of rosewood anywhere in the country. Lack of physical landmarks indicating the boundaries of village lands also contributes to the inability of communities to monitor the exploitation of common-pool resources like trees. In the studied communities, residents could not agree on exact points where they share boundaries with neighboring communities, making it difficult to know if rosewood loggers at the periphery are intruding in particular village lands. In some cases, the majority of residents are settler-farmers who do not know about land boundaries and may also have little or no interest in trees because they have no right to use the trees. Governance issues in the management of rosewood There were no regulations for harvesting or permissible harvest levels for rosewood species in the various

    communities that the study covered. There is no sustainable harvest threshold for any species in areas outside logging concessions and forest reserves in Ghana (Lund et al., 2012) and local communities are not given the power to monitor harvest levels of timber species. Community ownership rights and applicability of customary laws to surface land are well recognized in the constitution (Article 267(1)), where community lands are referred to as ‘stool/skin’ lands. However, it is only the president of the republic who has the power to decide how standing timber resources on these community lands (stool/skin lands) should be used. This power is usually exercised by the Forestry Commission, the state institution in charge of managing forest and wildlife resources. This handicaps communities on decisions of how forest resources on land should be managed and exploited.

    Nonetheless, during the mad rush for rosewood in the KFD, elite members of some communities tried to assume governance responsibilities over the resource to take advantage of the situation. Community leaders such as chiefs, youth leaders, assembly persons (local government representatives), opinion leaders, and even chairpersons of political parties, tried to collect and share rent and royalties from rosewood loggers. These leaders were only interested in collecting and sharing benefits and not monitoring whether rosewood was being harvested at sustainable levels. In an attempt to effect a ban on rosewood exploitation in 2014, some misshape governance structure was put in place with roles for the Forestry Commission and local communities. However, the roles were not new but the insistence on existing regulations in the Timber Resources Management Regulation of 1998 (LI 1649). The Forestry Commission had the responsibility to enforce the ban, be stringent in issuing and monitoring salvage permits, and ensure only dead wood of rosewood is harvested. Local communities, on the other hand, were to ensure that only branches of rosewood could be harvested for traditional uses such as fodder and making of tools and that only dead wood was taken for charcoal and firewood. Even this interim arrangement was not effective according to Saibu (2016) who reported that illegal logging continued unabated especially in the northern part of the country.

    Push factors of overexploitation of rosewood in the KFD

    External factors that catalyzed over-exploitation of rosewood in the KFD and for that matter in Ghana, are encapsulated in the other factors including governance, management, and market-related factors. The main factor cited for the over-exploitation was the high demand for rosewood logs in external markets (e.g. China) which triggered price hikes for the commodity in Ghana. This corroborates the report of Bosu (2013) which indicates that the high demand for rosewood in China and other

    external markets resulted in an unparalleled surge in the felling of the species in Ghana. Dumenu (2019) also reports that the highest export volume of rosewood logs in Ghana occurred in 2014, when China alone received 270,738 m

    3. This made Ghana the second-highest

    exporter in Africa (after Nigeria) and the fourth-highest exporter in the world to the same destination. The devastative exploitation of rosewood thrived on the weakness of governance and management structures, which gave impetus to the actions of corrupt government officials and community leaders. The reports of Saibu (2016), as well as Dumenu and Bandoh (2016), indicate that officials of the Forestry Commission issued inappropriate salvage permits to contractors to fell rosewood when there was a total ban which criminalized harvesting, collecting of lying wood, and export of the commodity in 2014. Chiefs and other community leaders particularly in the north, also usurped powers of the president and authorized loggers to fell rosewood in their traditional areas (Saibu, 2016). The popular belief that rosewood is under pressure for its superior timber qualities did not quite reflect in this study because residents in the study area did not know about this fact, and only valued rosewood for its local uses. As Agrawal (2007) suggests, macro-political factors may directly or indirectly affect how forest resources are exploited in developing countries. Dogbevi (2019) suggests that the increasing in-flow of loans and grants from China to Ghana might have weakened Ghana’s political will to stop Chinese involvement in the illegal exploitation of natural resources including rosewood. The export value of rosewood had never been known in Ghana until Chinese workers arrived in the country to start construction of a 400MW hydropower dam (Bui Dam) in the then Brong Ahafo Region in December 2009. The Chinese workers identified and started exporting rosewood that was part of felled trees in areas to be flooded by the new dam. The construction was the result of a US$562 million financial agreement signed between Ghana and China in 2007 (Otoo et al., 2013; Dogbevi, 2019). Awareness of natural resource policies Policies on the management and utilization of natural resources are hardly communicated to the masses who live with and use the resources. The current forest resources policy document (the 2012 Forest and Wildlife Policy) seems to have strategic action points to ensure sustainable and inclusive management and utilization of forest resources, yet the implementation process precludes local community education. This general dearth of information dissemination on natural resource policies contributed to the plundering of rosewood in local communities with little benefit to the resource owners. For instance, when demand for rosewood increased and the

    Obiri et al. 11 value of the species shifted from low to high in Ghana, local communities were not in the know. Even the Forestry Commission reneged on its duty to re-valuate the species and review its status of rosewood from low demand timber to high demand timber after it became an export commodity (Dumenu and Bandoh, 2016). The local communities, therefore, continued to compare proceeds from the commercial logging of the species to what was earned from charcoal production – the most popular traditional use of the species (Dumenu and Bandoh, 2016). This situation was exploited by rosewood merchants who made a fortune from the resource but paid paltry sums to local landowners who leased their lands out and residents who joined the value chain as loggers and loaders. Since rosewood became an export commodity in Ghana in 2005, its exploitation and export suffered three bans, the first in 2014, the second in 2017 and the third in 2021. However, only one-third of respondents in the current study indicated they ever heard about a ban on the harvesting and trade of rosewood in Ghana. Issues on natural resources management and utilization hardly gain adequate space in the media in Ghana. Natural resource policies in Ghana are mostly good but are often not widely communicated to the general citizenry. As a result, when criminals are engaged in illegal activities involving natural resources, they get away with it because many citizens do not know what constitutes legal and illegal activities in our environment.

    Citizen participation in resource governance, management, and utilization are paramount for inclusive and environmentally sustainable development (Twum, 2019). This is seen as a necessary foundation for the political philosophy of pluralism in natural resources management (Gavin et al., 2018). However, no meaningful participation by citizens can happen without education and information dissemination on relevant resource policies. This is needed to empower citizens and make them cognizant of their rights and responsibilities in the sustainable management and exploitation of resources. Apart from strengthening relevant institutions and monitoring stakeholder activities effectively, it will be necessary to institute natural resources accounting in Ghana so that citizens can get to know the true value of resources in their environment. Knowing the value can serve as a motivating factor for them to protect and exploit forest resources sustainably and also demand an equitable share of benefits accruing from natural resources. Conclusion This study sought to examine the characteristics of the resource user groups, the socio-economic importance of P. erinaceus to local communities, and institutional arrangements in place for the governance, management,

    12 Int. J. Biodivers. Conserv. and utilization of rosewood as a common-pool resource. It is clear that common-pool resources in non-protected lands are not managed at the community level but are only exploited. There is no management strategy for rosewood as a common forest resource and this led to unsustainable exploitation of the resource when the high demand for it in external markets triggered price hikes. Common-pool resources may become more sustainable if the central government devolves resource governance power and builds the capacity of local communities to manage forest commons in off-reserve areas in Ghana. The value of the resource base (forest resources) needs to be established through natural resources capital accounting and made known to local communities. If the real value of rosewood is made known to local communities they would likely get a bigger share of proceeds, thus ensuring equity in the distribution of benefits accruing from forest resources. This could also lead to locals using alternative tree species for traditional uses of rosewood such as charcoal production and harvest rosewood only for export. Perhaps reforestation schemes could be developed and would be more likely to be developed if locals knew the value of rosewood in the international market. Residents in local communities (as resource owners) may be motivated to protect natural resources from abuse and overexploitation if the benefits they derive rise significantly.

    Community members as resource-user groups are not defined in the studied communities. This is a common phenomenon in Ghana which opens up common-pool resources at the community level to just anybody. The lack of proper governance and management of common-pool resources also makes it easy for elite few to arrogate ownership of such resources to themselves and therefore seek rent and royalties from other users. Chiefs and other community leaders were noted to have given concessions to rosewood loggers or charge rent and royalties but rendered no account of the proceeds to their communities. The value of rosewood as a timber

    resource was known to only a few in the communities. Therefore, no special attention was given to the species and its logging when the mad rush for it started. The conversion of rosewood from a non-timber forest product to a timber product was essentially triggered by demands in external markets. The illegal logging of the species went on due to weak institutional structures and non-enforcement of timber regulations in the country. The logging was reported to be at unsustainable levels, with potential negative effects on local livelihoods. Empowering local communities legally with defined responsibilities to put them at the forefront of managing forest resources in off-reserve areas could ensure sustainable management and utilization of forest common resources.

    The study opens further research possibilities on the topic of rosewood as a forest common. We, therefore, recommend further research on (i) the best ways to

    disseminate information on policy relating to the use of forest resources at the local community level in Ghana; (ii) what is the possible impact on livelihoods in the case of a ban on the use of forest resources? (iii) what are the livelihood alternatives in the case of a ban on the use of forest resources for the local communities? and (iv) in the case of a ban, what would be the implication regarding the use of alternative species and/or biodiversity of the forest?

    CONFLICT OF INTERESTS The authors have not declared any conflict of interests. REFERENCES Aabeyir R, Quaye-Ballard JA, van Leeuwen LM, Oduro W (2011).

    Analysis of factors affecting sustainable commercial fuelwood collection in Dawadawa and Kunsu in Kintampo North district of Ghana. IIOAB Journal 2(2):44-54.

    Abdul-Rahaman I, Kabanda J, Braimah MM (2016). Desertification of the Savanna: Illegal Logging of Rosewood, Causes and Effects on the People of Kabonwule, Northern Region. Saudi Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 1(2):48-54.

    Adjonou K, Abotsi KE, Segla KN, Rabiou H, Houetchegnonc T, Sourou BKN, Benziwa NJ, Ouinsavi CAIN, KokutseAD, Mahamane A, Kokoua K (2020). Vulnerability of African rosewood (Pterocarpus erinaceus, Fabaceae) natural stands to climate change and implications for silviculture in West Africa. Heliyon 6(6):e04031.

    Adjonou K, Houetchegnon T, Rabiou H, Kossi SN, Abotsi EK, Johnson BN, Alaba P, Ouinsavi CAN, Quashie AML, Kokutse AD (2019). Challenges of conservation and sustainable management of African rosewood (Pterocarpus erinaceus) in West Africa. Natural Resources Management and Biological Sciences, (Intech Open) 29. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88796.

    Agrawal A (2001) Common property institutions and sustainable governance of resources. World Development, 29(10):1649-1672.

    Agrawal A (2007). Forests, Governance, and Sustainability: Common Property Theory and its Contributions. International Journal of the Commons 1(1):111-136.

    Ahmed YM, Oruonye ED, Tukura E (2016). Dynamics of Rosewood (Pterocarpus erinaceus) exploitation in savanna lands of Taraba State Nigeria. Sky Journal of Soil Science and Environmental Management 5(2):44-51.

    Anieting A, Mosugu J (2017). Comparison of quota sampling and snowball sampling. Indian Scholar 3(3):33-36.

    Ansah T (2015). Nutritive value and greenhouse gas mitigation potential of eight browse plants from northern Ghana (unpublished doctoral dissertation). University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana.

    Berkes F (ed). (1989). Common Property Resources: Ecology and Community Based Sustainable Development. London: Belhaven Press.

    Bonye SZ (2007). Harnessing synergies: the role of traditional institutions in natural resource management in the Talensi-Nabdam District. MPhil thesis, University for Development Studies. Tamale, Ghana.

    Bosu D (2013). Draft report on the dynamics of harvesting and trade in rosewood (Pterocarpus erinaceous) in Bole, Central, West and North Gonja Districts of the Northern Region. Retrieve from: http://www.ecosystemalliance. org/sites/default/files/documents/Dynamic s%20of%20Rosewood%20Trade%20in%20North ern%20Ghana.pdf (Accessed 2020 January 12).

    Bosu D (2014). The Most Expensive Selling Commodity in Ghana. Available at: http://newsghana.com.gh/rosewood-expensive-selling- commodity-ghana/ [Accessed 2019 December 11]

    Bray DB, Antinori , Torres-Rojo JM (2006). The Mexican model of

    community forest management: The role of. agrarian policy, forest policy and entrepreneurial organization. Forest Policy and Economics 8(4):470-484.

    Campbell S, Greenwood M, Prior S, Shearer T, Walkem K, Young SM, Bywaters D, Walker K (2020). Purposive sampling: complex or simple? Research case examples. Journal of Research in Nursing 25(8):652-661. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744987120927206

    Christie M, Fazey I, Cooper R, Hyde T, Kenter JO (2012). An evaluation of monetary and non-monetary techniques for assessing the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services to people in countries with developing economies. Ecological Economics 83:67-78.

    Dogbevi EK (2019). China’s lust for rosewood fuels logging in Ghana’s poorest region. Ghana Business News. Available at https://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2019/01/16/chinas-lust-for-rosewood-fuels-logging-in-ghanas-poorest-region/

    Dumenu WK, Bandoh WN (2016). Exploitation of African rosewood (pterocarpus erinaceus) in Ghana: a situation analysis. Ghana Journal of Forestry 32:1-15.

    Dumenu WK (2019). Assessing the impact of felling/export ban and CITES designation on exploitation of African rosewood (Pterocarpus erinaceus). Biological Conservation 236:124-133.

    Gavin MC, McCarter J, Berkes F, Mead AP, Sterling EJ, Tang R, Turner NJ (2018). Effective biodiversity conservation requires dynamic, pluralistic, partnership-based approaches. Sustainability 10(1846):1- 11.

    Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) (2014). 2010 population and housing census: district analytical report, Nkoranza District. Accra, Ghana: Ghana Statistical Service.

    Hemant RO, Bhusal P, Naya S, Paudel PM, Parvin S (2019). Turning conflicts into cooperation? The role of adaptive learning and deliberation in managing natural resources conflicts in Nepal, Climate Policy 19 p.

    Lund JF, Carlsen K, Hansen CP, Treue T (2012). The political economy of timber governance in Ghana. In Broekhoven G, Savenije H & von Scheliha S (eds.), Moving forward with forest governance (pp. 117-126). Wageningen, the Netherlands: Tropenbos International.

    McCay BJ, Acheson J (1987). The Question of the Commons: The Culture and Ecology of Communal Resources. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    Merino-Saum A, Baldi MG, Gunderson I, Oberle B (2018). Articulating natural resources and sustainable development goals through green economy indicators: systematic analysis, Resources, Conservation and Recycling 139:90-103 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.07.007.

    Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources (MLNR) (2021). Outright ban on export of rosewood. Available at https://www.myjoyonline.com/lands-ministry-outright-ban-on-export-of-rosewood.

    Newton P, Oldekop J, Agrawal A, Cronkleton P, Etue E, Russell AJM, Tjajadi JS, Zhou W (2015). What are the biophysical, institutional, and socioeconomic contextual factors associated with improvements in livelihood and environmental outcomes in forests managed by communities?: A systematic review protocol. Working Paper 172. Bogor, Indonesia: CIFOR.

    Nightingale AJ (2019). Commoning for inclusion? Political communities, commons, exclusion, property and socio-natural becomings. International Journal of the Commons 13(1):16-35.

    Nkhata BA, Breen C, Mosimane A (2012). Engaging common property theory: implications for benefit sharing research in developing countries. International Journal of the Commons 6(1):52-69.

    National Research Council (NRC) (1986). Proceedings of the Conference on Common Property Resource Management. Washington DC: National Academy Press.

    Obiri et al. 13 Oduro KA, Mohren GMJ, Pena-Claros M, Kyereh B, Arts B (2015).

    ‘Tracing forest resource development in Ghana through forest transition pathways. Land Use Policy 48:63-72.

    Otoo KN, Ulbrich N, Asafu-Adjaye P (2013). Unions can make a difference: Ghanaian workers in a Chinese construction firm at Bui dam site. Accra,Ghana: Trades Union Congress (Ghana).

    Pokrant B (2010). Common property theory in green politics. In Mulvaney D, Robbins P (Eds) Green politics, an A-to-Z guide. California, USA: Sage Publications DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412971867

    Saibu BN (2016). Illegal rosewood loggers ruin Mole Park; threaten farmers. GhanaWeb. Retrieved from https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/business/Illegal-rosewood-loggers-ruin-Mole-Park-threaten-farmers-430738

    Singh C (1986). Common Property and Common Poverty: India, Forests, Forest Dwellers, and the Law. England: Oxford University Press

    Slaev AD, Collier M (2018). Managing natural resources: Coasean bargaining versus Ostromian rules of common governance. Environmental Science and Policy 85:47-53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2018.03.017

    Stanley DL (1991). Communal forest management: The Honduran resin tappers. Development and Change 22(4):757-79

    Thompson BS (2018). The political ecology of mangrove forest restoration in Thailand: Institutional arrangements and power dynamics. Land Use Policy 78:503-514.

    Treanor NB (2015). China's hongmu consumption boom: analysis of the Chinese rosewood trade and links to illegal activity in tropical forested countries. Washington D.C: Forest Trends.

    Trejos B, Flores JC (2021). Influence of property rights on performance of community-based forest devolution policies in Honduras. Forest Policy Economics 124:102397. DOI., 10.1016/j.forpol.2021.102397

    van Laerhoven F, Schoon M, Villamayor-Tomas S (2020). Celebrating the 30th anniversary of Ostrom’s governing the Commons: Traditions and trends in the study of the Commons, revisited. International Journal of the Commons 14(1):208-224.

    Widianingsih NN, Theilade I, Pouliot M (2016). Contribution of forest restoration to rural livelihoods and household income in Indonesia. Sustainability 8(835):1-22.

    Zhu AL (2020). China’s rosewood boom: A cultural fix to capital overaccumulation. Annals of the American Association of Geographers 110(1):277-296.

    Wk 6 Discussion (Due in 1 days) Urgent/The Trade of Malagasy Rosewood and Ebony.pdf

    China has been the main destination

    for Malagasy Dalbergia (rosewood

    and palisander) and Diospyros

    (ebony) species for over a decade.

    Since 2013, these species have been

    listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International

    Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

    (CITES) and their trade embargoed by Madagascar

    until such time that the country’s rosewood stockpile

    management and trade control measures were approved

    by the CITES Standing Committee; despite this, there are

    indications that the illegal international trade of these

    CITES-listed timber species is continuing.

    This research aims to understand the market and

    supply chain dynamics of Malagasy hardwood demand in

    China, as well as the infiltration of illegal timber into the

    legal trade. Based mainly on desktop data research and

    field investigations, this survey noted that approximately

    48 Dalbergia and 85 Diospyros species are found in

    Madagascar, but that the many products manufactured

    in China are reportedly based on three main species,

    namely Dalbergia louvelii, Dalbergia greveana and

    Diospyros mcphersonii. This study shows that the use

    of Malagasy hardwoods proliferated in the Chinese

    market during 2000–2010. While declared imports of

    Malagasy timber have declined since 2013, the large-

    scale seizures of Malagasy timber would suggest that the

    trade has been driven underground following the CITES

    listings and export bans, and its popularity and price has

    remained stable in recent years.

    22 TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 29 No. 1 (2017)

    THE TRADE

    OF MALAGASY

    ROSEWOOD

    AND EBONY IN

    CHINA

    Zhang Ke and Zeng Zhi

    TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 29 No. 1 (2017) 23

    Background

    During the first decade of the 21st century, China became the most important importer, processor and consumer of Malagasy rosewoods (including palisanders) (Dalbergia spp.) and ebonies (Diospyros spp.) (EIA, 2010), as well as other tropical woods sourced from across the world (ITTO, 2011). A study conducted by TRAFFIC (Ratsimbazafy et al., 2016) in Madagascar revealed that 98% of the Dalbergia and Diospyros species exported between 2010 and 2014 were landed in China. There are approximately 48 species of Dalbergia and 85 species of Diospyros in Madagascar (Yin, 2013). In 2013, the Conference of the Parties to CITES agreed to include Malagasy populations of these genera in Appendix II, as well as to adopt a CITES Action Plan for the conservation and sustainable use of these species (CITES Decision 16.152). In the same year, Madagascar agreed to embargo exports through a voluntary zero quota (CITES CoP17 Doc 55.2). While some progress had been made regarding implementation of the Convention with regard to these species, at the Standing Committee meetings held between 2014 and 2016, concern was expressed that the illegal harvest and export of Dalbergia and Diospyros species from Madagascar was continuing and recommended that all Parties suspend commercial trade in these species. Adoption of Decisions 17.203 to 17.208 at the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP17), held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in September and October 2016, called on Madagascar to strengthen control and enforcement measures against illegal logging and export at the national level, including those relating to seizures, investigations, arrests, prosecutions, and sanctions. Furthermore, in recognition of growing international pressure on Dalbergia species in general, a proposal was approved to include global populations of the genus Dalbergia in CITES Appendix II, with the exception of species included in Appendix I, thus expanding trade regulations to all species of this valuable genus. The laws that govern the harvest and export of precious timber in Madagascar fluctuate between authorization and prohibition. In 2000, Order No. 2000-11832 banned the harvest and export of rosewood and ebony, except in the form of finished or processed products such as craft products. Following strong lobbying by timber operators from the Sava region, in 2005, the ministry in charge of forests issued a note (No. 923-05 of 6 October 2005) authorizing certain timber operators to export their existing stocks of ebony and rosewood. In 2009, an order was issued to authorize 13 timber operators to export rosewood and ebony within three months following the issuing of export permits (Order No. 003/2009 of 28 January 2009). In the same year, another order was issued authorizing 45 operators to export rosewood and ebony within two months from the signature of the export permit (Order No. 38/244/2009 of 21 September 2009). Since 2010 to date, any rosewood and ebony exports from Madagascar are illegal according to the country’s legislation. The zero quota under CITES has reinforced the ban at the national level. In China, Malagasy rosewoods are prized raw materials in the traditional furniture industry. According to interviews with manufacturers, Malagasy rosewoods are valued for their wood-working properties, making them suitable for furniture styles that many Chinese buyers consider aesthetically pleasing. The continued demand for Malagasy rosewood today is proof of the sustained interest in furniture and arts and crafts based on traditional Chinese culture, which first became popular during the Ming Dynasty (EIA, 2010). The royal furniture in the Forbidden City Museum, constructed partly out of Malagasy timber, tells the story of the first shipment of timber from that country exported to China following the explorer Zhenghe’s visit to Africa nearly 600 years ago. Malagasy rosewood was once considered a special gift to ancient China from Madagascar. However, in recent decades, the economic boom and rising middle class incomes in China have stimulated the legal and illegal harvesting and trade of Malagasy timber (EIA, 2014).

    nb footnote 1

    Illegally felled rosewood sp. on

    the quayside in Maroantsetra,

    Masoala National Park,

    north-east Madagascar, 2009.

    NA

    TU

    RPL

    .CO

    M /

    NIC

    K G

    AR

    BU

    TT

    / W

    WF

    The trade of Malagasy rosewood and ebony in China

    24 TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 29 No. 1 (2017)

    Zhang Ke and Zeng Zhi

    employment. However, illegal timber logging and trade have severely damaged forest resources for local Malagasy communities and have had an adverse impact on the survival of other endangered wildlife (EIA, 2010; Ratsimbazafy et al., 2016). In response to the threats of the illegal timber trade to the island’s rich biodiversity, Madagascar committed to a logging ban (Decree No. 11832/2000) and to the implementation of the action plan agreed to by the Parties during CITES CoP16 in 2013, when all Malagasy ebony and rosewood species were listed in Appendix II. The most recent decree released in 2010 (Decree No. 2010-141 of 24 March 2010) prohibits logging, transport, trade, and export of rosewood and ebony. To understand the dynamics of Malagasy timber traded in China, this study was commissioned by TRAFFIC, with funding from USAID as part of the SCAPES, (Preserving Madagascar’s Natural Resources Program).

    Methods

    The research was carried out in late 2015 and 2016 using two methods, namely desktop data research and field investigations with eye-witness and stakeholder interviews. The findings were cross-checked against each other. Data were collected using the following means:

    Introduction

    To understand the magnitude of illegal trade in Malagasy ebonies and rosewoods between Madagascar and China, it is important to understand the scale of China’s domestic Malagasy timber trade, policy gaps, and trade and enforcement loopholes that mitigate against the sustainable trade of Malagasy timber species. China has a set of national standard definitions for rosewoods (红木 Hongmu). China’s National Rosewood (Hongmu) Standard (Anon, 2000) identifies 33 species across the Pterocarpus, Diospyros, Dalbergia, Millettia and Cassia genera as recognized rosewood species. There are two species from Madagascar, namely Dalbergia louvelii and Diospyros crassiflora, listed on the Standard. The listing of species seems to have the effect of increasing demand by Chinese consumers for these species and this in turn pushes up prices. To illustrate this, during the market survey it was found that industry players in the markets had advocated that Swartzia madagascariensis (now Bobgunnia madagascariensis) and Pterocarpus tinctorius be listed in the National Standard to attract consumers and encourage them to buy furniture made from these species for investment purposes; accordingly, the authors found that the prices for these species had increased in recent years. Of the two genera of timber from Madagascar, the species most in demand due to its value, quality and scarcity is Dalbergia louvelii (卢氏黑黄檀). Also included in the standard is Diospyros crassiflora (厚瓣乌木), regarded as an ebony in continental Africa and a synonym for Diospyros mcphersonii (麦氏乌木) in Madagascar (Yin, 2013). For the purposes of this report, Malagasy rosewood traded in China refers to Dalbergia louvelii (卢氏黑黄檀) and Diospyros mcphersonii (麦氏乌木), both of which are well known to the Chinese market. However, as described above, in China some ebony Diospyros species are also confusingly regarded as rosewoods, or Hongmu. Adding to the confusion is that all other rosewood Dalbergia spp. traded in China are named using the alternative common name palisander ( 巴黎桑) or African Dalbergia (非洲酸枝). Palisander is usually imported to make low-end furniture and panels. Ebonies (Diospyros spp.) are often imported to make art, crafts and instruments, but the total volume of consumption is relatively low, except for Diospyros mcphersonii that, according to manufacturers based in Hebei Province, is used for making valuable antique-looking furniture which is more valuable. This interchangeable use of common names causes confusion in the international market and may undermine enforcement effectiveness due to misidentification, and cause bias in trade statistics through the use of various product names and HS Codes. Similarly, it has also been reported that the genus level CITES listing causes misunderstanding amongst Chinese end consumers about which species are listed and hence about the legality of timber products in the supply chain. The trade in Malagasy rosewood, ebonies and other tropical woods is an important source of income for the country, and helps to sustain livelihoods by providing

    CY

    NT

    HIA

    RA

    TS

    IMB

    AZ

    AF

    Y /

    TR

    AF

    FIC

    CY

    NT

    HIA

    RA

    TS

    IMB

    AZ

    AF

    Y /

    TR

    AF

    FIC

    Rosewood being loaded onto a vessel in the north-east coast of Madagascar (top); rosewood stockpile secured ata government facility in north-east Madagascar.

    TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 29 No. 1 (2017) 25

    The trade of Malagasy rosewood and ebony in China

    • collecting, examining, and analysing import procedures, border controls, import/export documents and other Chinese policies and mechanisms relevant to Malagasy timber. The results were verified by relevant officials through interviews;

    • seizure records from open-sourced data such as web and media news;

    • compilation of China’s Customs statistical data for the timber trade between Madagascar and China for the period 2005 to 2015;

    • conducting structured interviews with staff from within the timber industry and international biodiversity conservation organizations in China;

    • conducting price trends, trade flow, and gaps analysis of Malagasy timber within China using data sourced from importing and manufacturing industries using Malagasy timber.

    According to China’s Customs information, there are 14 Customs areas (ports) that have reported imports of Malagasy timber, namely Nanjing, Qingdao, Shanghai, Xiamen, Tianjin, Huangpu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Ningbo, Zhanjiang, Jiangmen, and Shantou. Due to time and travel budgets limitations, the project team chose to examine only the most important ports, wholesale timber markets, processing centres, and furniture markets for this survey. Thus focus was placed on Shanghai City, Putian City (including Putian port and Xianyou Country), and Beijing City. Information about the other locations was obtained from the results of a previous survey (Zhang et al., 2017) conducted in 2015 and 2016.

    Thirty-three respondents, including members of the timber and furniture industry associations (six persons), traders (five persons), furniture manufacturers (10 persons), sales managers (10 persons), and forest researchers (two persons) were selected based on their understanding of and/or involvement in the Malagasy timber trade. The 33 selected individuals were interviewed using structured questionnaires. Secondary data were collected from various published sources, such as books, websites and research papers, as well as publications and reports from the Chinese Customs authority.

    The research set out to gather data about both legal and illegal timber trade. Difficulty was experienced in distinguishing between legal and illegal businesses, since some businesses seem to trade in both legal and illegal timber without any possibility of distinguishing between the sources or volumes owing to a lack of monitoring

    • Customs Law of the People’s Republic of China, adopted 22 January 1987, amended 8 July 2000 • Import and Export Tari� of the People’s Republic of China, 1 January 2004• Regulation of origin of imported and exported cargo, 1 January 2005 • Forest Law of People’s Republic of China, 20 September 1984• Regulations of People’s Republic of China on Administration of Import and Export of Endangered Wild Animals and Plants, 1 September 2006• Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) • Law of the People’s Republic of China on Import and Export Commodity Inspection, 1 August 1989, and revised 28 April 2002• Regulations for the Implementation of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Entry and Exit Animals and Plants Quarantine, Decree [1996] No. 206 of the State Council, 2 December 1996, e�ected 1 January 1997• Regulation on Custom Statistics of the People’s Republic of China, 1 March 2006

    Table 1. List of China’s laws and regulations related to the import and export of timber (compiled by TRAFFIC).

    systems and capacity in the consumer markets. The analysis of “legal” trade was based on statistical data from Customs and timber associations, while only a descriptive overview was possible for the illegal trade, including examination of open sources of data owing to Customs timber seizures records being inaccessible.

    Results

    Laws and Regulations Related to TimberImportation in China

    China banned the export of its own locally produced raw timber in 2001 and has since implemented quotas and licensing policies for sawn wood (Anon, 2001). Meanwhile, policies have been developed for the export of processed timber products. China ratified CITES on 25 April 1981 and, as such, requires the issuance of CITES permits for the importation of Appendix II specimens. Regulation of the People’s Republic of China for the Administration of Import and Export of Endangered Wild Animals and Plants is in place to manage the export trade for domestically protected species. The policies of other government agencies that are relevant to the control of timber imports are listed in Table 1.

    Customs Policies and Systems in ChinaAll trade of timber into and out of China requires a Customs declaration. Traders are obliged to submit a declaration form to Customs stating the species name of the products, volumes, and monetary value. Customs may decide to inspect the consignment to verify that the shipment correctly matches the declaration. However, inspections are not conducted for every consignment and depend on the respective provincial Customs authority’s risk assessment analysis. However, the rates of inspection for consignments at China’s ports of entry are not known, but they are still based on individual risk assessments. According to the Regulation on Custom Statistics of the People’s Republic of China, 1 March 2006, different Customs tariff rates apply to imports according to the consignment’s country of origin. They are, respectively, Most Favored Nation (MFN) Tariff Rates, Conventional Tariff Rates, Special Preferential Tariff Rates, General Tariff Rates and Interim Tariff Rates. The MFN tariff on import of raw timber and sawn wood have been maintained at zero since 1999.

    26 TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 29 No. 1 (2017)

    Zhang Ke and Zeng Zhi

    To understand China’s Customs statistics, individuals within the General Administration of Customs in China were interviewed. Trade statistics in China are collected by Customs, based on the declarations made by importers and exporters. Although trade data are also collected by the exporting country, there are no mechanisms or systems linking import and export procedures on a global level apart from CITES and so, in addition to errors caused by the incorrect use of common names, poor co-ordination leads to further inconsistencies between import and export data.

    Voluntary InitiativesDuring the interviews, no Chinese companies were identified that are currently implementing global forest management standards such as the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) in Madagascar, or trading FSC-certified Malagasy timber products between Madagascar and China. Instead, the Chinese Central Government has issued numerous policies and regulations promoting sustainable trade and consumption abroad, including voluntary social and environmental guidelines in multiple sectors. The two most relevant guidelines for timber trade are A Guide on Sustainable Overseas Forest Management and Utilization by Chinese Enterprises jointly issued by the State Forestry Administration of China and Chinese Ministry of Commerce in 2009, and Environmental Protection Guidance for Chinese Enterprises Operating Overseas issued by the Chinese Ministry of Environment Protection and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce in 2013. Currently under development is A Guide on Sustainable Overseas Forest Investment and Trade by Chinese Enterprises from the State Forestry Administration of China and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. All Chinese enterprises operating overseas are encouraged by the Chinese government to adhere to the voluntary Guide on Sustainable Overseas Forest Management and Utilization by Chinese Enterprises (herein called “the Guide”). The Guide serves as a set of principles for procuring timber in overseas countries, and addresses concerns about timber legality and sustainability. However, there is currently no prescriptive guidance given to enterprises on how to meet the principles in the Guide. TRAFFIC is implementing another project which is developing a prescriptive guidance framework for the “Guide” for timber exported from Cameroon using the EU Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade’s (FLEGT) Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) legality definition.

    Fig. 1. Total timber imports into China, 2005–2015. (10 000 m3). Source: China Customs, compiled by TRAFFIC.

    Fig. 3. Total imports of Malagasy timber into China, 2004–2015. (m3) Source: China Customs, compiled by TRAFFIC.

    Fig. 2. Total hardwood imports into China, 2005–2015.(10 000 m3). Source: China Customs, compiled by TRAFFIC.

    Volu

    me

    of i

    mpo

    rt (

    10 0

    00 m

    3 RW

    E)Vo

    lum

    e of i

    mpo

    rt (

    10 0

    00 m

    3 RW

    E)Vo

    lum

    e of i

    mpo

    rt (

    m3

    RW

    E)

    TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 29 No. 1 (2017) 27

    The trade of Malagasy rosewood and ebony in China

    China’s Malagasy Timber Trade and Industry

    China’s import of timberChina is the world’s leading importer of timber, with volumes of Round Wood Equivalent (RWE) doubling between 2005 and 2017 (see Fig. 1); while its exports of wood-based products have tripled in volume of RWE and quadrupled in value in recent years (Sun, 2014). Since 2009, Asian demand for luxury furniture (Hongmu) has boomed, with products made using deeply hued rosewoods, mahoganies and ebonies, which are more rare and of high value. Principally, targeting 33 species within the Pterocarpus, Diospyros, Dalbergia, Millettia and Cassia genera, sales in China’s Hongmu sector reportedly exceeded USD25 billion in 2014 (China Rosewood Committee, 2015). Data during the period 2010 to 2015 show that there has been a significant increase in softwood (see also Fig. 1) imports from Russia, the USA, New Zealand, Canada, and the EU (Anon, 2015b). The importation of hardwood has also increased despite dips in trade during 2008–2009 resulting from the global economic crisis (see Fig. 2). Specifically, for Madagascar, China Customs data analysis shows that the importation of Malagasy round wood (logs) declined in 2008, however with the rebounding of the Chinese economy in 2010 the volume of imported Malagasy wood peaked (see Fig. 3). Declared legal timber exports to China fell steeply in 2011 (Fig. 3), presumably owing to a logging ban in Madagascar. In 2013, Malagasy exports fell further (coinciding with the export ban) and from that time the volume of declared imported Malagasy timber, including round wood and sawn wood, has remained low. All the wood sellers and timber market managers interviewed at the market have stated that much of the Malagasy timber offered for sale is from old China-based timber stockpiles that have accumulated for five years or more. Interviews with traders and other stakeholders have revealed why round wood is often preferred over sawn wood for imports: 1) round wood shortens the value chain and allows for greater profits for the importer; 2) the furniture and art and crafts manufacturers prefer round wood because it allows for greater variety of uses and product types, especially for high-value rosewood; 3) it is possible, and preferred, to process wood in China, with its advanced, cost-efficient and high-quality processing facilities. As shown in Fig. 4, Madagascar’s share of China’s overall hardwood timber imports is small, even at its peak in 2010. According to CTWPDA (China Timber & Wood Products Distribution Association), Chinese timber importers hold considerable bargaining power in the global timber trade, and are able to negotiate relatively low prices for Malagasy timber. The market shares of Malagasy timber in China’s hardwood imports (Fig. 4) does not give the full picture as it does not reflect hardwood imports that have been seized by Customs.

    Fig. 4. The percentage of Malagasy timber imported by China as a proportion of China’s hardwood imports, 2009–2014. Source: CTWPDA

    The Industrial Chain for Malagasy Timber in China

    Main entry points (ports)Surveys and interviews revealed that the port of Huangpu in Guangzhou City (Guangdong Province), and Jingjiang and Zhangjiagang ports of Jiangsu Province are the main entry points into China for Malagasy timber. In 2011, EIA (EIA, 2016) found that Huangpu and Zhangjiagang were the most important ports for Malagasy timber in China. Shanghai and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (hereafter Hong Kong) are considered to be less important import cities. However, Hong Kong could be considered as one of most important illegal transit points, as suggested by recent seizures. During the survey, an interviewee also noted that once illegal timber is smuggled into Hong Kong, it is illegally transported across Hong Kong-Shenzhen border, and into Guangdong Province. It was a challenge to access complete seizures data for this study as most data compiled by China Customs that are publicly available can only be accessed via news websites.

    The key primary market citiesPrevious market surveys and research carried out in 2015 and 2016 (Zhang et al., 2017) revealed that the main Chinese cities involved with primary tropical timber markets (i.e. first-hand markets, where sellers are directly involved in the trade and invest in source countries) are Zhangjiagang City (Jiangsu Province), and the cities of Guangzhou, Dongguan and Zhongshan (all in Guangdong Province), as well as Xianyou County (Fujian Province), and Shanghai Municipality. Secondary markets (i.e. those that do not import directly but which receive timber from primary importers) for tropical timber are located in Beijing Municipality and Hebei Province. The locations of primary markets for tropical timber were verified in consultation with the China Timber and Wood Products Distribution Association (CTWPDA).

    Key industrial centresThere are four key industrial centres manufacturing products from tropical timber species (see Fig. 5). These comprise the industrial timber clusters of Guangdong/Fujian, Jiangsu/Zhejiang/Shanghai, Beijing/Tianjin/

    28 TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 29 No. 1 (2017)

    Zhang Ke and Zeng Zhi

    Hebei and Yunnan/Guangxi. The latter cluster mainly processes South-east Asian timber according to the China Hongmu Industry Development Plan for 2015–2025 developed by the China Rosewood Committee (Anon, 2015a), and has thus not been considered in this study. Based on field observations and interviews, Jiangmen City and Zhongshan City in the Guangdong sub-region, are the main manufacturing centres for various Dalbergia spp., while Xianyou County in Fujian Province appears to specialize in Diospyros spp. sculptures and decorative crafts, as well as high-end Dalbergia louvelii used for traditional rosewood furniture. Within the cluster of Guangdong/Fujian, Jiangmen and Zhongshan City are the manufacturing centres with a long history in making furniture, specializing in Cantonese style (Guangzuo 广作), while the famed Xianyou style (Xianzuo 仙作) is characterized by statues, carvings and decorations of Buddhist and Taoist temples and traditional architectures, as well as furniture in recent decades. Within the Jiangsu/Zhejiang/Shanghai cluster, Dongyang County is the main manufacturing centre for Dongyang style (Dongzuo东作) furniture, and tends to manufacture low-end furniture using Dalbergia spp., commonly referred to as palisander (巴黎桑) or African Dalbergia (非洲酸枝). Within the Beijing/Tianjin/Hebei cluster, Langfang City is a minor traditional Chinese furniture manufacturing centre using timber from a variety of sources including Madagascar.

    Transport routes from Madagascar to ChinaInterviews have revealed that the main loading ports in Madagascar include Tamatave, Diego-Suarez, and Mahajanga, while key transit countries used for timber en route to China, include Mauritius, Mozambique, Somalia,

    Kenya, Comoros, Sri Lanka, and Singapore (Butler, 2014). In addition, timber companies and sellers in the timber markets noted during interviews that Hong Kong can be regarded as a transit route for Malagasy timber entering China. As discussed earlier and confirmed during interviews, one of the most common trade routes for timber destined for mainland China is via Hong Kong, which is known as the “Golden Route”. Hong Kong is a free trade port and traders reported that imported goods with irregular documentation are unlikely to be inspected. Therefore, some traders might consider smuggling illicit products into Hong Kong. Random inspections on the mainland still present a risk to would-be smugglers, as do higher penalties for wildlife smuggling in China. According to Shanghai Customs, a set of systems to identify illegal shipments has been introduced, which is very effective. They operate a “risk assessment” approach which bases inspections on intelligence or other information that indicates when a shipment has a high probability of containing illegal goods. Chinese Customs agencies should continue to identify gaps in inspection procedures and exchange information with Customs officials in Hong Kong in order to improve detection of illegal timber shipments. It should also be noted that authorities in Singapore, made a large seizure of rosewood logs from Madagascar in 2014, providing further evidence that industrial-scale smuggling of Madagascar’s rainforest timber continues despite an official ban on the trade. The shipment amounted to 3000 t, or more than 29 000 logs. The shipping documents indicated the final destination was China (Butler, 2014).

    Fig. 5. Main entry ports, manufacturers and key primary wholesale markets for Malagasy timber in China.

    ZE

    NG

    ZH

    I / T

    RA

    FF

    IC

    TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 29 No. 1 (2017) 29

    The trade of Malagasy rosewood and ebony in China

    For finished products, price information was collected for three other non-Malagasy CITES Appendix-II species, namely Dalbergia cochinchinensis (交趾黄檀), Dalbergia retuda (微凹黄檀), Dalbergia stevensonii (伯利兹黄檀), for comparison with Malagasy Dalbergia spp. The sample size was 10 identical items for each furniture product. The size of items differed, but the study aimed to select samples of comparable scale. As indicated in Table 2, Dalbergia louvelii furniture fetches the highest prices, closely followed by Dalbergia cochinchinensis, which has a long tradition of use in China and is well recognized by the general public and antiques collectors as one of the “three old rosewoods” (the other two are Pterocarpus santalinus 檀香紫檀 and Dalbergia odorifera 降香黄檀).

    Changes in Market Preferences

    According to market observations and stakeholder interviews by the project team, the Malagasy wood species Dalbergia louvelii has been used for at least two decades in China as a substitute for the highly-valued Indian Red Sandalwood Pterocarpus santalinus, owing to their similar dark colour, textural features, hardness and density. Initially, many furniture sellers would label products made with Dalbergia louvelii as Pterocarpus santalinus, thereby attracting top prices at retail, and raising the commodity prices of Dalbergia louvelii. In recent years, the consumer’s understanding has improved, as has standardization in the market with the release of rosewood guidelines for the industry. As a result, prices for Malagasy rosewood have remained stable. In addition, new alternatives for Red Sandalwood have been found, taking advantage of the cheaper and more abundant Pterocarpus species imported from Zambia.

    Information from the logistics website (www.5688.com) shows that the main shipping companies for Malagasy timber include Delmas, Maerskline, PIL (Pacific International Lines 太平船务), SAFMARINE, CMA (Compagnie Maritime d’Affrètement), MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company), amongst others. Delmas made a commitment to the Madagascar government to stop transporting Dalbergia and Diospyros species from November 2010, which is a way for the shipping and logistic companies to counter the illegal timber trade.

    Prices for Malagasy Timber in China

    Interviews revealed that Dalbergia louvelii (卢氏黑黄檀) and Dalbergia greveana (马达加斯加黄檀) were the two most popular timber species imported from Madagascar to China. Diospyros mcphersonii is the most popular ebony species, together with Diospyros crassiflora from other African countries. The popularity of Dalbergia louvelii and Diospyros mcphersonii is largely due to their quality, scarcity, and relatively high cost. They are sought after by traditional furniture users and carving collectors who regard items made from these species as collectables and investments. Products made from Dalbergia greveana are coveted by the growing middle class, who seek items of traditional and cultural value with the expectation that they will increase in value over time. The 2016 price range for the three Malagasy timber species most frequently traded is shown below (Table 1) based on data collated from surveys of e-commerce platforms and markets in Shanghai and Xianyou. Data have been verified with industry associations, including CTWPDA and local timber and furniture associations.

    Species Exporter price (t) Wholesale price (t) Retailers price (t) Value Addition Rate

    Dalbergia louvelii CNY100 000/USD14 758 CNY150 000–200 000/ CNY250 000/ 250%卢氏黑黄檀 USD22 136–29 515 USD36 895Dalbergia greveana CNY10 000/USD1475 CNY20 000/ CNY30 000/ 300%马达加斯加黄檀 USD2951 USD4427Diospyros mcphersonii CNY20 000/USD 2951 CNY30 000/USD4427 CNY40 000/USD5903 200%麦氏乌木 Table 1. The price range for the three most commonly traded Malagasy timber species in China.Rate: CNY/USD (1:0.14758) February 2017.

    Product D. louvelii D. greveana D. cochinchinensis D. retuda D. stevensonii

    Double bed CNY361 300/ CNY57 680/ CNY298 250/ CNY108145/ N/A USD53 320 USD8512 USD44 015 USD15 960Narrow table CNY27 520/ CNY7400/ CNY19 692/ CNY23 000/ CNY7646/ (1 m) USD4061 USD1092 USD2906 USD3394 USD1128Armchair CNY45 000/ CNY7600/ CNY60 242/ CNY28 793/ CNY8186/ USD6641 USD1122 USD8891 USD4249 USD1208

    Table 2. Average price of furniture manufactured from two Malagasy timber species (D. louvelii; D greveana) compared to three non-Malagasy Dalbergia species.

    30 TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 29 No. 1 (2017)

    Zhang Ke and Zeng Zhi

    Malagasy ebonies have also been used as an alternative to rosewood to make traditional rosewood furniture. However, trials in the last ten years show that ebonies are not as durable as rosewoods in China’s dry weather conditions, particularly for manufacturing large furniture pieces. Today they are still used to manufacture arts and crafts, musical instruments, and some furniture items designed to have an antique appearance, as the darker colour of the wood gives the appearance of age and the wood is also more durable. Other Dalbergia spp., for example, a rosewood with the common name palisander (巴黎桑) or so-called “African Dalbergia” (非洲酸枝) are also used for low-end traditional furniture and modern furniture, as well as being made into panels for re-export. However, there is a lot more competition at this lower price point for Malagasy timber from West African Pterocarpus spp. and Swartzia madagascariensis (now Bobgunnia madagascariensis). According to three manufacturing stakeholders, the demand for such timber has been shrinking in the EU and the USA as a result of the global economic crises from 2008 onwards. This has affected China’s export growth for timber products. Interviewees have also stated that importers in China will import timber only after an order has been placed, in order to avoid market risks.

    Gap Analysis: Regulations and Law Enforcement of the Malagasy Timber Trade in China

    Policy and governance gapsA key policy of the Chinese central government in preventing the illegal timber trade has been the voluntary guidelines produced for Chinese businesses operating overseas which promote social and environmental standards in different industrial sectors. However, a legality verification system is yet to be developed. The Chinese Academy of Forestry has been assigned by the SFA to develop such a verification system for China, but more progress needs to be made. This deficiency hampers the ability of law enforcement agencies to identify and interdict illegal timber shipments. China’s HS Code for rosewood is defined by China’s National Rosewood Standard (Chinese Academy of Forestry, 2010). However, analysis of import documents shows that non-rosewood HS codes are often used for rosewoods and vice versa, while the rosewood HS Code is occasionally used for non-rosewood cargoes when shipped from overseas sources. This confusion arises partly because of the use of different rosewood definitions and common names by various trade parties in the value chain. As a result, there are significant discrepancies in the data, and difficulties in ascertaining how much of the declared trade in other tropical wood species are in fact rosewoods of the genus Dalbergia.

    Law Enforcement Gaps and Solutions

    Awareness raising and law compliance of timber tradersChina’s CITES Management Authority (CITES-MA)— The Endangered Species Import & Export Management Office of State Forestry Administration (SFA)—issued

    Dalbergia louvelii on sale at a shop in Xianyou County, 2016.

    ZH

    AN

    G K

    E /

    TR

    AF

    FIC

    Furniture made of Madagascan palisander, Shanghai, 2016.

    ZH

    AN

    G K

    E /

    TR

    AF

    FIC

    an official notification after CoP16 in 2013 (Anon, 2014; 2015a). This was distributed to all branch offices of the CITES-MA, China’s General Administration of Customs, China Forestry Industry Association, and CTWPDA. The Chinese CITES MA issued official updates and notifications of CoP17 to Chinese enforcement agencies in March 2017 (http://www.cites.org.cn/article/show.php?itemid=857). In order to fulfil China’s international obligations, SFA and Customs (Anon, 2014; 2015a) jointly requested the relevant parties to undertake the following:

    TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 29 No. 1 (2017) 31

    The trade of Malagasy rosewood and ebony in China

    1) strictly obey implementation of laws (mentioned earlier in the law section) relevant to the Category of Import & Export Commercial Wild Flora and Fauna Species.

    2) in each Customs district, CITES-MA branches should provide assistance to the respective Customs authority to check suspicious cargo and verify the timber species being traded.

    3) the supervision and examination of permits (licences) for wildlife imports and exports provides an opportunity to strengthen the management of permits (licences) for timber importers.

    4) enhance communication and co-ordination between business enterprises and Customs.

    Enforcement capacity at Chinese bordersInterviews have revealed that Chinese government agencies, including the SFA, the CITES-MA, China’s Customs, and the armed police force, have systematic law enforcement procedures in place. In August 2013, Guangdong Huangpu Customs announced a successful operation to combat timber smuggling, with the disruption of 12 gangs involved in smuggling high-grade timber and 48 arrests. Reportedly, 20 smuggling cases worth CNY3.16 billion or USD466 million were intercepted in total. The greatest volumes smuggled by species were Dalbergia louvelii and Dalbergia cochinchinensis (Tang, 2013). In November 2013, Fuzhou Customs and the coastguard jointly seized 350 t of rosewood in Fujian’s Putian waters, worth nearly 80 million yuan (USD11.8 million). This is reported to be the largest case of rosewood smuggling ever intercepted by Chinese Customs; 3394 logs were seized, including 225 logs of Dalbergia louvelii and 3169 logs of other Dalbergia spp. and Diospyros spp., totalling CNY73.514 million or USD10.850 million in value. In subsequent investigations, it was discovered that the logs had been smuggled directly from Madagascar to Fujian (Wu, 2014a). In 2013, 495 cases of illegal wildlife trade seizures, worth a total of CNY1.101 billion or USD162 million, were filed by Fuzhou Customs. This includes about 350 t of Dalbergia louvelii, 352.7 kg of ivory, and 32.7 kg of rhinoceros horn (Wu, 2014b). In October 2015, Hong Kong Customs detected 7015 pieces suspected to be Malagasy rosewood logs, following inspection of incoming cargo from Tanzania. The total value of the seizure was about HKD40 million (USD5.15 million according to the average currency rate in February 2017) (Customs and Excise Department, 2015). Nevertheless, there are law enforcement challenges in China related to timber, primarily due to a lack of capacity and technology tools such as identification materials for Malagasy timbers and other timber species, which limits the oversight that the government has on the timber sector. According to the interviews with China Customs, staff shortages, deficiencies in expertise, inadequacies in information and intelligence are the major constraints amongst China’s law enforcement agencies. Factors contributing to gaps in expertise include lack of manuals and training in timber identification for enforcement staff. This situation is likely to be exacerbated by the

    decision to list in CITES Appendix II at CoP17 an increased number of timber species, such as Dalbergia spp., together with wider international concerns about the legality and sustainability of the timber trade, especially for CITES Appendix-listed species.

    Conclusions and Recommendations

    Chinese consumers have embraced the consumption of Malagasy rosewood and other tropical hardwoods, particularly during the 21st century. However, its popularity has apparently declined after 2013, when Dalbergia and Diospyros spp. were listed in CITES Appendix II. While declared imports of Malagasy timber have declined, the large-scale seizures of Malagasy timber would suggest that the trade has been driven underground following the CITES listings and export bans. It is quite likely that a much larger black market trade for Malagasy timber exists, with seizures only capturing a small percentage of the total illicit trade. The stockpiling of Malagasy timber in China and lower prices for tropical woods has also contributed to a decline in declared imports. As it is likely that imports could increase again when stockpiles are reduced, it is necessary to conduct a survey to find out the trade mechanism and volume of China-based tropical hardwood stockpiles in order to understand when demand is likely to increase again. Although the volume of Malagasy hardwood timber imports is dwarfed by the sheer scale of all hardwood timber exported to China from across the world, current logging levels are destroying the remains of Madagascar’s forests and ecosystems. While industrial growth and consumer demand have dramatically depleted timber resources in Madagascar and other countries, China has a responsibility to lead the shift towards sustainable use and responsible forest management in the source countries. Effective law enforcement, trade monitoring and proactively working with other governments towards a unified legality framework could render China as the driving force behind a shift towards legality and sustainability.

    The Chinese government (including China Customs,State Forest Administration, Ministry of ForeignAffairs, Ministry of Finance) is urged to:

    • provide financial and technical support to Madagascar to conduct the evaluation and research into standing stocks of precious timber in Madagascar and the identification of potentially traded species.

    • promote the use of a robust and transparent timber legality verification system to make sure that the timber imported from Madagascar and other tropical countries is from a legal source.

    • put a strong communications strategy in place to disseminate information on the criminal nature of consuming illegal timber, by highlighting the negative social, environmental and economic impact to the country of origin as well as the criminal activities which have resulted in deterrent penalties.

    • revise urgently the National Rosewood Standard in accordance with CITES provisions, which will effectively regulate international commercial trade of CITES-listed species.

    • provide technical and financial assistance to Madagascar to reinforce the fight against fraudulent activities in the precious timber trade.

    32 TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 29 No. 1 (2017)

    Zhang Ke and Zeng Zhi

    • strengthen information-sharing with Malagasy and transit countries’ law enforcement agencies to make sure that illegal shipments can be intercepted in time.

    • strengthen bilateral and multilateral co-operation with Madagascar and East Africa in the framework of China-Africa co-operation such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) to raise awareness among Chinese operators and consumers of the need to reject illegal precious timber originating from Madagascar.

    • build the capacity of enforcement agencies along China’s borders and in the main hubs of Madagascar’s timber market on illegal timber detection, identification and confiscation.

    • establish specialized units (comprising experts from forestry, botanical, wildlife trade, environmental conservation and timber industry sectors) of CITES within China’s Customs agencies in all ports of entry for illegal timber, to provide the expertise required to identify specimens destined for illegal trade and to ensure that all Customs officers at the border have direct communications with relevant specialists on call.

    The Government of Madagascar is urged to:

    • request formally that China provides technical and financial assistance to strengthen the national initiatives on combating illegal harvest and trade of precious timber, and propose a collaboration MoU with relevant agencies in China, such as the State Forestry Administration.

    • instruct its intelligence and investigative services and the financial intelligence service to collaborate with its counterparts in China to investigate the cases of illegal trade in precious timber that involves Chinese citizens, and the money-laundering resulting from trafficking.

    • promote the use of forest management, investment and trade guidelines and other voluntary initiatives among the Chinese community in Madagascar to raise awareness of existing national regulations and the duty of foreign investors in Madagascar.

    Additional recommendations for other stakeholders:

    • conduct an in-depth timber trade analysis from Africa, especially Madagascar to other transit countries, with the intended final destination of China. This timber supply route study should capture the legal and illegal timber trade, including precious timber species, and recommend what each transit country should do to help interdict illegal timber trade.

    • consider how consumer behaviour change approaches can be used to help understand and reduce the unsustainable demand for precious timber from Madagascar and elsewhere in Africa, and how consumers can help to ensure sustainable forest management and timber trade.

    • consider the potential or active role of e-commerce in driving the trade of timber from Madagascar and other precious timber from Africa in particular, and develop recommendations to monitor, manage and control the trade to stop illegal timber products from being sold online.

    Acknowledgements

    The authors express their sincere thanks to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the “Preserving Madagascar’s Natural Resources” for providing funding to conduct the study. They also wish to express gratitude to Sara Oldfield, Chair of the IUCN/SSC Global Tree Specialist Group, and Chen Hin Keong, TRAFFIC’s Global Forest Trade Programme Leader, who commented on a draft of the manuscript, and to those who contributed to the completion of this study, including TRAFFIC staff David Newton, Yannick Kuehl, Cynthia Ratsimbazafy and Xu Ling.

    References

    Anon. (2000). 中华人民共和国红木国家标准GB/T 18107–2000, State Forestry Administration, People’s Republic of China.

    Anon. (2001). 中华人民共和国对外贸易经济合作部公告2001年第19号. Ministry of Foreign Trade, People’s Republic of China.

    Anon. (2014). 国家濒管办关于濒危木材物种贸易管制的提示信息. CITES-MA, State Forestry Administration, People’s Republic of China.

    Anon. (2015a). 马达加斯加对濒危木材的出口禁运政策依然有效 我国木材企业切勿从事相关进口业务. CITES-MA, State Forestry Administration, People’s Republic of China.

    Anon. (2015b).中国木材与木制品流通行业年鉴 China Timber and Wood Products Distribution Industry Yearbook 中国建材工业出版社

    Butler, Rhett A. (2014). Singapore intercepts massive illegal shipment of Madagascar rosewood. https://news.mongabay.com/2014/06/singapore-intercepts-massive-illegal-shipment-of-madagascar-rosewood/

    China Rosewood Committee (2015). China Hongmu Industry Development Plan for 2015–2025. China Rosewood Committee.

    Chinese Academy of Forestry (2010). State Forestry Administration 中华人民共和国红木国家标准

    Customs and Excise Department (2015). Hong Kong Customs detects wood logs of suspected endangered species. 12 October. http://www.customs.gov.hk/en/publication_press/press/index_id_1518.html

    EIA (2010). 马达加斯加珍贵木材全球贸易调查报告:大叶紫檀乌木和黑黄檀. Environmental Investigation Agency, London.

    EIA (2014). Routes of Extinction: The Corruption and Violence Destroying Siamese Rosewood in the Mekong, Environmental Investigation Agency, London.

    EIA (2016). The Hongmu Challenge: A Briefing for the 66th Meeting of the CITES Standing Committee. Environmental Investigation Agency, London.

    FAO (2007). State of the World’s Forests 2007. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.

    ITTO (International Tropical Timber Organization) (2011). Annual Review and Assessment of the World Timber Situation. ITTO: Yokohama, Japan.

    Maplesden, F. (in litt.). The global hardwood furniture market, the legal market for rosewood species, and supply chain issues in China. UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna.

    Ratsimbazafy, C., Newton, D., and Ringuet S. (2016). Timber Island: the rosewood and ebony trade of Madagascar. TRAFFIC, Cambridge, UK. November 2016.

    SFA (2007). Chinese Forestry Development Report 2007. State Forestry Administration, People’s Republic of China.

    Tang, Guijiang (2013). 广东“利斧”行动查获30亿元特大木材走私案. 中国新闻网. http://www.chinanews.com/fz/2013/08-23/ 5201526.shtml

    Wenbin, H., Xiufang, S. (2013). Tropical hardwood flows in China: case studies of rosewood and okoumé. Forest Trends Association, Washington DC, USA.

    Wu, Yadong (2014a). 全国海上偷运红木走私最大案主犯被移送起诉. (31 July 2014)法制日报. http://legal.people.com.cn/n/2014/ 0801/c188502-25380397.html

    Wu, Yadong (2014b). 福州海关开展“绿风”行动打击农产品走私(4 April 2014)法制日报. http://legal.people.com.cn/n/ 2014/0404/c188502-24830809.html

    Yin, Yafang (2013). 马达加斯加黄檀属 (Dalbergia spp.) 和柿属 (Diospyros spp.) 材物种名录. Chinese Academy of Forestry.

    Zhang, K., Shen, W., and Gao, Y., (2017). Tracking the Mozambican tropical hardwood trade in China, TRAFFIC. Unpublished.

    Zhang Ke, Project Manager, TRAFFICE-mail: [email protected] Zhi, Project Associate, TRAFFICE-mail: [email protected]

    • traffic_pub_bulletin_29_1b

                                                                                                                                        Order Now