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PERNAMBUCO LISTED ON CITES TREATY
Pernambuco was placed on Appendix II of the 171-nation Convention on the Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) earlier this month at the organization’s biannual conference at the Hague in the Netherlands. Appendix II includes species that are not necessarily threatened with extinction, but considered sufficiently endangered that trade must be controlled in order to avoid a more serious threat. As adopted, restrictions apply to trade in pernambuco logs, sawn wood, and veneer sheets. For now, musicians may travel freely with their bows, but bow makers will have to follow treaty regulations controlling the importation and re-importation of pernambuco. The language in the initial CITES proposal, brought by the Brazilian government, included “all parts and derivatives,” which, strictly speaking, could have been construed to include every pernambuco bow ever made. “This is a fragile place to be,” writes International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative (IPCI) president Lynn Hannings, who is a New Hampshire bow maker. Hannings is calling for complete compliance from the entire bow industry, “and vendors must play an active role in verifying that the bows they sell are of legal wood with CITES documentation. The entire music industry must participate in expanded and accelerated planting.”
The international regulations were opposed by the American Federation of Musicians and the American Symphony Orchestra League, among others, which instead supported voluntary conservation efforts. Pernambuco has been the bow wood of choice for more than 200 years. It grows in coastal rain forests in the Mata Atlântica region of Brazil, but loss of habitat due to urban sprawl and agricultural practices has caused a dramatic reduction in its abundance. The IPCI and others are hosting studies to promote cultivation of this rare bow wood. Progress on the effectiveness of conservation efforts will be evaluated again in two years. If progress is not sufficient, pernambuco could be moved to Appendix I, which carries far more stringent restrictions. While acknowledging the mounting impacts of urban sprawl and industrial and agricultural use of the land as the major causes of deforestation, Hannings remains hopeful. “I believe that it is not too late and that our actions in Brazil and conservation education around the world are a realistic approach to societal issues that affect all species of the Atlantic rainforest,” she says. Currently, 25,000 plant species are listed on Appendix II; 300 are controlled under Appendix I. For information on how to comply with the new pernambuco regulations, visit www.cites.org/eng/resources/faq.shtml#permit. Meanwhile, CITES also agreed to permit the sale by four southern African countries of up to 60 tons of ivory. CITES banned the ivory trade 17 years ago. -'String Trade July 2007'