Parties at the 74th Standing Committee meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) took decisive action to address illegal trade of rosewood.
Lyon, France — The 74th Standing Committee meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) took strong action to protect West African rosewood from illegal and unsustainable trade.
The rosewood crisis has been devastating West African forests and impacting communities for almost a decade. Illegal and unsustainable trade in rosewood species has persisted despite its listing on CITES Appendix II.
Today, the CITES Standing Committee took decisive steps to address this crisis and protect West African forests and the people and ecosystems that depend on them. After the announcement, Melissa Blue Sky, Senior Attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law, released the following statement:
“In response to calls from range States — countries where this tree species grows — the Standing Committee took strong action to protect West African rosewood from illegal and unsustainable trade. Thirty days after the notification, countries will either need to demonstrate that their exports are legal and sustainable or set a zero export quota. If countries fail to do so, they will face a trade suspension.
This is a truly remarkable outcome. This decision is a huge step towards protecting the world’s most trafficked wild product and stopping the trade of rosewood from West Africa, not over the course of years, but in a matter of weeks.”
Press contact:
Rossella Recupero: rrecupero(at)ciel.org | +41 762 165 976
Posted on March 11th, 2022