Brazilian proposal
The issue is set to heat up next week, when the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) convenes its 20th session.
A vote on tighter restrictions on Brazilian wood is expected at the meeting.
Since 1998, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified this tree as endangered.
However, a proposal prepared by the Brazilian government would strengthen CITES protections for Brazilwood and place it in the highest tier of trade restrictions.
CITES regulates international trade in endangered species and classifies plants and animals into three appendices.
The third is the least restrictive. If a species is endangered in a particular country, an export license from that country is required.
Appendix II has stricter standards and requires an export permit wherever the species is collected. Most endangered species, including Brazilwood, fall into this category.
But Brazil wants to elevate Brazilwood to Appendix 1, an endangered species category.
This appendix prohibits most trade in plants and animals, except for non-commercial use. However, even in that case, both import and export permits are required.
In its proposal, Brazil argues that stronger regulations are needed to combat plant extinction.
There are only about 10,000 mature Brazilwood trees left. According to the proposal, the population has declined by 84 percent over the past three generations, with illegal logging playing a major role in that decline.
“Selective extraction of Brazilwood remains active both within and outside the protected area,” the proposal explains.
“In all recently discovered cases, the destination of these forests is the musical bow manufacturing industry.”
The report added that “520 years of intensive exploitation” had led to “complete extinction of the species in some areas”.
In one operation launched by Brazilian police in October 2018, 45 companies and bow manufacturers were fined.
Approximately 292,000 bows and blanks (unfinished blocks of wood intended to be made into bows) were seized.
A separate investigation conducted in 2021 and 2022 led police to conclude that an estimated $46 million in profits was derived from the illegal trade in Brazilwood.
“The majority of bows and bow blanks sold by Brazilian companies over the past 25 years likely came from illegal sources,” Brazil wrote in its proposal.
