Madagascar’s rosewood exports protested

MadagascarÆs rosewood exports protested    Environmental groups protesting what they say is illegal logging of Madagascar's rosewood trees, said Monday they were successful in preventing logs from being shipped from the port of Vohemar last week.
   An article on the Web site mongabay.com said a shipment due to be exported on Dec. 21-22 was not picked up.
   A report by Global Witness and the Environmental Investigation Agency last month alleged illegal logging in the national parks and protected areas of the SAVA Region of Madagascar amounted to the daily loss of precious rosewood worth between $88,000 and $460,000.
   Some protesters asked the Delmas subsidiary of French shipping giant CMA-CGM not to carry containers of logs from Vonegay, and Monday a report said those efforts were successful, at least for the time being.
   A planned shipment of rosewood was canceled “following international outcry,” a report posted on mongabay.com.
   But the story said “rosewood logs still sit in Vohemar and other towns awaiting shipment” and that “local sources expect the timber to be eventually exported and laundered through nearby Reunion or Mauritius on the way to China where it will be turned into furniture.”
   On Nov. 17, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents executed a search warrant on Gibson Guitar of Nashville, Tenn., marking the first major enforcement action of the 2008 Lacey Act against an importer of wood products, according to an article posted on the Web site of law firm Miller Chevalier.
   The law firm said according to published reports, the raid by Fish and Wildlife was based on information in a sealed affidavit alleging Gibson is using illegally harvested rosewood and mahogany from Madagascar, which are banned under the Lacey Act. Fish and Wildlife agents and local police raided Gibson Guitar's Nashville factory in search of the illegally harvested mahogany and rosewood. During the raid, Fish and Wildlife seized wood, guitars, computers and electronic files.
   Gibson Guitar said in a statement that it was “fully cooperating' with Fish and Wildlife over its wood procurement, adding that the company “takes the issue of responsible wood sourcing very seriously” and is “working to increase the amount of wood purchased from certified sources.”