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CITES: Brazil and Lula must save mahogany

Worm's eye view of a mahogany tree in the Amazon forest, Brazil Enlarge Image

Illegal export of mahogany continues

One year ago we uncovered a stash of illegal mahogany in the Brazilian Amazon worth over US$7 million. The seizure of these logs and continued investigations by the government led to a ban on the logging, transport and export of mahogany. But today the trade continues, and if not stopped, it is only a matter of time before the species becomes extinct.

Greenpeace climbers scale the Totem Pole in Tasmania, Australia to highlight attention to the pirate fishing trade during this week's CITES meeting. Enlarge Image

Totem Pole protest

It's one of the most difficult vertical climbs in Australia - the country leading the drive to list the toothfish under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). It overlooks the ocean to the south of Australia where massive amounts of pirate fishing is driving the long-lived toothfish towards commercial extinction.

Sei whale and calf Enlarge Image

Species survival plans crucial at CITES

Theories abound for dinosaurs' dramatic exit from the planet millions of years ago. Now another mass extinction is underway on Earth, but this time the cause is amply clear: humans. It's time to stop trading Earth's biodiversity for profits, and put preservation first at UN negotiations now underway in Santiago, Chile.

Some of the six hundred children from Santiago joining in a Walk for Endangered Species held in the city today. Enlarge Image

600 children tell CITES to save species

Spectacular animals like whales, elephants and jaguars may become little more than mythical creatures to children of the future. But this is an unhappy ending that children of today took action to prevent. More than six hundred of them marched through Santiago, Chile today to tell decision makers at a UN CITES meeting to save Earth's precious biodiversity for future generations.

Greenpeace activitists with toothfish heads picket the entract of the building CITES delegates are meeting. Enlarge Image

CITES: Survival hangs from thread

Two dramatic Greenpeace actions today and yesterday stressed the plight of endangered species to delegates who will vote to decide their fate. Decisions being made this week on toothfish, sharks, and elephants and other threatened species at the UN CITES meeting will determine the role international trade plays in their uncertain futures.

Victory at the CITES meeting means mahogany will have a fighting chance and the Amazon and its people will benefit. Enlarge Image

Victory for the Amazon, its people and a big leaf tree

Ten years of work to protect Amazon mahogany has paid off. This high-priced hard wood was driving the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, corruption and even murder. But a decision to regulate international trade of mahogany will give the species and the forest a fighting chance.

Common dolphin, Mediterranean. Enlarge Image

Mahogany, sharks, dolphins and whales get protection

Creating free trade zones has become a hot topic in South America, but this week trade of another kind was on the minds of many in Santiago as world governments met to discuss the international trade in threatened and endangered species.

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Mahogany Update: November 11, 2002 In Brasilia, Brazil, Greenpeace activists today told Brazil's foreign minister to back increased protection for mahogany. His ministry is responsible for the Brazilian CITES delegation's position, and with a vote on a proposal to upgrade mahogany to CITES Appendix II scheduled to happen at any time now, this position is a cause for serious concern. It contrasts sharply with that of current Brazilian President Cardoso and President-elect "Lula" da Silva, both of whom promised to protect mahogany. Outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, activists demonstrated their point with an April radio broadcast of Cardoso's promises to protect mahogany, mock log rafts to dramatise illegal Amazon mahogany trade, and a huge banner petition signed by hundreds of Brazilians. And in Santiago, Chile, Greenpeace activists labelled more than 50 trees around the CITES Conference Centre with the words "Thank God I'm not a mahogany tree" translated into five languages.