Implementing CITES regulations for timber

Foresters are currently confronted with a new challenge. For the first time a commonly traded timber species has been listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). At the 12th Conference of the Parties in November 2002, countries voted 68 to 30 to place the premier timber species of Latin America, big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla King [Meliaceae]), on CITES Appendix II. Under Appendix II regulations, trade in mahogany requires that exporting countries verify that each shipment was legally obtained and that its harvest was non-detrimental to the survival of the species. Unfortunately, implementation has been weak, in part because countries have yet to develop a common, pragmatic, cost-effective system to make the legal and non-detriment findings. This paper recommends what such a system might include.