Rosewood found in which forest




















This status justifies sustained efforts to conserve the forest community and iconic species such as the Brazilian rosewood. Carvalho A. Brittonia, 49, Ribeiro R. B Genetic variation in remnant populations of Dalbergia nigra Papilionoideae , an endangered tree from the Brazilian Atlantic forest. Annals of Botany, 95, Santiago G. R Effect of post planting inoculation with Bradyrhizobium sp and mycorrhizal fungi on the growth of Brazilian rosewood, Dalbergia nigra Allem.

New Forests, 24, Varty, N. Dalbergia nigra. In: IUCN Version Wildlife Silky Shark. Sea Turtle. Elkhorn and Staghorn Coral. Manta Ray. Mako Shark. Thresher Shark. Sperm Whale. Snow Leopard. Polar Bear. Sun Bear. Wholesale wood dealer Chun Rong Chen stands with logs of a threatened rosewood species at his store in Zhangjiagang.

The warehouses contain rosewood from Southeast Asia, West Africa, Madagascar, and islands in the Pacific, such as the Solomon Islands, which have recently seen feverish exploitation. Much of the wood is of illegal provenance — including anything traded since the CITES listing — but proving as much about any given log would require high-tech identification techniques and analysis to determine its age.

They seem to trust one another, and their customers. Often, the phone number is scrawled directly onto the logs in colored chalk. Back in his office, Chen sits on a dark-hued three-seater sofa — made of rosewood, of course — and discusses his business while brewing loose-leaf white tea.

His clients operate furniture factories throughout China, including well-known rosewood hubs such as Xianyou and Dongyang in the southeast. Factory, it turns out, is a misleading word. In Xianyou, craftsmen work in bare-bricked, one-room workshops that line the street. Passersby can look in and see rosewood scattered alongside power tools, and furniture in various stages of assembly.

Everything is covered in wood shavings and a fine layer of red dust. Because rosewood is so hard, artisans use dowels, rather than glue and nails, to fashion it into wardrobes, beds, and dining room tables, executing the same carvings popular during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the former sleek and simple, the latter intricate and ostentatious. Several hundred miles to the north, in Dongyang, there are larger manufacturers with showrooms.

The Rong Ding Xuan factory is in a gated compound with two multi-story buildings and a private parking garage. Here, gleaming rosewood furniture is displayed alongside accessories. There are silk cushions on chairs, well-pruned bonsai plants centered on dining tables, and calligraphy brushes atop study desks, so that customers can imagine what the pieces would look like at home or in the office.

Soft music and gentle lighting complete the high-end shopping experience. Owning rosewood furniture has long conveyed a certain status, if not always a desirable one. During the Cultural Revolution that began in , it sent exactly the wrong message. After the Cultural Revolution, one would not be surprised to find an antique Ming Dynasty table — a wanton bourgeois relic according to Mao — serving as a chopping block for a rural farmer. Wealthy parents buy rosewood furniture as an investment or a gift to pass down to their children, or simply for the same reason they might want a flashy car or a fancy handbag.

Workers assemble rosewood furniture at a Xianyou factory. However, the culture of conspicuous consumption may finally be changing. Some timber dealers say that demand has declined in the last two to three years. This might be due to the precedent set by President Xi Jinping, who has tried to clean up the Communist Party and discourage the lavish gift-giving that party officials were once known for.

In fact, Chinese attitudes toward timber conservation seem almost nonexistent. Far-off trees are hard to care about in a country with treasured panda bears that are endangered and a slew of domestic environmental issues, including severe air and water pollution. Moreover, there are few institutions that draw attention to the illegal timber issue.

It is not well covered by the media, and there are no Chinese environmental groups dedicated to taking on the illegal timber trade. The Chinese government, when it decides to do something, is incredibly capable of doing it.

China has taken a few steps to improve its import monitoring system. The customs lab in Zhangjiagang checks some logs entering the port. Larger state labs, such as the Chinese Academy of Forestry lab in Beijing, have begun trying to use DNA analysis , stable isotope identification, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

But these techniques are still being developed and are currently too expensive for widespread adoption. Plus, as conservationists point out, new monitoring techniques will not be sufficient to solve the trafficking problem.



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