Home > Resource > Briefing > Timber: Mahogany

Search | Sitemap | Contact

Home ---------- Join ---------- Campaigns Biodiversity Campaign Express Climate Corporates Global Trade Policy/Research Real Food Transport Waste ---------- Local campaigns Cymru/Wales England Northern Ireland Community ---------- Press for change Jobs Volunteering ---------- About Us ---------- Contact Us ---------- Copyright ---------- FAQs ---------- Learning ---------- Links ---------- Living ---------- Publications ---------- Press Releases ---------- Search ---------- Sitemap

Making life better for people by inspiring solutions to environmental problems

Timber:Mahogany

Introduction

This briefing outlines the issues behind Friends of the Earth's 'Mahogany is Murder' campaign. Types and distribution of mahogany are explained and the devastating impacts on the Brazilian rainforest and its people, due to the mahogany trade between Brazil and the UK, are outlined.

Background

Mahogany is one of the main tropical timbers traded in the UK. Despite claims by the timber industry to the contrary, the exploitation of mahogany is a major environmental problem. Furthermore, the lives and cultural identity of Brazilian Indian communities are seriously threatened by companies logging mahogany in their reserves. Several companies supplying the UK with Brazilian mahogany have been found to have been operating illegally in protected forest areas and engaging in other illegal activities associated with the trade.

TYPES AND GEOGRAPHY OF MAHOGANY

Although many tropical hardwoods are described as mahogany, 'true' mahogany is generally considered to be the wood from trees of the botanical genus Swietenia, which is native to Latin America, and to a number of other tree species found in the rainforests of West and Central Africa.

By far the most commonly traded type of mahogany is Swietenia macrophylla, usually known as Brazilian mahogany, but is also known as American mahogany or Big Leaf mahogany. Brazilian mahogany occurs naturally in a broad band across the southern flank of the Amazon rainforests, stretching from north-eastern Bolivia and the Brazilian states of Acre and Rondônia, through Mato Grosso towards the southern half of Pará state (1). Swietenia macrophylla is usually distributed sparsely throughout the forest, occurring either as single trees or in small clusters. Densities of more than four to eight trees per hectare are rarely found in natural forests (2). Overall density of intermediate-sized trees of this species is rarely more then one tree per hectare (3).

Swietenia mahogani, usually known as Cuban mahogany is native to the Caribbean region. Much of the natural forest in which it occurs has been destroyed, and over-exploitation has severely reduced its genetic diversity (4). As a result the remaining Cuban mahogany is no longer commercially viable as all the best specimens have been harvested. Swietenia humilis, known as Honduran mahogany, is found on the Pacific coastal region of Central America. Both of these species are listed under the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species known as CITES which means that countries trading in this species need to verify that sources are legal and sustainable (see page 5). A fourth species, Swietenia candollei or Venezuelan mahogany, may also be recognised and is occasionally traded.

African mahogany generally consists of wood from trees of the botanical grouping Khaya, but can also refer to species of Etandrophragma (which can also, confusingly be know in the trade as “sapele” or “utile”), obtained from a number of countries including Ghana and the Côte D'Ivoire.

Although there is a British Standard for the timber name (BS 881:1974) (5), the use of the name “mahogany” for timbers which are quite unrelated to the true mahogany of Latin America and Africa is widespread. Philippine lauan (botanical name Shorea), for example, is sometimes referred to as Philippine mahogany.

Swietenia macrophylla has been grown successfully in limited quantities in plantations on Java, Indonesia. The term South-East Asian mahogany is used to apply to Javanese mahogany, as well as to Philippine lauan. Timber can also be sold in the UK as “Malaysian mahogany”, although mahogany neither occurs naturally in Malaysia nor is believed to have been established there in plantations.

Some manufactured wood products are described as having a “mahogany veneer”, “mahogany finish” or “mahogany effect”. These terms are apparently used interchangeably for real mahogany veneers, and wood coverings made of plastics and papers.

BRAZILIAN MAHOGANY AND THE UK

Brazilian mahogany is one of the main tropical timbers imported into the UK, the world's second largest importer of this timber (the USA being the first). Nearly all Brazilian mahogany which comes into the UK is exported from the Brazilian Amazon. Most of the remaining 20% or so comes from Bolivia. Nearly all Brazilian mahogany coming into the UK is docked in the port of Heysham in Lancashire.

The remainder of UK mahogany imports consist of timber from South East Asia. Quantities of timber from the Javanese plantations are unknown, but are likely to be extremely small - less then 1% of UK imports.

Most of the Brazilian mahogany coming out of Brazil is exported from the State of Pará and the majority of this (77.3%) goes to the USA and the UK (see below).

Destinations of Mahogany Exports from Pará State, Brazil in 1995

Destination	Quantity (000m3)	%
USA	29.8	47.3
UK	18.9	30.0
Ireland	3.8	6.0
Caribbean	3.4	5.4
Europe (other)	2.9	4.6
Spain (Atlantic)	1.6	2.5
Gulf	1.6	2.5
Others	1.0	1.7
TOTAL	63.0	100

Brazilian mahogany imports from Pará State into the UK have fallen significantly in the past few years. In 1991, 48,000 cubic metres of Brazilian mahogany were imported, dropping to 31,323m3 in 1992 and 19,000m3 in 1994. This decrease has slowed somewhat with 18,900m3 being imported in 1995 (6).

Timber Extraction and Species Decline

The timber industry claims that mahogany is selectively extracted on a low-intensity and environmentally benign basis (7). However, scientific studies have shown that the ecological damage inflicted during logging operations is usually severe and out of all proportion to the relatively small volumes of timber extracted. Studies in three logging areas in the Brazilian state of Pará showed that an average of 26 trees (greater than 10 centimetres in diameter) per hectare were damaged for every tree extracted whilst loss of forest canopy averaged 38 per cent over the three sites (8). Other studies have produced similar results (9).

In the state of Amazonas, road building, the movement of heavy machinery and the dragging of logs caused a total loss of 61 per cent of the residual stand of trees (10). Another study suggests that each large mahogany sawmill constructs an average of 500 kilometres of roads each year to extract this one species (11).

The extent of logging roads encourages agricultural colonisation by landless migrants leading to complete clearance of the forest, usually by fire. Scientists working in Pará have observed that selectively logged forest was the second most fire prone system (after cattle pasture) and would burn after only five to six rain free days (12).

The regions in which the Brazilian mahogany industry is most active are also those experiencing the highest absolute levels of deforestation (13), reflecting the new 'frontier' for timber cutting and the high incidence of deliberate fires.

Most logging operations depend upon the natural regeneration of mahogany after logging in order to provide the next crop of timber. However, scientific studies have shown that regeneration of Brazilian mahogany in logged forest is minimal and that the species has not been able to reproduce effectively from the present mahogany population (14).

Swietenia macrophylla has been classified as a high priority species for genetic resource conservation by the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources. Brazil also has listed mahogany as vulnerable in the Annex of the Convention on Nature Protection and Wildlife Preservation in the Western Hemisphere.

The Illegal Mahogany Trade

The Brazilian mahogany belt coincides with the southern Amazon's greatest density of Indian reserves. As a direct consequence of over-exploitation and increasing scarcity of the species in the rest of Brazilian Amazonia, a significant proportion of mahogany extraction is now being conducted illegally within these reserves. Logging in indigenous reserves is illegal and contravenes the Brazilian Constitution which guarantees the rights of Indians to occupy and exclusively use their ancestral lands.

The physical and cultural integrity and lives of the indigenous people are threatened by the activities of logging companies. Loggers have resorted to murder, intimidation and bribery in order to gain access to stands of mahogany. Diseases introduced by loggers have added to the threats to these vulnerable populations. For example, the Uru Eu Wau Wau of western Amazonia are believed to have lost half their number to disease since first contact was made with timber cutters and colonists in 1981 (15). Logging roads have been constructed through the middle of traditional territories effectively isolating indigenous communities within their own reserves. Many Indians have been forced to retreat to other parts of their reserves and elsewhere. Social dislocation is common.

The suffering of the indigenous peoples at the hands of loggers seeking the stands of mahogany within their reserves have been one of the central themes of the campaign against the mahogany trade. Friends of the Earth published 'Mahogany is Murder' in 1993 which catalogues conflicts between Indians and loggers and includes cases of murder of Indians trying to protect their land. There have been few prosecutions.

In January of 1993, a Federal Court in Brazil ordered three of the country's largest logging firms, Perrachi, Maginco and Impar, all major suppliers to the UK, to remove their equipment from three tribal reserves in Pará (those of Apterewa, Arawete/Igarape Ipixuna and Trincheira Bacaja) and to pay compensation to the Indians (16).

The UK Timber Trade and the Association of Timber Exporters of Pará State

In July of 1993, following the Brazilian Federal Court's injunctions on the three logging companies, the UK Timber Trade Federation (TTF) held discussions with Brazilian traders. The outcome was an accord between the TTF and AIMEX, the Association of Timber Exporters of Pará State. Under the agreement, AIMEX members sign a declaration not to obtain mahogany from illegal sources, whilst members of the National Hardwood Association of the TTF will agree only to purchase supplies of mahogany from members of AIMEX. The agreement, which was described by the TTF as an “interim measure” (17), therefore fails to establish any kind of verifiable controls and only affects, on an entirely voluntary basis, those traders who are members of the relevant trade bodies and signatory to the declaration. Despite the fact that the AIMEX agreement was “strengthened” in September of 1995, Michael James, the TTF's Hardwood Executive describes the AIMEX agreement as no more than a “gentleman's agreement” that is “like a sort of club” (18). Any trade in mahogany outside the State of Pará remains completely outside the consideration of the trade bodies.

Friends of the Earth has since carried out investigations into the illegal mahogany trade and gathered further information from the Brazilian Institute for Environmental and Natural Resources (IBAMA), the Brazilian National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) and the District Attorney's Office (19). This latest information of illegal logging relates to incidents that took place during 1994 and 1995 in the Brazilian Amazon states of Maranhão, Amazonas, Pará and Rondônia.

There is continued evidence of:

1. logging within indigenous reserves;
2. loggers committing violent acts against Indians resulting in some documented fatalities;
3. logging companies, including AIMEX members, being involved in illegal logging activities;
4. failure of IBAMA to control and inspect the activities of logging companies and withholding information of illegal activities.

(i)    Logging within indigenous reserves

Through the documentation obtained by FOE, there is an emerging picture of the scale of logging within indigenous reserves. To quote just a couple of examples, a letter from the President of FUNAI to the President of IBAMA (dated 10th November 1993), stated that every month (at the time of writing) around 4,000 - 5,000 truck loads of wood (8m3 - 50m3 per truckload) are being removed from the indigenous areas of Guajajara in Maranhão. A letter from FUNAI to the Ministry of Justice dated 6th October 1993 reported 300 invaders including 30 logging companies in the Sararé indigenous area in the State of Mato Grosso.

In December of 1994, the Kayapó Indians of the A-Ukre community in the State of Pará wrote a letter to a judge saying that they had been victims of fraud at the hands of a timber company called Purimil. They also state that another company called ITA is using gunmen to take away the wood from their reserve. The Indians state: “If there is a law to defend and protect forest land, animals, fish, birds and Indians, why isn't this law being used?” The Kayapó Indians have suffered social disintegration through allowing the loggers onto their land in the 1980s. Despite the fact that the Kayapó attempted to expel the loggers in 1994, the loggers still operate freely, passing thousands of cubic metres of mahogany to large logging companies through smaller third party loggers.

In May 1996, Channel 4 transmitted a Dispatches programme on the illegal mahogany trade. Dispatches penetrated logging operations around the town of Tucuma in the State of Pará. Using a Global Positioning System device, two journalists were able to prove that the logging was taking place within the protected reserve of the Xikrin do Catete Indians. The programme showed many of the Arara tribespeople expressing dismay at the illegal logging that continues on their land. Individual logs of mahogany were traced from the Indian reserve via a sawmill to a Danish export company called Nordisk who then exported the illegally obtained wood to the UK port of Heysham in Lancashire. Nordisk is an AIMEX member and continues to trade under the agreement. The journalists brought this particular case to the attention of IBAMA, the Brazilian Environment Agency, who did not take any action to impound the wood. Dispatches also reported illegal logging within 10 out of 14 indigenous reserves in the south of Pará State.

(ii)    Violence against Indians

In 1995 FUNAI, the Brazilian Indian Agency, provided Friends of the Earth with documented cases of loggers committing violent acts against Indians whilst attempting to obtain mahogany within their reserves. Some of these acts have resulted in murder. There have been few prosecutions. FUNAI is collating a database of incidences of violence against Indians and stress that the documented cases of murder they do have details on are not comprehensive. To give an example of the scale of violence, a letter from FUNAI to the President of IBAMA dated 10th November 1993 stated that, between 1991 and 1993, 21 Indians were killed in direct confrontations with loggers in just one area, the Guaporé Valley in the State of Mato Grosso.

(iii)    Logging companies, including AIMEX members, being involved in illegal logging activities

Logging companies are continuing to engage in illegal activities such as over-logging within the management plan areas. These are areas that are designated to the logging companies within which they are expected to carry out “sustainable” logging. Friends of the Earth research has shown that IBAMA, due to resource constraints and pressure from the logging companies, is failing to inspect the managed areas of logging companies, including AIMEX members (20).

Friends of the Earth has demonstrated failures in IBAMA's control and inspection of logging activities within the management plans in Pará. These are:

• IBAMA procedures failing to adhere to federal legislation;
• varying inspection criteria;
• IBAMA inspections are sometimes actually opposed by the logging companies and are consequently cancelled;
• the conclusions of the management plan inspections often request more effective monitoring;
• inspectors cannot reach some of the areas to be monitored and are not given the basic requirements in order to monitor logging activities;
• IBAMA forestry engineers have told Friends of the Earth that the loggers are selling contracts and falsifying documents to justify timber coming from indigenous reserves, and conservation units.

Friends of the Earth's researchers examined 15 individual management plans and 12 of them - 4 of which apply to AIMEX agreement member companies - were found to be using the plans in an illegal manner. These illegal activities included logging outside the management plan, refusing to be inspected and trading excess volumes of mahogany.

Direct Illegal Activities of AIMEX Member Companies According to Official Information (1995)

Company	1	2	3
Semasa	*	*	*
Impar	*		*
Bannach	*		*
Minuano	*		*
Imasa			*
Maginco		*	*
Juary		*	*
Mognolumber			*
Parawood			*
Ipama			*
Porto de Moz			*
Peracchi			*
Nordisk Timber			*
GD Carajas			*

1. Irregularities in management plans
2. Traded volumes in excess of authorisation
3. Fines issued for illegal activities

This information represents a snapshot of activities at the time of research and is not comprehensive. For example, the illegal logging activities of Nordisk in an Indian reserve did not come out of these investigations.

(iv)    Failure of IBAMA to control and inspect the activities of logging companies and withholding information of illegal activities

IBAMA, the Brazilian Environment Agency, is severely under-resourced and is simply too stretched to police an area of forest the size of Western Europe. The quality of IBAMA activities vary enormously on the ground and it is extremely difficult to monitor their regional work. In addition to this, despite the fact that IBAMA is supposed to assist and monitor the activities of 200 recognised logging companies, its budget was cut by the Brazilian Government by 40% last year (21). Friends of the Earth Amazonia also found whilst researching the illegal mahogany trade that it was very difficult to obtain information from IBAMA and the information they did manage to get hold of was very selective.

Controls on the Trade

There are very few controls on the international trade in mahogany (or any other tropical timber for that matter). Brazil has set a notional limit on timber exports but it is quite unenforceable. Increasing concern over the rapid decline of populations of Cuban and Honduran mahoganies has resulted in the two species (S. humilis and S. mahogani) being listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Trade in such speices is not forbidden, but requires special permits issued by both the exporting and importing countries.

Friends of the Earth lobbied governments to support the listing of Brazilian mahogany under Appendix II at the last CITES meeting in Florida, November 1994. Despite many countries supporting the listing including the UK, the proposal to list mahogany was narrowly outvoted and FOE will be lobbying for it to be listed under Appendix II at the next CITES meeting in June 1997.

In November of 1995, Costa Rica listed Brazilian mahogany under Appendix III of CITES. This means that trade is more closely monitored.

The UK Campaign

Friends of the Earth has been pressing for controls on the trade in tropical hardwoods such as mahogany since 1985 and has been urging consumers to avoid buying such timber unless they can be guaranteed to have come from sustainable sources. The United Kingdom's imports of tropical hardwoods have fallen by about 50% since 1989.

In 1993, more than one hundred environmental and human rights groups in Brazil issued a joint demand for an immediate moratorium on the exploitation of mahogany until proper environmental and social safeguards could be installed, and asked Friends of the Earth to support the campaign by lobbying the UK Government to ban imports of mahogany. In response to this, FOE launched its 'Mahogany is Murder' campaign. Following pressure from Friends of the Earth, five of the largest DIY stores, Great Mills, Texas, B&Q, Sainsbury's Homebase and Do-It-All responded to Friends of the Earth's lobbying by agreeing to stop selling Brazilian mahogany.

Friends of the Earth and its local groups have continued to lobby timber merchants and mahogany retailers to stop selling mahogany through localised actions and national information campaigns.

The Response of the UK Government

Although the UK Government has said that it “shares great concern” about the illegal extraction of Brazilian mahogany (22), it has so far steadfastly refused to intervene in the trade, stating that a government-imposed moratorium would be “neither practicable nor desirable” (23). Despite the evident lack of willingness or ability on the part of the trade to establish meaningful safeguards, and the fact that the Brazilian Government acknowledges and welcomes the idea of international assistance in the forestry sector (24), the Government believes that the trade should be allowed to continue.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Do not buy articles made of mahogany and beware of suppliers claiming that their mahogany is from Africa - there is no reliable way to tell the difference and the situation in Africa is little better than in Brazil.
• Write to the Minister for Trade and Industry and the Minister for Overseas Development urging them to press for the UK to ban the importation of Brazilian mahogany, until such a time as the timber can be guaranteed to come from environmentally sound, socially beneficial and legal sources. Urge that the UK Government supports the listing of mahogany under CITES Appendix II.
• Write to your local MP and ask them to press the Government to call for a ban on mahogany imports and support the listing of Brazilian mahogany under CITES Appendix II.
• Write to the Timber Trade Federation (address below) urging them to stop trading in Brazilian mahogany in light of the industry's failure to stop the illegal predatory logging of this wood.
  
      Timber Trade Federation
      4th floor, Clareville House
      26/27 Oxendon St
      London
      SW1Y 4EL
• Lobby your local timber merchant and retailers to stop selling Brazilian mahogany or products made from Brazilian mahogany.

REFERENCES

(1) Whitmore, T C (1991). An Introduction to Tropical Rainforests. Oxford University Press.
(2) Lamprecht, H (1989) Silviculture in the Tropics. GTZ Eschborn, Germany.
(3) Verissimo, A et al (1992) Mahogany Extraction in the Eastern Amazon: a Case Study. Manuscript.

(4) Rodan, B, Newton, A and Verissimo A (1992) Mahogany Conservation: Status and Policy Initiatives, Environmental Conservation, Vol 19 Nr 4, Winter 1992.

(5) BSI, 1974. BS 881 and 589. Nomenclature of commercial timbers, including sources of supply, London.

(6) Please note that these figures are based on only the imports from the port of Belem, Pará which make up the majority of, but not the entire imports into the UK. These figures are supplied by the Amazon Wood Data based in Belem and from IBAMA.

(7) For example see the UK Forests Forever campaign which is published by the Timber Trade Federation.

(8) Uhl, C et al (1991) Aging of the Amazon Frontier: Opportunities for Genuine Development. Manuscript.

(9) ibid 3.

(10) Johns, A (1986) Effects of Habitat Disturbance on Rainforest Wildlife in Brazilian Amazonia. Final report, World Wildlife Fund US, Project US-302, WWF, Washington.

(11) Uhl, C (1991). As cited in G Monbiot, Amazon Watershed, Michael Joseph, London.

(12) Uhl, C and J B Kauffman (1990). Deforestation, fire susceptibility, potential tree responses to fire in the Eastern Amazon. Ecology, 71 (2) 437-449.

(13) Fearnside, P (1990), Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia. In G M Woodwell (ed), The Earth in Transition: Patterns and Process of Biotic Impoverishment. Cambridge University Press, New York.

(14) Rodan, B, Newton, A and Verissimo A (1992) Mahogany Conservation: Status and Policy Initiatives, Environmental Conservation, Vol 19 Nr 4, Winter 1992, and Laura Snook (1994) Mahogany: Ecology, Exploitation, Trade and Implications for CITES prepared for WWF October 1994.

(15) Monbiot G, 1992 Mahogany is Murder: Mahogany Extraction from Indian Reserves in Brazil, Friends of the Earth, London.

(16) Brazil Federal Court of the Fourth Jurisdiction, Public Civil Lawsuit, 93.267-8 January 15th.

(17) Timber Trade Federation, Press Release 26th July 1993.

(18) Interview with Channel 4, Dispatches, May 22nd 1996.

(19) Friends of the Earth International Amazonia Program (FOE-AP) 1994, An Investigation on Illegal Practices in Mahogany Logging and Trade in the Brazilian Amazon, and FOE-AP December 1995, Pará Inglês Ver - Update Report on Illegal Mahogany Logging and Trade in the Brazilian Amazon.

(20) Pará Inglês Ver - 1995 Update report on Illegal Mahogany Logging and Trade in the Brazilian Amazon, December 1995, Friends of the Earth Amazonia Programme.

(21) Personal communication with the Brazilian Ambassador in London, 28th July 1995.

(22) Lynda Chalker, Minister for Overseas Development, personal communication, 16th March 1993.

(23) Lynda Chalker, Minister for Overseas Development, personal communication 13th May 1993.

(24) ibid 21.

Sarah Tyack
August 1996