Red Wood for a Green Future

The sustainable future of mahogany as a source of livelihoods received a boost following a major international workshop held in Mexico, sponsored by CIFOR.

The dark-red and highly prized timber from the world's rapidly diminishing supply of mahogany trees epitomizes the ongoing conflict and controversies regarding tropical forests. Most media coverage has focused on the underbelly of the mahogany trade, reporting accusations of slavery, threats to indigenous South American tribes, and the dangers of unchecked illegal logging.

There is truth to this media coverage. Loggers efforts to get this prized timber are frequently accompanied by violence. Only last year the Brazilian Government freed more than 1,400 slave laborers working in the mahogany sector.

Mahogany need not be associated with violence, crime or unsustainable logging. Indeed, methods to ensure a sustainable future for the mahogany industry do exist and actions to address current problems are underway.

In November 2003, CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, required producer countries to define sustainable rates of harvest and limit their exports to that amount of mahogany timber. Aware of the threats to the species, the United States and several European countries have rejected Brazilian mahogany exported under phony permits. The Brazilian Government now has suspended all mahogany logging.

The CIFOR workshop held in Chetumal, Mexico builds on the results of seven years of collaborative research in Mexico and Belize to develop sustainable mahogany management strategies for local livelihoods.

"Forest owners are experimenting with ways to manage natural forests to guarantee the future of this magnificent wood," said CIFOR's Laura Snook, a workshop organizer.

Snook worked with fellow researchers Luisa Camara-Cabrales and Patricia Negreros-Castillo, and collaborated with Victoria Santos, the forester responsible for managing hundreds of thousands of hectares of community forests for the Organización de Ejidos Productores Forestales de la Zona Maya. In Belize, Snook worked with the Programme for Belize, an NGO that manages 4 percent of the land area in that country.

At the workshop participants learned that mahogany seedlings do not survive under the forest canopy, along skid trails or in small gaps produced by felling trees. This fact was corroborated by researchers and anecdotal observations of foresters.
"Mahogany trees regenerate and grow best in clearings measuring thousands of square meters that are opened by slash and burn agriculture, fires or machinery," said Snook.
Foresters are now making efforts to harvest multiple-species to create similar openings large enough to favor regeneration. Many of the research-based conclusions presented and discussed at the workshop are helping provide an essential foundation for the sustainable management of mahogany forests.