BANGKOK, (AFP) - The global treaty regulating trade in threatened wildlife moved to protect ramin, the Asian hardwood whose forests and their inhabitants have been devastated by rampant commercial logging.
Delegates from 166 nations approved a proposal by Indonesia, the world's primary exporter of the tropical wood along with Malaysia, to adopt strict measures aimed at ensuring the species' survival in the wild, assisting range states in tackling illegal logging, and stimulating international cooperation to control the illegal trade.
"It was a thorough consensus, there was very broad support" for the ramin proposal approved at the meeting here of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), said United Nations spokesman Michael Williams.
The move places ramin on CITES appendix II, which allows only strictly regulated trade in rare fauna and flora and commits nations to protect the species.
The most protective Appendix I bans all trade in a species or its products except in exceptional circumstances.
There are 30 species of ramin, which is found in a broad range from the Solomon Islands and Fiji to Malaysia, Indonesia and the Nicobar Islands of India. Seven of them are deemed commercially viable and their finished woods are commonly used in door and window frames and billiard cues, according to conservation group WWF.
"After today's vote, the future of ramin and the species who live in these forests looks brighter," Susan Lieberman, head of the WWF delegation at CITES, said in a statement.
"The spiral of decline of this species had to be stopped."
Indonesia introduced trade limitations for the wood in 2001, including a total ban on exports of ramin logs, sawn timber and veneer sheets. The measures failed to curb the illegal international trade in ramin, which includes key markets Japan, China, the European Union and the United States.
CITES is voting this week and next on 50 proposals to tighten or ease restrictions on trade of rare or endangered species, including African elephants, the great white shark, and minke whales.