A. Species
Scientific name: Swietenia mahagoni
Common name(s): Bigleaf Mahogany
Global IUCN Red List Threat Status: Near Threatened
B. Location of use
Geographic location(s):
- Bolivia, Plurinational States of
- Brazil
- Amazonas
- Peru
Country/Region:
C. Scale of assessment
Scale of assessment: Regional/Continental/Multi-country level
Name/Details of location: Peru, Bolivia, Brazil
D. Timescale of use
Start Year: 2000
End Year: 2008
E. Information about the use
How is the wild species sourced?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Type of use: Extractive
Practice of use: Logging and/or Wood Harvesting
Lethal or non-lethal: Lethal
Does this use involve take/extraction of: The whole entire organism and Only parts or products of the organism
Purpose(s) of end use: Medicine and hygiene, Decorative and aesthetic and Materials and construction
Motivation of use: Basic subsistence, Income generation from trade (individual/household/community) and Largescale commercial exploitation for trade
Is this use legal or illegal?: Some use is legal and some is illegal
F. Information about the Users
Which stakeholder(s) does the record primarily focus on?: Local people, National / local government, National / local private sector and International private sector
G. Information about the sustainability of use
Is there evidence that the use is having an impact on the target species?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an ecological perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined
Details of assessment carried out: CITES Non detriment findings
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: In Peru, the Scientific Authority considers mahogany’s population status in some regions to be too low for commercial exploitation and recommends limits or bans on harvests coupled with restoration programs. In Bolivia, results from simulation models constructed to assess different harvesting scenarios indicate that mahogany could be sustainably harvested if: • the minimum cutting diameter is at least 70 cm diameter; • cutting cycles are >25 years; • harvest intensity is reduced to 50% of commercial-sized trees; • silvicultural treatments are applied to the species (liana cutting, liberation from competing trees) and its surrounding forest (logging and liberation of other timber species) so that optimal growing conditions are created and maintained throughout the cutting cycle. If these conditions are not maintained and the forest is allowed to return to normal (pre-harvest) conditions, then no combination of management practices makes sustainable harvesting of mahogany possible. In Brazil, simulations based on large-scale inventories and long-term growth data indicate that current 20% retention rates for commercial-sized trees are unsustainable except at rare historical sites (that is, already logged) where population structures were heavily weighted to sub-commercial size classes.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an economic perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined
Details of assessment carried out: CITES Non detriment findings
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Authors state: "By 2000, mahogany had been commercially extirpated within an estimated 49% of its range in Peru, 79% of its range in Bolivia (Kometter et al. 2004), and 65% of its range in Brazil" In particular: In Peru, the Strategic Action Plan for the Conservation and Implementation of CITES Appendix II for Mahogany in Peru (Plan de Acción Estratégico para la Conservación y la Implementación del Apéndice II de la CITES para la Caoba en el Perú, 2007– 2011) is a management tool aiming to identify, sustainably manage, and protect all mahogany populations within concessions, native communities, Protected Areas and land reserves, thereby generating major social and economic benefits for local populations by 2011. In Brazil, the Forest Code of 1965 anticipated rapid changes in land use set in motion by trans-Amazonian highways connecting Brasília with Belém on the north coast and Porto Velho across the western frontier (Lei No 4771). Concepts of sustainable forest management and sustainable production were codified in 1986, defining the latter as “the yield which corresponds to forest-level [growth] increment” (Lei No 7511, Portaria No 486/86-P). Sustainable forest management was further defined in 1994 as “… forest administration yielding economic and social benefits, respecting mechanisms ensuring integrity of ecosystems under management” (Decreto No 1282). As described previously, a series of legislative acts from 1996 to 2003 successively restricted and eventually banned management plans for mahogany, prohibited harvest, transport, and commercialization of mahogany, and specifically revised harvest regulations for mahogany in response to the Appendix II listing, strengthening protection of natural populations.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a social perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined
Details of assessment carried out: CITES Non detriment findings
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: In Peru, the Strategic Action Plan for the Conservation and Implementation of CITES Appendix II for Mahogany in Peru (Plan de Acción Estratégico para la Conservación y la Implementación del Apéndice II de la CITES para la Caoba en el Perú, 2007– 2011) is a management tool aiming to identify, sustainably manage, and protect all mahogany populations within concessions, native communities, Protected Areas and land reserves, thereby generating major social and economic benefits for local populations by 2011. In Brazil, the Forest Code of 1965 anticipated rapid changes in land use set in motion by trans-Amazonian highways connecting Brasília with Belém on the north coast and Porto Velho across the western frontier (Lei No 4771). Concepts of sustainable forest management and sustainable production were codified in 1986, defining the latter as “the yield which corresponds to forest-level [growth] increment” (Lei No 7511, Portaria No 486/86-P). Sustainable forest management was further defined in 1994 as “… forest administration yielding economic and social benefits, respecting mechanisms ensuring integrity of ecosystems under management” (Decreto No 1282). As described previously, a series of legislative acts from 1996 to 2003 successively restricted and eventually banned management plans for mahogany, prohibited harvest, transport, and commercialization of mahogany, and specifically revised harvest regulations for mahogany in response to the Appendix II listing, strengthening protection of natural populations.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a human health perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an animal health/welfare perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Recommendations provided in the record to maintain or enhance the sustainability of the use of the target species
In Peru, the Mahogany Action Plan (INRENA 2007) contains the full set of recommendations from CITES regarding Appendix II implementation including mahogany zoning and planning at national and subregional levels; conditions on export based on proven legal origin of timber and NDF determined by the SA; and establishment of quotas based on scientific and valid information. According to Lombardi (comm. in lit. July 2008), the criteria and parameters necessary for formulating NDF must be reviewed; costs and monitoring time associated with NDF must be discussed; and a clear position on whether NDF will be based on forest management at the level of forestry units or on export quotas must be determined. Further, it is crucial to define whether management plans must contain provisions specific to mahogany, and whether any management plan for forests within mahogany’s natural range must include these provisions regardless of its current status. Integral management plans must protect both mahogany and its habitat. In Bolivia, although significant advances have been made towards developing a sustainable model for mahogany harvests and therefore towards NDF, the question of how mahogany regeneration can be promoted requires further examination. It will also be necessary to assess whether silvicultural treatments applied at La Chonta have the same results on mahogany populations in other forest types. In Brazil, as previously noted, progress towards developing NDF procedures will depend on whether new research findings can be effectively incorporated into public policy in timely fashion.
Record source
Information about the record source: formal_data_stats
Date of publication/issue/production: 2008-01-01T00:00:00+0000
Source Reference(s):
Date of record entry: 2023-10-02