Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 6 • Number 11 • 16th June 2006

US Government Sued for Allegedly Importing Illegally Logged Mahogany

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In a lawsuit filed on 6 June with the US Court of International Trade, a US conservation organisation and two Peruvian indigenous groups have called on the US government and timber importers to halt their imports of illegally logged Peruvian mahogany. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), along with the Native Federation of Madre de Dios (FENAMAD) and Racimos de Ungurahui, allege that the US government and private companies have been importing mahogany timber for use in luxury furniture without the proper documentation of legality required by the US Endangered Species Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), which has since 2003 included mahogany on its Appendix II. Under the rules governing species listed in Appendix II, mahogany is subject to strictly regulated trade on the basis of quotas and permits to ensure that trade does not compromise its survival. All shipments of the timber must be accompanied by a CITES export permit that corresponds to the exporting country’s export quota, which in 2006 is 23,000 cubic metres for Peruvian mahogany.

The groups calls on the US Department of Homeland Security, Department of Interior Department and the Department of Agriculture to stop all illegally traded Peruvian mahogany from entering the US, and request three US timber companies to forfeit illegally imported Peruvian mahogany already in the country. The groups contend that loggers illegally cut the mahogany in parts of Peru that have been set aside for protection, plundering its resources and disrupting the lives of the indigenous people, and that Peruvian authorities have not been able to control illegal harvesting. However, Brent McClendon, the executive vice president of International Wood Products Association, a trade group not named in the suit, argued that mahogany imports into the US are legal. “It is accompanied by all the necessary permits, documents and paperwork that allow it to be traded legally and sustainably under international and national laws and regulations”, he said. The NRDC has argued that pervasive forgery of documents and corruption makes all mahogany imports from Peru suspect.

“Federal Border Agencies Allowing Illegal Mahogany Imports, Say Native Peruvians And U.S. Conservation Group,” NRDC, 6 June 2006; “Groups Seek to Halt Peru Mahogany Imports,” AP, 6 June 2006; “Evergreen importer sued over Peruvian mahogany dispute,” PRESS REGISTER, 6 June 2006.