Moratorium on Rosewood blocks serious loggers

Last Friday, the Ministry of Forest, Fisheries and Sustainable Development, which we note did not include Indigenous People, announced that a moratorium had been declared with immediate effect on the harvesting and exportation of rosewood. The decision to put the brakes on licenses was because a review of the Ministry’s inventory reportedly showed that more than ten licenses had been approved in the week leading up to the March seventh elections. Two of the companies allegedly involved the family of the Deputy Prime Minister. The moratorium is welcome news for the Association of Protected Areas Management Organizations, APAMO. The umbrella NGO agrees that it is a necessary measure to ensure the long-term availability of the rosewood and to protect the forests of Toledo from further degradation. According to APAMO, while the ‘rosewood logging is currently occurring outside of protected areas, APAMO recognizes that if serious action is not taken the protected areas will then be targeted once stocks of rosewood have been depleted on national lands.’