1. Tracing the Source of the Problem: Where has All the Big-leaf Mahogany Gone?
Taylor Johnston World Regional Geography
Introduction
The Issues
Thompson Mahogany Co.
Big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is a highly valuable luxury timber. Today, a single cubic meter of this highly valued hardwood is worth up to $1800 (Grogan et. al. 2010). Historically, big leaf mahogany naturally occurs across a vast range in South America. Through a history of overexploitation, big-leaf mahogany has seen a drastic reduction in its range especially along the easily navigable waters of the area (Grogan & Schulze, 2008; Fig. 1).
Lack of empirical knowledge
Currently there has been not been sufficient research to determine international stock size of big-leaf mahogany. Therefore, non-detriment findings (NDF), used to determine sustainable harvesting rates are based off of assumptions (Grogan & Schulze, 2008).
Lack of enforcement
Most countries within big-leaf mahogany’s natural range lack the resources needed to effectively enforce national protocols. So even though regulations exist, illegal harvesting can persist, as was the case in Brazil (Grogan & Barreto, 2005).
Current regulations can be classified as either a land-use or harvesting regulation. Land-use regulations involve designating and enforcing how the land can be used. Harvesting regulations, on the other hand, focus on defining at what age a tree can be harvested, usually by outlining a size characteristic (Bludell & Gullison, 2003).
Often times these regulations are ignored and are regularly fueled by the high demand of buyers willing to pay up to $6 per board foot of big-leaf mahogany (Fig. 3). Creating a value incentive for illegal harvesting greater than that of the negative incentives enforced by local governments (Bludell & Gullison, 2003). Therefore, the illegal harvesting and unrelenting overexploitation of big-leaf mahogany will continue until governments are able to create positive incentives, such as tax breaks, equal to that of the buyer’s demand.
Increase in transportation
As transportation infrastructure, such as highways, expand populations of big- leaf mahogany that were once inaccessible become open access to loggers. The current range of big-leaf mahogany is coherent with the maximum transport distance from local sawmills, leaving populations further away from sawmills still untouched (Grogan et. al. 2010, Fig. 3).
Thompson Mahogany Co. based out of Philadelphia Pennsylvania, claims to follow all international regulations when importing big-leaf mahogany and that all of its wood is harvested in a sustainable manner. One sawmill which Thompson Mahogany is known to buy from, however, Comercial De Madeiras Odani Ltda (Fig. 4), is currently prohibited by Brazilian government from trading, processing, or selling timber due to its involvement in illegal timber harvesting. This sawmill, although seemingly barred from timber production still exports big-leaf mahogany to Thompson Mahogany Co. (Greenpeace, 2014). Thompson Mahogany Co. has also been known to ‘fool’ buyers into thinking their wood is chain-of-custody certified by making broad claims about their wood. These claims, in reality, only applies to a small portion of the big-leaf mahogany sold, but many companies including Thompson Mahogany Co. are able to ‘beat’ certification using this method (Greenpeace, 2001).
Figure 1-The current and historic range of big-leaf mahogony (Swietenia macrophylla). Overexploitation has left much of the range fragmented and isolated (Grogan et. al. 2010).
This loss of habitat prompted the listing of big-leaf mahogany on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Under its Appendix II listing, all big-leaf mahogany that is traded internationally must be verified that it was harvested legally and at a level that is “not detrimental to their role in the ecosystems where they naturally occur” (Grogan & Barreto, 2005, Fig. 2). This exploratory study aims to investigate the issues, reasons, and mechanisms fueling the continued exploration, specifically to the United States, of big-leaf mahogany. An intensive examination of one company in particular, Thompson Mahogany Co., aims to expose the true movement of the vulnerable big-leaf mahogany, and whether current sustainable practices are really being put into practice.
Figure 3- Average U.S. market retail price of big-leaf mahogany.
Figure 4- Arial image of an Amazonian sawmill, Comercial De Madeiras Odani Ltda, known to partake in illegal logging practices.
References
Blundell, A. G., & Gullison, R. E. (2003). Poor regulatory capacity limits the ability of science to influence the management of mahogany. Forest Policy and Economics, 5(4), 395–405.
Greenpeace (2014) The Amazon’s Silent Crisis: Night Terrors. Report, Greenpeace International, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Greenpeace (2001) Partners in Mahogany Crime: Amazon at the Mercy of Gentlemen’s Agreements. Report, Greenpeace International, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Grogan, J., & Barreto, P. (2005). Big-Leaf Mahogany on CITES Appendix II: Big Challenge, Big Opportunity. Conservation Biology, 19(3), 973–976.
Grogan, J., Blundell, A. G., Landis, R. M., Youatt, A., Gullison, R. E., Martinez, M., … Rice, R. E. (2010). Over-harvesting driven by consumer demand leads to population decline: big-leaf mahogany in South America. Conservation Letters, 3(1), 12–20.
Grogan, J., & Schulze, M. (2008). Estimating the number of trees and forest area necessary to supply internationally traded volumes of big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) in Amazonia. Environmental Conservation, 35(01), 26–35.
Figure 2- The movement of big-leaf mahogany to its main importers in 1997.
Figure 3- Brazilian sawmills shown in black with the radius of the maximum log transport distance shown against big-leaf mahogany’s historical range.