The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalizednew permitrequirements for the import of ramin, a tropical hardwood, and ramin wood products under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Valid CITES export permits and re-export certificates are now required for import into the United States of all shipments of ramin wood products including logs, sawn wood, and veneer.
"The United States is committed to supporting this important conservation effort and ensuring ramin harvests are sustainable," said Craig Manson, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. "Despite Indonesias serious efforts to ban logging and monitor trade, illegal logging continues, not only threatening of ramin forests but also the highly imperiled orangutan and Sumatran tiger, two species that rely on these forests for habitat."
At the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES, held in Bangkok, Thailand, in October 2004, more than 150 member nations approved Indonesia's proposal to establish international export and re-export permitting requirements for ramin trade. Listing of the tree under CITESAppendix II supports ongoing efforts by countries with native ramin populations to combat illegal loggingof and associated uncontrolled international trade in this valuable species.
Ramin, a timber tree native to southeast Asia, comprises approximately 30 species in the genus Gonystylus, with the majority of the species found in Borneo. Most species of ramin are found in primary rainforests at low and medium elevations, although the most valuable commercial species, G. bancanus, is an important component of the mainly coastal peat-swamp forests of Sarawak, Sumatra and Brunei. Most international trade in ramin is in finished wood products, including dowels, moldings, window blinds, furniture, billiard cue sticks and picture frames. Therefore, the CITES Appendix-II listing also applies to sawn logs and wood as well as all finished products.
In 2001, Indonesia unilaterally included all ramin species in CITES Appendix III, which allows the nation to require export permits, and subsequently prohibited the export of all ramin logs and sawn timber. In 2002, Malaysia imposed a complete ban on the import of all ramin logs from Indonesia. Malaysia has since seized more than 30 illegal shipments of ramin originating from Indonesia, many with false documentation. Despite these measures, illegal logging of ramin for the international market still occurs in Indonesia and has resulted in the deforestation of many of that nation's protected areas.
For more information about ramin and other CITES-listed timber species, please visit: http://citestimber.fws.gov/index.html.
