India
Red Sandalwood: Red sandalwood plantations to grow with CITES bringing relief for Indian farmers growing the endemic species | India News
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NEW DELHI: In a development that may help red sandalwood growing farmers to earn through export, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has removed India from its Review of Significant Trade (RST) for Red Sanders – a kind of negative list due to reporting of several instances of red sandalwood smuggling in the past.
India had been under the RST process for Red Sanders since 2004. The process enables disciplinary action in the form of trade suspensions directed at countries that do not meet their obligations. India too had faced trade suspension in the past.
But, the country’s removal from the RST process will now help farmers enter the supply chain of legitimate trade. The Red sanders is a high market value tree, endemic to few districts in Andhra Pradesh.
“Based on our compliance and reporting, India has been removed from the Review of Significant Trade for Red Sanders. The development is a major boost for the farmers who grow Red Sanders,” said environment minister Bhupender Yadav in his social media post on X.
The species has been subjected to threats of illegal harvesting and smuggling leading to their depletion from natural forest. However, red sanders wood now sourced from artificially propagation (plantations) will be a part of legal trade.
Announcing the move of the standing committee of CITES that met in Geneva, Switzerland during November 6-10, Yadav also attributed it to the last year’s amendment in the country’s Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 wherein the provisions of CITES was incorporated in the law.
As a result, the CITES standing committee has now decided to place India in Category 1 (fully compliant) of the Convention as it has fully complied with its requirements under the national legislation programme. Earlier, India was listed in Category 2 (facing multiple restrictions) as the country’s domestic legislation was not aligned with all the Convention’s provisions.
Under the foreign trade policy of India, the import of Red Sanders is prohibited whereas export is restricted. Red Sanders is in demand in both domestic and international markets. It is used to make furniture and handicrafts. Red dye obtained from the wood is used as a colouring agent in textiles and medicines.
Noting how despite the regulation and legal protection, illegal logging and timber extraction remains a major conservation concern for the species, TRAFFIC and WWF-India had in February released a factsheet flagging Red Sanders as one of India’s most exploited tree species.
According to the factsheet, the CITES Trade Database recorded 28 incidents of Red Sanders confiscation, seizure, and specimens from the wild being exported from India. These consignments were exported to China (53.5%), Hong Kong (25.0%), Singapore (17.8%) and the United States of America (3.5%) from 2016 to 2020.
“India reported an export of more than 19,049 tonnes of logs. In comparison, the importing countries reported about 4610 tonnes of logs, 127 tonnes of sawn wood, 20 tonnes of transformed wood and 980 kg of wood products, clearly indicating a discrepancy in reporting of Red Sander trade,” it said, noting that China remains the largest importer with more than 13,618 tonnes of the products, followed by Hong Kong (5,215 tonnes) and Singapore (216 tonnes).
A delegation, led by S P Yadav, additional director general of forests and CITES Management Authority-India, participated in the standing committee meeting. India during the meeting had also made interventions for the need for stringent measures for conservation of big cats, and especially, the Asian big cats.
“India in its intervention also appealed to ‘range countries’ and other stakeholders to join International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA), launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 9, 2023 for conservation of seven Big Cat species,” said a statement from the environment ministry.
The IBCA was launched for conservation of seven big cats namely Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Cheetah, Jaguar and Puma. The Alliance aims to reach out to 97 range countries covering the natural habitats of these big cats.
India had been under the RST process for Red Sanders since 2004. The process enables disciplinary action in the form of trade suspensions directed at countries that do not meet their obligations. India too had faced trade suspension in the past.
But, the country’s removal from the RST process will now help farmers enter the supply chain of legitimate trade. The Red sanders is a high market value tree, endemic to few districts in Andhra Pradesh.
“Based on our compliance and reporting, India has been removed from the Review of Significant Trade for Red Sanders. The development is a major boost for the farmers who grow Red Sanders,” said environment minister Bhupender Yadav in his social media post on X.
The species has been subjected to threats of illegal harvesting and smuggling leading to their depletion from natural forest. However, red sanders wood now sourced from artificially propagation (plantations) will be a part of legal trade.
Announcing the move of the standing committee of CITES that met in Geneva, Switzerland during November 6-10, Yadav also attributed it to the last year’s amendment in the country’s Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 wherein the provisions of CITES was incorporated in the law.
As a result, the CITES standing committee has now decided to place India in Category 1 (fully compliant) of the Convention as it has fully complied with its requirements under the national legislation programme. Earlier, India was listed in Category 2 (facing multiple restrictions) as the country’s domestic legislation was not aligned with all the Convention’s provisions.
Under the foreign trade policy of India, the import of Red Sanders is prohibited whereas export is restricted. Red Sanders is in demand in both domestic and international markets. It is used to make furniture and handicrafts. Red dye obtained from the wood is used as a colouring agent in textiles and medicines.
Noting how despite the regulation and legal protection, illegal logging and timber extraction remains a major conservation concern for the species, TRAFFIC and WWF-India had in February released a factsheet flagging Red Sanders as one of India’s most exploited tree species.
According to the factsheet, the CITES Trade Database recorded 28 incidents of Red Sanders confiscation, seizure, and specimens from the wild being exported from India. These consignments were exported to China (53.5%), Hong Kong (25.0%), Singapore (17.8%) and the United States of America (3.5%) from 2016 to 2020.
“India reported an export of more than 19,049 tonnes of logs. In comparison, the importing countries reported about 4610 tonnes of logs, 127 tonnes of sawn wood, 20 tonnes of transformed wood and 980 kg of wood products, clearly indicating a discrepancy in reporting of Red Sander trade,” it said, noting that China remains the largest importer with more than 13,618 tonnes of the products, followed by Hong Kong (5,215 tonnes) and Singapore (216 tonnes).
A delegation, led by S P Yadav, additional director general of forests and CITES Management Authority-India, participated in the standing committee meeting. India during the meeting had also made interventions for the need for stringent measures for conservation of big cats, and especially, the Asian big cats.
“India in its intervention also appealed to ‘range countries’ and other stakeholders to join International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA), launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 9, 2023 for conservation of seven Big Cat species,” said a statement from the environment ministry.
The IBCA was launched for conservation of seven big cats namely Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Cheetah, Jaguar and Puma. The Alliance aims to reach out to 97 range countries covering the natural habitats of these big cats.
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