Press Release: September 30, 2011
Madagascar Musicians Call for International Help in Fighting Illegal Logging
Environmental Investigation Agency (US)
Contact: Andrea Johnson or Christina Frenzel, +1 (202) 483-6621
Video and stills available upon request
Washington, DC -- A concert tonight at the gates of the largest national park in Madagascar calls for an end to rampant illegal logging of the country’s irreplaceable forest heritage. Several of the prominent Malagasy musicians, lead by Razia and Jaojoby, hail from this remote Sava region, the most biodiverse area of the island nation.
Illegal logging rose 25% in 2009 in Madagascar, resulting in thousands of trees being stolen from the country’s national parks and extensive collateral damage to other trees and wildlife. Over 90% of all species in Madagascar are unique to the island, including the highly endangered Lemurs.
Rosewood and ebony trees for export trade are the prime target of the illegal logging. The ebony is primarily used in constructing guitars, violins and other instruments. Some of the most expensive guitars in the world, selling for over ten thousand dollars, contain Madagascar ebony.
The Environmental Investigation Agency investigated Madagascar’s illegal logging problem in 2009 and tracked the wood around the world to buyers in the U.S., Europe and China. It published findings in two reports (links below). In the same year, U.S. authorities launched an investigation into shipments of illegal wood from Madagascar being imported into the U.S. to a major guitar manufacturer.
Andrea Johnson, Director of Forest Campaigns for EIA, said “At this concert, Madagascar’s musicians are playing for the survival of the very forests where ebony and rosewood are stolen to make high-priced instruments for global markets. It is critical that musicians around the world support their plea and join the chorus asking for legal wood.”
“Trafficking wood is a crime, and it should be treated as such. Right now only the forests and local villagers see the consequences, but the timber barons and international companies that drive this trade should be responsible too.
“Communities around the world are fighting hard to protect their forests, but international trade of illegal wood makes their job very difficult. Unless countries and companies take serious steps to stop this trade, the forests of Madagascar will be forever diminished.”
Two days ago the government of Madagascar also made a formal request for the rosewood and ebony in their forests to receive U.N. protection by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). These new controls go into effect in December of this year.
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The Environmental Investigation Agency is an international campaigning organization, with offices in Washington D.C. and London, committed to investigating and exposing environmental crime and campaigning to protect endangered species and the natural world. www.eia-global.org
EIA/Global Witness reports on Madagascar:
“Investigation Into the Global Trade in Malagasy Precious Woods: Rosewood, Ebony and Pallisander” http://www.eia-global.org/PDF/report--Madagascar--EIA--GW--forests--oct10.pdf
“Investigation into the illegal felling, transport and export of precious wood in SAVA Region Madagascar” http://www.eia-global.org/PDF/Report--Madagascar--Forest--Aug09--English.pdf
See CITES press release on Madagascar’s announcement here: http://www.cites.org/eng/news/press_release.php
See AP story on the concert here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/madagascar-holds-concert-against-illegal-logging-week-before-tea-partys-pro-gibson-rally/2011/09/30/gIQAQoOIAL_story.html
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Environmental Investigation Agency
PO Box 53343, Washington, DC 20009 www.eia-global.org
Tel: +1 202 483 6621/ Fax: +1 202 986 8626
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