Surging Chinese demand for rosewood is ruining forests across southern Asia
▻http://theconversation.com/surging-chinese-demand-for-rosewood-is-ruining-forests-across-south
Myanmar, one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in Asia, has also several species of rosewood highly prized by the Chinese furniture trade. Even though Myanmar’s forest and hardwood stocks have been diminishing for several decades already (less than 10% of the land is now forested, the rosewood logging and smuggling has increased to an unprecedented level in the last three years.
In 2013 alone, Myanmar exported 237,000m3 of rosewood to China, triple the volume of the previous year. This amounts to one thirteenth of the estimated remaining rosewood stock of Myanmar – at current logging rates, Myanmar’s forests will have been stripped of rosewood in just 13 years.
As Chinese hunger for the luxuriant, dark red timber grows and spreads across the greater Mekong region, rosewood species might face not only commercial extinction, but also final, biological extinction.
#bois_de_rose #industrie_du_bois #industrie_du_luxe #déforestation #Birmanie #Chine