Sharks and mahogany gain 'historic' protection
17:30 15 November 02 NewScientist.com news service
Environmental campaigners are claiming a "historic victory" after securing
new global protection for endangered sharks and mahogany trees.
Governments attending a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES) imposed controls on trade in whale sharks and
basking sharks on Friday, overturning a decision made earlier in the week.
Both are in danger of disappearing as fishermen chase big profits by
supplying Chinese chefs making shark-fin soup.
This followed another notable success, the "listing" of the bigleaf
mahogany tree. This is the last and most valuable species of mahogany still
being logged in the Amazon rainforests of Brazil and Peru. Its timber is
widely used to make furniture, musical instruments, toilet seats and coffins.
All three species were put on CITES's Appendix II list, which requires new
conservation controls by governments as well as detailed documentation
whenever they or their remains are traded abroad.
"The decision on mahogany is a real watershed," said Ximena Buitron of
TRAFFIC, the independent group that monitors trade in endangered species.
It is the first time CITES has intervened to protect an Amazon rainforest
tree species and came on the tenth anniversary of the first attempt by
greens to secure the tree's protection.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993068
George Speight is the son of an opposition MP, Sam Speight, who was a
senior member in the government of 1987 coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka. That
government lost power in 1999 when Mr Chaudhry won a landslide election
victory.
Cause of Indian-Fijian ethnic tensions?
Speight's business interests suffered following the 1999 election.
Mr Chaudhry sacked Speight as chairman of two Fijian firms involved in the
country's lucrative timber trade. He had been appointed to both posts by
the previous government.
Speight was also a key player in an American company which lost a bid to
harvest Fiji's mahogany forests.
Mahogany millions
The US firm Trans Resource Management alleged foul play when the concession
was awarded to a rival.
Indigenous Fijians accused the ethnic Indian prime minister of giving
economic advantages to the Indian community.
The country has the world's richest mahogany resources - currently valued
at more than $60m.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/755130.stm
