Ariel, A rational and reasoned response. We disagree only on some of the details of the sources of the problems. I agree that if the internal trading in protected substances (i.e., retail sales of the products derived) in the advanced economies were better controlled there would be less demand. But I also say that if the direct retail demand for specific protected substances (and I say substance rather than species as it could be animal or vegetable, and perhaps someday mineral) is from the populace in other countries (as in the Asian traditional medicine) - or the depradations on the ecology are from local desires for arable land - then the cause isn't an effect of the advanced economies in those cases.
It is a complex question, and the answer is complex. Bahian rosewood will never be endangered by the demand from craftsmen making rosewood inlays, but it can be endangered by a massive demand to use it for houses (for which I think I'd rather use oak or pine). We are playing the same song, but perhaps we are in different keys. Best, Jon
