SUVA (Pacnews) — The Fiji government is in the process of enacting legislation that should ensure the conservation of mahogany trees in the country.
Environment Minister Mataiasi Ragigia said this is required under the international Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which lists mahogany as an endangered species.
Unless Fiji fulfills this requirement, other countries party to the international convention will not touch Fiji’s mahogany products.
While the country is at liberty to harvest its mahogany forest, Ragigia said it would not be able to trade the lucrative mahogany timber on the international market at the moment until a law is in place.
He said the Attorney General’s Office is currently working on draft legislation on mahogany, which is expected to be tabled in parliament either in July or August.
Ragigia said the Geneva, Switzerland-based CITES Secretariat has given Fiji until Dec. 31 to enact the law.
Fiji’s mahogany forests have been a source of prolonged controversy in the country. Indigenous landowners claim ownership of the mahogany forest planted on their land in an experiment by the British colonial administration in the 1930s-1940s. However, government is insisting that an agreement between the landowners and government back then gives government exclusive rights to the lucrative timber.
