The 19-day Rosewood Amnesty ended today and the Forestry Department says it is still collecting data, and won't know until next week the volume of Rosewood collected under the Amnesty.
But the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development Lisel Alamilla – in a quite candid Facebook post - seems to be glad it's over. She says all material will be stamped by the end of the day and next week the team begins supervision of loading for the export market. She says when total material is quantified the figure will be sent to CITES and as it is exported it will be tracked and deducted from the total sum allowable as pre-convention Rosewood.
She adds that material that was moved during amnesty from out of Toledo district was for the local market, for later export as a value added product. She says this was causing confusion so her department disallowed any movement out of the district. Alamilla says she went into the bush with Forest Department and two conservation NGOs to determine if fresh Rosewood was being cut. Her findings were that the reports of cutting of new trees was not supported by what she observed on the ground. She said if trees were felled during this amnesty, that would be minimal.
Her post says the next phase is compiling an inventory of standing rosewood. She adds emphatically that the amnesty has NOT been extended for two more weeks.
Alamilla closes by adding that quote, "tomorrow is a new day… For those who care and wonder, I still love my job." End quote.
