Belize

Our shipper of mahogany, cigar box cedar, rosita, black poison wood etc. from Belize has explained how things work over there.

"Belize has about 65% forest cover, much of the rest is given over to growing sugar cane and other crops. Logging has been going on for upwards of 300 years, slash and burn agriculture was practised by a significant population of Mayans for 'thousands' of years before that, so virgin forests that may be seen elsewhere in the tropics are not really a factor in Belize. In fact the productive areas of forest (most highland areas are now protected) have been cut over many times and the forest has re-grown without difficulty.

"Logs are cut selectively subject to minimum diameters from forest actually owned by the company. Replanting is only done where the forest is left particularly sparse, otherwise it is preferred to leave 'mother' trees standing, which seed the area season by season rather than just the once, ensuring successful re-growth. Cutting is presently going on for a second cycle in some of the early parcels of land acquired by the company because some of the undersized trees are now fully grown.

"Belize relies on the export of timber and eco-tourism for most foreign currency earnings and the preservation of the forest is vital for both. Belize is about the size of Wales with a population about the size of Wolverhampton."

India

The majority of Rosewood that we sell for guitar construction comes from India.

India has very strict export rules about timber and was one of the first countries to introduce restrictions to the timber trade which it did about 20 years ago and which have been the inspiration for restrictions by many other producing nations since.The basic idea is to recognise the timber as a limited resource and to get the most from it in terms of added value while at the same time automatically reducing the amount of timber being taken from the forests. India no longer exports logs or lumber as a raw material.

Finished and semi finished items are allowed to be exported as are veneers. Our guitar materials are permitted for export as they can be defined as veneer or as semi finished parts. The logs that our shipper uses are bought at public auction from government controlled felling operations in government owned forests in the states of Kerala and Karnataka.

And finally Alaska and Europe ...