640 tons of rosewood seized in Tanzania to be repatriated

Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development Max Fontaine announced that Tanzania and Madagascar have signed an agreement to repatriate 640 tons of rosewood seized in the port of Zanzibar in December 2022. The 34 containers of cargo, including approximately 4,400 rosewood logs (640 tons), have an estimated market value of US$13 million.

Negotiations with Tanzanian authorities have been ongoing for several months to repatriate the precious timber, which is currently banned in Tanzania. Representatives of the Madagascar customs authorities travelled to Tanzania to negotiate.

The 34 containers of rosewood left Madagascar in 2014. The shipment was illegal, as it was meant to be destined for Hong Kong, as the sale and export of this wood is still banned. In May 2014, the Kenya Wildlife Service seized the shipment at the port of Mombasa. The Kenyan Ministry of Environment filed a complaint, and a judgment published in 2021 indicated that the woods would be placed at the ministry’s headquarters. In November 2021, a Kenyan court ordered the release of the stock and its return to Hong Kong-based Shihua Industry Alliance Ltd. Madagascar challenged the decision, referring the matter to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), but the precious wood had already left Kenyan territory. The Chinese company had already arranged to ship the wood to Dubai. In December 2022, the containers were again seized by Tanzanian authorities while in transit at the Tanzanian port of Zanzibar.

Max Fontaine confirmed that security measures are in place to ensure the integrity of the cargo during its sea transport. The country will develop a plan for the use of these precious woods and will consider the possibility of regulated commercial exploitation. In 2016, Madagascar presented a plan to use seized log stocks in order to obtain CITES approval for their sale. CITES found the plan unconvincing, noting that the country has focused too much on repatriating illegal rosewood stocks seized abroad, while making little progress in law enforcement and controlling local illegal activities.

Under CITES regulations, the responsibility for the repatriation of this timber lies with the country of origin of the timber. It is likely that the country will still have to pay for at least the storage of these woods, but don’t forget that we don’t know what has happened to these woods since then, or even if they are there at all.