Music Industry Leads U.S. Lobbying Effort to Get Rid of Environmental Law

Lemurs (© R. Butler)
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The rainforests of Madagascar are threatened. Large amounts of ebony and rosewood are logged illegally. As one result of this, the lemures which live on the East African island are highly endangered because they need the trees to survive. The manufacturers of musical instruments are paying large amounts of money to buy these special trees. Gibson and the music industry lobbying group (NAMM) is now working to dismantle a law that prohibits dealing with illegally logged trees.

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During recent searches at the Gibson company in Nashville, USA, the federal agencies found allegedly illegally logged wood which they confiscated along with guitars and documents. This was made possible by a very unique law. The Lacey Act prohibits the import of wood that was logged illegally, even if the contravention took place in another country. Experts have already seen an impact from this law and believe that it could further reduce illegal logging around the world significantly.

Instead of abiding by the bill, guitar manufacturer Gibson and other companies like Indonesian-based Pulp and Paper (APP) lobby to undermine this pathbreaking law. Political moves to change the law are already taking place in the US-Congress, including the „RELIEF ACT“ which environmental and industry groups, as well as independent analysts, say will destroy the law.

In the United States environmental organizations are taking actions to prevent the law from being repealed. Also musicians from Madagascar like Razia Said and Jaojoby are protesting by organizing concerts for the rainforest and by planting thousands of new trees. They are also planning on touring the United States as well as Europe to raise awareness.

“Criminals are plundering our rainforest“, says musician Razia from Madagascar. “Every day thousands of trees are being logged in the Masoala National Park. The livelihood of humans as well as highly endangered animals like lemures is being destroyed beyond retrieval. Please help us to Stopp this massacre. Let us protect the biodiversity by supporting the Lacey Act.“

The Lacey Act has been a great ideal for European environmentalists. The hard work of United States based environmental organizations has finally led to a reaction from Europe. From 2013 on, no wood that has been logged illegally may be imported into Europe.

The situation concerning the rainforest in Madagascar is not hopeless. We want to save the remaining forests and therefore ask you to please sign the following appeal of the musicians. The Lacey Act must be defended.

You can watch a video of the rainforest concert here. The musicians would also like to perform and raise awareness in Europe. If you would like to support them, please contact Razia: info@cumbancha.com

Same protest action in German, French and Spanish.

Letter

To
Music industry
US Government
US Congress

Open Letter by musicians from Madagascar to the music industry and policy makers in the US

Dear Sirs / Madams,

illegal logging is one of the biggest current threats to the enviornment. It is responsible for the destruction of forests worldwide, for loss of biodiversity and it endangers the lives and livelihoods of indigenous peoples. Irreplaceable ecosystems, such as the Masoala rainforest in Madagascar, are being plundered for their native tree species.

Many species of rosewood and ebony, used for musical instruments, are threatened with extinction due to illegal logging. Many guitars, violins, woodwind instruments and pianos are made from those types of wood.

We must ensure that our musical instruments are not made from such sources of wood. Those natural resources must be preserved for future generations of musicians, for the future of music and of the planet.

We therefore call on you to support our demands and to finally end the trade in illegally logged wood. We will buy no new instruments without guarantees and transparent evidence that the wood comes from lawful and environmentally friendly production.

We call on policy makers, the wood industry and wood traders to ensure that music has a positive impact on nature and does not contribute to its destruction. We call on all musicians and citizens, to join us. Wood used to make musical instruments must come from legal sources and contribute to nature conservation.

We support the Lacey Act and other measures to protect forests which prohibit the trade in illegal wood and make it punishable. We oppose any attempts to weaken the Lacey Act in the US in any way. The EU must also prohibit the trade in illegal wood immediately rather than from 2013 only.

Yours faithfully,

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