§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will support the proposal from Nicaragua and Guatemala to upgrade mahogany from CITES appendix III to appendix II at the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES in November. [62322]
§ Mr. MeacherAs with all plant proposals put to the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, we shall be advised on this by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, our scientific authority on these matters.
I can confirm, however, that in principle we support the proposal by Nicaragua to include the neotropical populations of Swietenia macrophylla (big leaf mahogany) in appendix II of the convention.
§ Mr. Peter AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to seize Brazilian mahogany imported since 19 October 2001. [50462]
§ Mr. MeacherWe have no plans to seize Brazilian mahogany imported since 19 October 2001. All of the mahogany that has been imported into the United Kingdom since then has been accompanied by export permits provided by the Brazilian Management Authority.