August/September Pernambuco Update

The High-Level Scoop

The Big News:

In November of 2025, the CITES Conference of the Parties (COP20) will convene, and Brazil has submitted a proposal to list brazilwood (pernambuco/pau-brasil) as a CITES Appendix I species.

What does that mean? What is CITES?

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species.

CITES Appendix I materials includes species threatened with extinction. This is the most restrictive appendix, and includes an outright prohibition of commercial trade. Commonly known materials in this appendix include ivory, tortoiseshell, and Brazilian rosewood.

What could potentially happen:

If pernambuco is elevated to the status of Appendix I, musicians will not be able to travel internationally with pernambuco bows without documentation, and in many cases musicians will not be able to travel with them at all. The documentation would be subject to border security agents’ interpretations of laws the CITES agreements, which will likely vary depending on country and port of entry within each country. This really is something of a nightmare scenario for anyone traveling with instruments, and for the violin- and bow-making community.

How did we get here?

This is an excellent question with many complex answers, some of which are covered in the interview below. The long and short of it is that pernambuco only grows and can only grow in the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil (Mata Atlântica). During the past 500 years, the Mata Atlântica has experienced a severe decline as the result of urban and agricultural development. Today, only 7% of the rainforest’s original extent is thought to remain. With that destruction has come the loss of the world’s only pernambuco habitat. This destruction and the uses of the forest and materials is a complex issue both within and outside of Brazil.

The Crux of it All:

This is a major cultural heritage issue. In order for live music to stay relevant, people need to be able to travel with their instruments and bows. This isn’t just an issue for classical music: this is an issue for anyone traveling with instruments made out of wood including bowed strings, bows, woodwind instruments, guitars, pianos, harps, percussion instruments, and the list goes on.

As Yung Chin has so eloquently stated,

“There is a powerful link between conservation and the arts. Working together for positive and responsible change, we can balance the need to conserve and restore the species with protection of our ability to share music and uplift the human experience around the world for generations to come.”

Poached pernambuco. Photo from IBAMA