17 - Lessons on Sustainable Development and Challenges to Illegal Trade: The Case of the Chilean Larch

Summary

The author discusses the larch tree, as the second longest-living vegetable species in the world, with specimens of more than 3,600 years found in Chile. This tree grows in the mountains and can reach up to 50 meters high and 5 meters in diameter. Although the larch has been declared a National Monument and is protected by the CITES Convention, government policies have failed to effectively protect the species and ensure its future conservation. This ancient tree is included in Appendix I of CITES; therefore, its international trade is forbidden. However, two exceptions have been applied for the export of this species: (i) the trade of larch prior to the Convention prior larch (pre-CITES); and (ii) the exception that allows the use of dead trees. In Chile, the author notes, this exception was deleted in 2005, although, according the domestic law, the trade of dead trees is permitted within the country.