In June 2007 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) committee is meeting to vote on a proposal to include pernambuco (the wood that fine bows are made from) in an Appendix II listing. This could effectively ban the international trade in the raw material.

The movement of existing bows across international borders may require special permits. This would affect any players who travel abroad and overseas players coming to Australia and, indirectly, competitions with overseas competitors, etc. Most Australian string players could potentially be adversely affected in one way or another.

The International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative (IPCI) have successful conservation measures in place and these are developing year by year. The IPCI, an international collective of bow makers and related crafts, believes that the use of pernambuco for bow making can be sustainable and that a CITES appendix listing may be counter productive at this time.

We will update this item once the results of the proposal are known.