On the initiative of the Central American Commission on the Environment and Development (CCED) and of PROARCA/CAPAS, theTropical Science Center (TSC) and a group of consultants from the region carried out an evaluation of the situation of mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla King) from southern Mexico to Panama, considering its present supply, legal and institutional framework, production and commercialization, current status of conservation, and the promisory actions toward a sustained yield management. The results of the evaluations for each country and for the region were confirmed in workshops with the participation of representatives from the forestry sector.1 This diagnostic indicates that the original distribution area of mahogany in Mesoamerica was once as high as 41 million hectares, of which it is estimated that, up until the middle of the last decade, there still existed 15 million hectares with forest cover, equivalent to 36% of the original area of the species. The countries in which the percentage of loss of the broad-leaved forests containing mahogany has been very rapid are the following: El Salvador (81%), Costa Rica (84%), Panama (74%), and Mexico (76%). It is estimated that 4.3% of the original area and 11.5% of the area actually covered in forest is to be found in national parks and other areas of absolute protection. With the exception of Costa Rica, the exploitation of the broad-leaved forests has been concentrated on only a few species; nonetheless, that exploitation has focused primarily on the precious woods such as mahogany and Spanish cedar. On the average, the commercial volume of mahogany from these forests is only 5% of the total commercial volume. However, the volume of the mahogany harvest represents more than 70% of total harvest volume, which indicates that the utilization is highly selective and that it is fundamentally based on the commercialization of this species. The data that could be obtained in this evaluation indicate that on the average in Mesoamerica, 124,000 m3/year of mahogany was legally harvested in the last few years. Costa Rica and El Salvador do not have a commercial production due to the fact that over-harvesting exhausted the resource. Panama still has some production, but it is minimal compared to other producing countries. According to the average values for Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Belize, the exportations are equal to 67% of the total harvest. Some people consider that the ratio of the illegal to legal harvest might be as much as 100% to 200% depending on trends in forestry policy. With some exceptions the primary industry is obsolete, with a preference toward the industrialization of large diameters and the lack of adequate saws for the dense tropical timbers. This industry has a considerable waste, a yield of between 50 and 60%, and has not been favorable to the introduction of an adequate number of other species in the market. The major part of the volume exported is semi-processed timber, with very little aggregated value. This document summarizes and integrates the results of the evaluations and workshops. In the conclusions, a group of elements is suggested for consideration in the proposal of a strategy of conservation and use of mahogany and the broad-leafed forests of Mesoamerica.
