ProSono fully adheres to the principles of www.cites.org on the protection of endangered species. We care for the best added-value and consequently won’t export logs or any unprocessed timbers outside Southern Africa.

Dalbergia melanoxylon:

Among the species we search, select and process, the African Blackwood is the only species that is listed on CITES 2, as a species which trade is restricted and submitted to permits since the beginning of 2017. Although this measure can be disputed indeed it came along with the blanket restriction of no less than 60 species of the Dalbergia genus that grow on different continents and consequently are subject to totally different ecological* and human challenges, the decision is here to stay and we do comply!

ProSono Timbers always requested from our suppliers their cutting permits and obtained the certificate of origin and the phytosanitary certificate for all species and of the imported African Blackwood. We know the origin of the wood we process at our saw mills. We do have the necessary chain management from source to processing and export to our customers.

In the case of the African Blackwood imported from Mozambique, our latest import was in 2012 much earlier that the bans of all exports of logs by the Government of that country!

Our ample stock of parts has been fully legalised by DAFF (South African Department of Agriculture, Water and Forestry).

Since then two other sources of African Blackwood in countries North of us have been identified. Our suppliers do have the necessary concessions and annual cutting permits from their National, Provincial and Local as well as from the CITES authorities.

Other species and context :  We encourage and support our suppliers with the development of nurseries to replant what is taken out of the eco-system. In this context, it must be made clear that the nursery is the easy part of the undertaking. Significantly more challenges are found in the field to make the young and immature plant survive and grow in an environment where flora and fauna is much of a threat!

As indicated above it has always been a prerequisite for our suppliers to abide by their local regulations first and to comply with their local agricultural extension officers to qualify as one of our supplier. With every delivery to our saw mills permits are requested and up-dated.

  • African Blackwood ecological and human challenges: in our 17 years of searching and selecting this species, we have come across this species in no less than 8 countries south of the equator. The species is present everywhere and grows as a weedy bush often unstoppable! Find termite mounts and rocky outcrop and you shall find the Dalbergia melanoxylon. From a flora stand-point the species would poorly qualify as endangered, the issue is the lack of sizes of most! Growing like a shrub the stems limit themselves and rarely grow to an economical size for harvesting.