Compromise on Mahogany Reached

Major importers and exporters of big-leaf mahogany reached a last-minute compromise on conservation measures at an international convention on endangered species. Brazil, which strongly opposed a proposal by the United States and Bolivia for stricter controls on one of the most prized and endangered Amazon trees, proposed to convene a working group of states to develop recommendations on conservation within 18 months. The deal came at the end of the two-week Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the world’s largest conservation meeting, in Harare, the capital.