http://soundandfair.org Realising sustainable trade in African Blackwood Thu, 08 Jul 2010 08:25:42 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The European Parliament has voted overwhelming to pass legislation banning the import and sale of timber obtained through illegal logging. The parliament voted 644-25 in favour of the legislation, paving the way for the new rules to come into effect from 2012. The regulations still need to be ... http://soundandfair.org/eu-votes-by-huge-majority-for-ban-on-illegal-timber The Sound & Fair campaign took a major step forward at the end of June 2010, when a batch of the world's first FSC-certified African blackwood was processed at a Tanzanian sawmill. The timber was cut into woodwind instrument billets at Sandali Wood Industries, Tanga, ahead of importation to the UK ... http://soundandfair.org/first-batch-of-fsc-certified-african-blackwood-processed-at-tanzanian-sawmill The EU has reached agreement on new legislation that will ban the importation of illegal timber by 2012. EU companies will be obliged to carry out "due diligence" on their timber supply chains to ensure that imported timber is legally harvested. Companies that fail to comply with the regulations will face fines ... http://soundandfair.org/eu-to-ban-illegal-timber-imports-by-2012 Celebrated oboeist and conductor, Nicholas Daniel, has become the Patron of Sound & Fair, a campaign that aims to persuade the woodwind industry to use sustainably harvested African blackwood, the key component in the manufacture of oboes, clarinets and other woodwind instruments. African blackwood was once common across east Africa but ... http://soundandfair.org/nicholas-daniel-confirmed-as-sound-fair-patron The Sound & Fair campaign was featured in the Observer on Sunday 7 June 2010. Read the story written by Lucy Siegle on the Guardian website. http://soundandfair.org/sound-fair-featured-in-the-observer The new Conservative - Liberal Democratic government coalition has made a pledge to introduce measures to make the import or possession of illegal timber a criminal offence. The pledge was included in last week's hastily drafted coalition agreement. It remains to be seen how the measures will be implemented but such legislation ... http://soundandfair.org/uk-coalition-government-pledges-to-oulaw-illegal-timber Sound & Fair has launched a partnership with Just Forests, an Irish non-governmental organisation, to raise awareness of the availability of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified African blackwood, which is widely used in traditional Irish musical instruments. African blackwood is the most commonly used wood in the manufacturing of instruments such ... http://soundandfair.org/just-forests-partnership-to-reach-irish-african-blackwood-users The achievement of the Mpingo Conservation Project in facilitating the world's first FSC certified African blackwood harvest has been recognized in Oryx, a conservation journal published by Fauna and Flora International. The article is not available online but can be downloaded as a PDF here: Download Oryx Conservation News April 2010 http://soundandfair.org/fsc-african-blackwood-featured-in-oryx Clarinet players will soon have the choice of buying environmentally and socially sustainable instruments after Hanson Clarinets became certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in March 2010. The FSC-certification of Hanson Clarinets, the UK’s largest clarinet manufacturer, completes the world’s first FSC chain of custody for sustainably harvested African blackwood. The ... http://soundandfair.org/hanson-clarinets-completes-worlds-first-chain-of-custody-for-sustainably-harvested-african-blackwood Representatives from the Sound & Fair campaign will be attending Musikmesse, the world's largest music industry conference, in Frankfurt, Germany, from 24-27 March 2010, to lobby the woodwind industry to adopt Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) principles. All the major woodwind instrument manufacturers will be exhibiting at the event - Loree, Buffet ... http://soundandfair.org/sound-fair-to-lobby-woodwind-industry-at-musikmesse