Ipé – an endangered wood species

According to the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, the popular decking wood Ipé could soon be officially classified as an endangered species. At the initiative of a number of Latin American countries, discussions are underway to include the wood of the lapacho subgenus in the list of the Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The strong demand in recent years has led to the massive destruction of the pink and yellow flowering tree in the South American tropical forests. Even today, wood from sustainable forestry is hardly available, as it is already highly endangered.

The next Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora will take place in Colombo on May 23, 2019. If Ipé is placed under protection here, it will probably be a few months before the requirement becomes EU law.

For the conventional timber trade, the listing of Ipé (to the Ipe entry in the wood lexicon) would be significant, as the wood would then probably no longer be able to be imported into the European Union via the regular route.

Betterwood does not have any decking boards or other products made from Ipé in its range, as the tree has been considered endangered for years. Good alternatives to Ipé are Cumaru or teakwhich also achieve the highest resistance class (at least 25 years outdoor durability).