– safeguarding the future of trees used to make musical instruments

(to navigate trhough the SoundWood pages on this site please use the links provided within the text or listed at the bottom of each page)

Requiem or Revival?

Over 200 different tree species worldwide are used to make musical instruments.  Ebonies, rosewoods and mahoganies have been valued for centuries for their resonance and beauty in making musical instruments. Unfortunately at least 70 of these species are threatened with extinction in the wild and are included in the 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Fauna & Flora International’s SoundWood programme works to safeguard the future of threatened tree species used to make musical instruments.

Musical instrument trees or ‘tonewoods’ provide some of the most valuable timber in the forest.  Although the musical instrument industry is by no means a leading force behind the demise of these rare species, musical instruments require the high-quality timber of slow growing, older trees.  Current logging practices for this quality wood are unsustainable; opening roads into pristine forests, impacting on other flora and fauna and yielding few benefits for local people. In a nutshell, we’ve been cutting these trees faster than they can regenerate and some have been so heavily exploited that they are already considered commercially extinct.  

We must act now to ensure that these species and the quality of music making are not lost forever.

SoundWood does not advocate bans or boycotts nor total substitution with synthetic materials.

SoundWood wants to see these timber trees used in sustainable ways. It wants to see people who depend on the forests benefit from the valuable timber they contain, and it wants musicians and music lovers to be able to continue to enjoy beautiful instruments.

The underlying premise of SoundWood is that when forests are managed wisely, trade can support rather than damage conservation efforts.

SoundWood focuses its activities in three interconnected priority areas that together form a complete sequence from forest management to the purchase of a finished musical instrument. SoundWood seeks to provide solutions at all three key stages that will promote sustainable industry practice and responsible consumerism.

Species and Habitat Conservation
SoundWood helps to design, fund and implement conservation projects that promote sustainable management of timber sources in partnership with local communities. The programme collects baseline data on the ecology and distribution of threatened timbers in trade, working alongside the IUCN/SSC Global Tree Specialist Group, to develop appropriate conservation action plans. Find out more
 
Education
Music crosses barriers of age, culture and language and we employ it in school workshops, performances, promotional materials and concerts to communicate SoundWood’s education and public awareness programme.  The programme focuses on musical instruments as flagships for promoting responsible consumerism and to develop markets for sustainably produced goods. Find out more

Industry
SoundWood promotes the production of timbers derived from independently certified, well managed sources and seeks to create a market for instruments and other products made from such timber. We provide information and advice on the sourcing of legal and sustainably produced timbers and on the reduction of wood waste. We actively seek partnerships with the music industry. Find out more
 

SoundWood has established strong links with the music industry and has been endorsed by many renowned manufactures and musicians.  If you are a musician, an instrument manufacturer or retailer, a teacher, a concert-goer, a timber dealer or simply a music lover please help SoundWood make a difference.

Ways in which you could help to make a difference:

• Organise school fundraising events following a SoundWood education workshop
• Provide direct industry support for community reforestation projects
• Musician endorsement of the programme
• Through partnerships with other like-minded programmes and organizations

Above all SoundWood needs financial support to carry out its work.  To support SoundWood please contact:

Camila Iturra, SoundWood Programme Manager
E: soundwood@fauna-flora.org

T:00 44 (0) 1223 571000

Find out where to buy certified instruments through the SoundWood Directory of Instrument Makers

and where to source certified wood SoundWood Directory of Wood Suppliers

Share ideas and find anwers to your questions through the SoundWood Feedback Forum

Find out what tonewoods are used to make which musical instruments SoundWood Instruments and Woods