The UK’s largest clarinet manufacturer Hanson Clarinets has been awarded the world’s first FSC chain of custody certificate for African blackwood.
Hanson Clarinets expects to launch the world’s first FSC-certified clarinets before the end of 2010.
“We hope that our commitment will help persuade other makers to join in protecting endangered species and in turn work to protect the future for forests, wildlife, communities and of course music,” said Alastair Hanson, co-founder of Hanson Clarinets.
??African blackwood is highly prized for making clarinets, oboes and bagpipes. The world’s first harvest of FSC-certified African blackwood was carried out in December 2009 in a Village Land Forest Reserve managed by the Kikole village, southern Tanzania, under the guidance of the Mpingo Conservation Project.
The payment received by the community for their African blackwood was 400 times more than they would have received before FSC certification. The wood is being processed at an FSC-certified sawmill in Tanzania and will be exported to the UK shortly.
