The situation regarding pernambuco wood (Paubrasilia echinata) is alarming and potentially disastrous for your profession, which would be directly affected if the proposal to list this species under the Appendix I of CITES is approved at the upcoming CoP of this convention in November 2025. Such a listing would become irreversible.
The situation surrounding pernambuco wood is critical — and it threatens not only bow makers, but the entire musical ecosystem across the world.
In real terms, it would become extremely difficult — if not impossible — to legally own, buy, sell, or repair a bow made of pernambuco wood across the EU, even for professional use.
Whether you’re performing in a concert, teaching a class, or posting online, speak up. Talk about your bow — what it means to your playing, your sound, and your artistry. Use social media to share your message widely. Help people understand the central role the bow plays in music, and why pernambuco wood is still irreplaceable for professional quality bows.
We urge musicians, teachers, and music lovers to write to their national environment, culture and foreign affairs ministries, as well as to the European Commission and to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), especially those on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI).
Ask them to:
• Support the preservation of regulated, sustainable access to pernambuco for musical use
• Reject the proposal to move pernambuco to CITES Appendix I (CoP20 Prop46)
• Recognize the importance of music in Europe’s cultural and professional life
If this vote passes, it will be too late to reverse the damage.
Join your voice with others and please sign this petition to help save pernambuco https://chng.it/fYRbhWzHPp and defend the right to create, play, and share music — and the materials that make it possible.
