Brazilian agents have seized the equivalent of more than 5,000 truckloads worth of illegal timber from the Amazon – which amounts to the biggest crackdown by IBAMA, Brazil’s federal environmental agency, for many years.
The raids kicked off a year-long project called Operation Marvalha – named after a type of sawdust in the states of Amazonas, Para and Rondonia – with IBAMA already closing down a dozen sawmills (which have forged government documentation to hide the origin of timber) and levying fines of more than 15.5 million reais in the first two weeks alone.
That is according to Jair Schmitt, head of environmental protection for IBAMA, who said the operation aims to clean up the trade of Amazonian timber – where the vast majority is illegally harvested and traded into global supply chains: “The idea is for us to contain the extraction of illegal timber in the Amazon, which is the first step to deforestation,” he told Reuters as he stood beside a pile of timber seized in Rondonia’s capital, Porto Velho.
Schmitt’s investigators found wood from various Amazon species considered valuable in global markets, including ipe (Brazilian walnut) – which makes up 75% of Brazilian hardwood used in European balconies and stairs – with the confiscated timber donated to government agencies. The sting comes as President Luiz Inacio Lila da Silva delivers on his vow to end deforestation in the Amazon – with Global Forest Watch reporting that Brazil is taking “positive steps” to reduce deforestation rates.
Last year, Wood Central reported that up to 70% of timber traded from the Amazon was likely illegal, with research revealing that up to 15% of all (supposedly legal) forest management plans contain irregular logging credits. Published in April, Characterization of Technical and Legal Irregularities in Management Plans in the Brazilian Amazon, IBAMA researchers analysed 184 forest management plans in the Amazon, most located in Pará (88) and Rondônia (37):
“I’ve always worked inspecting forest management plans, and I’ve seen many brutal irregularities,” according to lead author Vinicius Otavio Benoit Costa from the IBAMA, who said that organised crime continues to fuel the trade of conflict timber into global supply chains. “There are a number of very serious frauds, up to and including the formation of gangs and criminal organisations involving forest management.”
- To find out how DNA testing is helping to shatter the $150 billion trade in conflict and illegal timber, click here for Wood Central’s special feature from August 2024.
