Just under 2,000 container ships of illegal timber have been laundered from deep inside the Amazon—the state where Brazil will host this year’s COP30—and sold as luxury timber in the EU and the United States, making a mockery of the EUDR, which will come into effect in months.
That is according to an investigation by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)—Tricks, Traders and Trees: How Illegal Logging Drives Forest Crime in the Brazilian Amazon and Feeds the US and EU Markets—which claims that 53,000 cubic metres of mostly ipe and cumaru extracted from Para have been smuggled thanks to a broken system where corruption and bribery are rife.
As it stands, more than one-third of all timber traded from the Amazon is of illegal origin—itself a hugely conservative figure according to the EIA. In its report, the EIA documents at least 30 timber companies in the United States and EU importing timber from illegal sites, “raising serious questions about compliance with the Lacey Act (in the US) and EU laws.”
“Our investigation shows how illegal Amazon timber is flooding EU and US markets, fueling unfair competition for legitimate companies despite laws banning the trade in illicit wood. European and US consumers don’t want to walk on the remnants of illegally cut rainforest when strolling their local seaside boardwalk.”
Rick Jacobsen, Senior Manager for policy at EIA US.
Among the most traded and highest-valued timbers is ipe (or Brazilian walnut), which makes up 75% of Brazilian hardwoods used in European balconies and staircases – also used in iconic projects like New York City’s High Line Park.
Using big data, satellite imagery and insider sources, the EIA “pulled back the canopy” on five illegal logging operations, 19 sawmills and 16 Brazilian exporters – “exposing some of the tricks of the unlawful trade.” According to Mr Jacobsen, the findings, which come weeks after the IBAMA, Brazil’s federal environmental agency, executed its largest sting on illegal timber in five years, show the importance of stronger laws and enforcement:
“This is not the time to water down or weaken enforcement of legal requirements for EU and US companies to ensure they aren’t buying illegal wood. We need more, not less, scrutiny on this high-risk timber trade that is trashing the Amazon forest,” he said.
The new report comes after Wood Central’s reporting that suspect logging plans and the constant flow of Amazonian timber is one of Europe’s most significant challenges ahead of the rollout of the EUDR. According to Statistics Netherlands—home to Europe’s busiest shipping boards—the Dutch are the largest importers of Brazilian soy, palm oil, cocoa and, most significantly, wood products.
- To learn more about the challenges with Amazonian timber (and why up to 70% of timber from high-risk areas could be illegal), click here for Wood Central’s article from last year.
