Copyright 2001 OneWorld US
November 01, 2001
By Jim Lobe, OneWorld US

Brazilian (news - web sites) police, acting on information gathered by Greenpeace International, raided illegal mahogany logging operations in the heart of the Amazon region this week, seizing some seven million dollars worth of the valuable hardwood.

The raids--the most extensive since the Brazilian Congress enacted a moratorium on the logging of mahogany in 1996--followed the release last week of a Greenpeace report that disclosed the existence of logging operations on lands belonging to the Amazon's Kayapo Indians.

The report's publication prompted the government of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso to suspend all logging, transport and export of Brazilian mahogany until it could complete an investigation into the industry.

Greenpeace activists participated in the raid, which was led by federal police and officials from the Brazilian environmental agency, IBAMA. More than 7,000 cubic meters of the wood--often called "green gold" because of its value--were seized.

"The illegal mahogany industry has for years been driving the destruction of the Amazon," said Paulo Adario, Greenpeace's Amazon campaign coordinator, who received a death threat after publication of the report.

"After witnessing the rampant destruction of this rainforest firsthand, it is clear to us that the only course of action left to the Brazilian government is to throw these loggers in jail and stop this industry until it can be brought under control," he said.

The trade in mahogany--which is found today only in very remote, old-growth tropical forests--has been the subject of environmental and human rights campaigns for more than a decade in the United States and Europe, especially Britain.

Its value has attracted loggers deep into pristine forests. Their construction of logging roads has in turn promoted colonization of regions which are home to native populations.

The result is not only the destruction of the forests, but also the spread of disease to populations with little if any resistance, as well as a clash of cultures which can become violent.

According to the Greenpeace study, two major operators--Moises Carvalho Pereira and Osmar Alves Ferreira--control most of the illegal trade in Para State, where the raids took place.

Using forged documents to make it appear that the logs were harvested legally, they export the logs to overseas buyers, mainly in the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, and Germany, according to the Greenpeace study.

Four importers--DLH Nordisk, Aljoma Lumber, J. Gibson McIlvain Co. Ltd. and Intercontinental Hardwoods Inc--bought more than two-thirds of the two operators' mahogany, the study said.

Mahogany is used mostly for yachts, expensive furniture, musical instruments, and coffins. U.S. environmental groups have campaigned for a ban on mahogany imports for several years.

Noting that Brazil's five-year moratorium on mahogany logging had generally not been enforced, Greenpeace lauded the government for taking action in this case. But it called for the moratorium to be extended to all logging in the Amazon's Middle Lands region in order to protect the forest.

In 1998, the U.S. and Bolivia, the world's second biggest producer of mahogany, co-sponsored a proposal to increase protection for the Amazon big-leaf mahogany tree under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Under the proposal, scientists would have to certify that the harvested mahogany had not caused damage to the rainforest before it could be exported.

While a majority of CITES member-countries voted for the proposal, the final tally was not enough for approval. Brazil, which had lobbied against it, abstained. Error: Unable to read footer file.