Gazeta de Santarém
July 31, 2000

The government of Pará, by way of ITERPA (the Institute of Lands of Pará), plans to form a team with the specific purpose of reviewing areas of timber extraction, in order to help accelerate the authorisation of forest management plans. The problem is that IBAMA suspended 80% of the region's authorisations for irregularities, and is having trouble coping with the influx of requests for new authorisations. This is leading to large periods of inactivity for many of Pará's timber companies, leading to huge losses and possible job losses. The measure was announced by vice governor Hildegardo Nunes on the 18th at a meeting of representatives from the timber industry to discuss solutions and alternatives to IBAMA's drastic actions. Another matter discussed was the decentralisation of IBAMA headquarters, to allow regional IBAMA offices to issue authorisations, thus making the process faster and more efficient. Error: Unable to read footer file.