11/04/01 -- Brazil Crackdown on Illegal Mahogany Logging Operations

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FOREST CONSERVATION NEWS TODAY

Brazil Crackdown on Illegal Mahogany Logging Operations

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org, Inc.

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Portal

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11/04/01

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by Forests.org

Brazilian authorities are cracking down on the logging and export of

mahogany after environmentalists documented illegal harvests in the

Amazon rainforest and sales to buyers in the United States. The

Brazilian government has frozen all mahogany logging, transport, and

export operations; and is carrying out raids on illegal operations

identified by Greenpeace. For years the destruction of the Amazon

has been driven by the illegal mahogany industry. Mahogany's value -

a cubic meter can fetch more than $1,600 per cubic meter - has

attracted loggers deep into pristine forests. Construction of

logging roads leads to further deforestation and forest diminishment.

A major new Greenpeace report, "Partners in Mahogany Crime", reveals

a chain of illegality and corruption behind the mahogany trade.

These illegalities include logging in Indian lands, which is strictly

prohibited, obtaining fraudulent authorization papers and falsifying

mahogany inventories. Greenpeace states "this illegal mahogany

logging is a clear example of the destruction of the world's ancient

forests and the failure of governments to control this destruction."

The report can be found at:

http://www.greenpeace.org/%7Eforests/forests_new/html/content/reports

/Mahoganyweb.pdf

Greenpeace has successfully reinvented its forest conservation

campaign. They have been instrumental in diagnosing problems and

proposing solutions to the global forest crisis. These raids on

illegal loggers based upon cooperation with environmentalists may

well be a "pivotal moment in Amazon forest politics in Brazil".

While this is encouraging, the Brazilian government must begin

rigorously enforcing Brazil's five-year moratorium on mahogany

logging and extend the moratorium to all logging in the Amazon's

Middle Lands region which is being hammered by an illegal logging

boom.

Forests.org joins with Greenpeace in calling on world governments to

place a global moratorium on logging and other industrial activities

in all large areas of ancient forests. A moratorium is required

until networks of large protected areas are established, measures are

adopted to ensure that any timber from ancient old-growth forests is

produced and traded in a legally responsible and ecologically

sustainable way, and governments create a global ancient forest fund

of $15 billion annually to fund these measures. An ambitious program

to establish global ecological reserves is required if the World's

ancient forests are to survive and the Planet's species and

ecological processes are to be maintained.

g.b.

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ITEM #1

Title: Brazil Cracks Down on Trade in "Green Gold"

Date: October 31, 2001

Byline: Danielle Knight

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 - Brazilian authorities are cracking down on the

logging and export of mahogany after environmentalists documented

illegal harvests in the Amazon rainforest and sales to buyers in the

United States.

Carlos Fonseca, press attache at the Brazilian Embassy here, said

since the release last week of a report by Greenpeace, the government

has frozen all mahogany logging, transport, and export operations.

The moratorium on bigleaf mahogany would allow time for officials

from the Brazilian environmental agency, IBAMA, to investigate, said

Fonseca.

Activists with Greenpeace here and in Brazil confirmed the crackdown

on illegal logging today. Forest campaigner Scott Paul said that in

the last five days, officials have seized more than 7,000 cubic

meters of mahogany worth almost $ 7 million on the international

market. He said police raided a sawmill in Para state today.

According to IBAMA, the mill was owned by Osmar Alves Ferreira,

identified in Greenpeace's Oct. 24 report as a kingpin in the illegal

mahogany trade.

"This is a pivotal moment in Amazon forest politics in Brazil,"

declared Paul, who said Greenpeace activists accompanied Brazilian

officials on some of the raids.

Trade in mahogany -- known as "green gold" -- is extremely lucrative,

fetching more than $ 1,600 per cubic meter.

Based on a three-year investigation, Greenpeace documented illegal

logging of bigleaf mahogany and tracked the timber to its

destinations in the United States and Europe.

The report, Partners in Mahogany Crime, said authorization papers

often were fraudulent and mahogany inventories were falsified. Even

though the Brazilian government passed a law in 1995 that requires

the sustainable management of forests where mahogany is found,

illegal logging is still rampant due to lack of enforcement, said the

report.

Many operators, it added, have taken advantage of this lack of

government oversight and cut down mahogany in unauthorized areas.

The United States is the principal market for Brazilian mahogany,

importing more than $ 20 million worth of the endangered wood, or 70

percent of exports, according to the report.

Top U.S. furniture companies are fuelling the trade in mahogany,

according to the Greenpeace report. It accused high-end furniture

makers, including Ethan Allen, Stickley, Henredon, Drexel Heritage

and Georgia Pacific, of buying illegal mahogany from the Amazon

rainforest. The companies denied the charge.

Greenpeace said Brazilian timber operators and their U.S. customers

violated the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species

of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which requires that bigleaf mahogany

imported into the United States be accompanied by properly executed

export permits and certificates of origin.

Exporters and importers who failed to adhere to these requirements

not only ran afoul of CITES but also violated U.S. laws that

authorize criminal and civil penalties for importing mahogany

illegally.

"This is organized crime and U.S. consumers are unknowingly fuelling

it," said Paul.

Among companies that denied the charges, Ethan Allen said it only

buys mahogany from Africa. Kelly Maicon, spokesperson for the

company, which is one of the country's largest furniture chains,

said: "It has been Ethan Allen's policy since 1997 to work toward

eliminating the use of Brazilian mahogany lumber in our products."

Georgia Pacific, one of the world's largest forest products

corporations, said it made limited purchases of mahogany at a

customer's request but that most of it also came from Africa.

"We are always in compliance with national and international laws,"

said company spokesperson Robin Keegan.

According to Greenpeace, the illegal mahogany industry has been

driving the destruction of the biologically-rich Amazon rainforest.

Because high quality mahogany is only found in pristine areas of

rainforest, the quest to find these lucrative trees leaves behind a

network of roads and trails that other loggers use to access the

remaining forest, said Paulo Adario, the group's Amazon campaign

coordinator.

More than 80 percent of timber from the Amazon is logged illegally,

said Adario, who added he has received death threats since the

release of the Greenpeace report.

"It is clear that the only course of action left is to throw these

loggers in jail and put an end to this industry until it can be

brought under control," he added.

ITEM #2

Title: Brazil, Greenpeace Raid Illegal Mahogany Operation

Date: November 1, 2001

Byline: 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.

ITEM #3

Title: New Report Details Global Trade in Illegal Amazon Mahogany

Brazilian government suspends all mahogany logging and transport

Source: From Greenpeace

Date: October 25, 2001

Amsterdam/Brazil - Greenpeace today called on government's worldwide

to seize Brazilian mahogany and stop any further trade in such

ancient forest products unless independently certified legal and

sustainable. Following months of investigations, Greenpeace today

released a report onboard the Greenpeace ship, MV Arctic Sunrise at

the mouth of the Amazon River, detailing rampant illegalities in the

mahogany industry in Par State in the Brazilian Amazon. In

anticipation of the report, the Brazilian government announced

unprecedented action to suspend all logging, transport and trade of

Brazilian mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), until it completes an

investigation into the industry.

The Greenpeace report, "Partners in Mahogany Crime", reveals a chain

of illegality and corruption behind the glossy image of mahogany.

These illegalities include logging in Indian lands, which is strictly

prohibited, obtaining fraudulent authorisation papers and falsifying

mahogany inventories.

By overestimating the volume of mahogany present within an allowed

logging area (Forest Management Plan) loggers are able to log outside

of their legally allotted area without raising suspicions. High

quality mahogany is only found in pristine areas of rainforest, and

so the illegal mahogany trade is directly responsible for the

destruction of these areas as it leaves behind a network of roads and

trails that other loggers can use to access the remaining forest.

"This report should be the final nail in the coffin for the illegal

mahogany industry," said Greenpeace Amazon Campaign coordinator Paulo

Adario. "The Brazilian government is finally taking action on this

specific problem, but must go further and put a moratorium on all

logging in the Middle Lands - the heart of the Amazon - to protect

this precious rainforest. Consumers should stop buying this wood

unless Eco-certified to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards,

as all mahogany that is not FSC certified is suspect."

The exposure of this scandal is part of Greenpeace's global campaign

for the protection of the world's last ancient forests. Greenpeace is

calling on world governments to place a moratorium, globally, on

logging and other industrial activities in all large areas of ancient

forests, until measures are adopted to ensure that timber is produced

and traded in a legally and ecologically responsible way, a network

of protected areas is established and governments create a global

ancient forest fund of $15 billion annually to fund these measures.

The report details two mahogany kings - Moiss Carvalho Pereira &

Osmar Alves Ferreira - who control most of the trade. The mahogany is

given the appearance of being legal by falsified paperwork, then is

exported by these companies to international markets, predominantly

in the USA and the UK, Netherlands and Germany. Just four importers -

DLH Nordisk, Aljoma Lumber, J Gibson McIlvain Co Ltd and

Intercontinental Hardwoods Inc accounted for more than two-thirds of

the mahogany export trade from Moiss and Ferreira. Mahogany is used

largely in luxury goods such as yachts, high-class furniture, musical

instruments and coffins.

"This illegal mahogany logging is a clear example of the destruction

of the world's ancient forests and the failure of governments to

control this destruction," said Adario. "As a first step to ensure

the future of the world's ancient forests, governments around the

world should seize all mahogany until it can be proven to be legal

and sustainable."

The decision to suspend mahogany exports has come in the wake of a

series of Greenpeace exposs on illegal logging in the Amazon, which

two weeks ago resulted in a death threat to Greenpeace Campaign

Coordinator for the Amazon, Paulo Adario. The research forms part of

Greenpeace's global campaign to save the world's last remaining

ancient forests. Some 80 percent of these forests have already been

degraded or destroyed, and time is running out for the last 20

percent.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

In Brazil, Paulo Adario, Greenpeace Amazon Campaign Coordinator:

+55 92 9985 5001

In Amsterdam, Natalia Truchi, Greenpeace International Press Officer:

+31 621296908

Photo and video are available from Greenpeace International:

Photo Desk, Tel. +31 205 249 580

Video Desk + 31653504721

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