Illegal loggers cutting into approved firms’ operations
The Amazon rainforest has become a ‘‘ conflict area’’ as illegal loggers invade zones run by sustainable timber companies to poach their lumber with impunity.
The right-wing government of President Jair Bolsonaro, which has presided over a sharp increase in the rainforest’s destruction, has issued sustainable forestry permits, allowing companies to log areas of the Amazon responsibly.
The chosen companies say, however, that the government has done little to control the illegal loggers who operate alongside them, making it almost impossible to run a profitable business.
‘‘Those lumberjacks steal our lumber to survive,’’ Ana Bastos, chief executive of logging company Amata, told The Wall Street Journal. ‘‘ If we try to stop them, they will fight back. It will be an eternal conflict.’’
The company closed its Brazilian Amazon operation in April.
Wood produced by illegal loggers is up to a third cheaper in local markets than sustainably sourced timber, partly because the unlicensed lumberjacks have few overheads and pay no tax.
‘‘ It is like having a regular, tax-paying shop competing with tax- free peddlers in front of your door,’’ said Jonas Perutti, the owner of Lumbering Industrial Madeflona, which operates concessions in the Amazon.
The felled wood includes cumaru and angelim hardwoods, used for exclusive flooring and furniture.
Illegally felled wood is often disguised as being of sustainable origin through fake paperwork. ‘‘There’s much corruption in law
enforcement, and consumers don’t care if the wood they are buying is legal or not,’’ said Oberdan Perondi, the owner of another concession.
The Bolsonaro government has sent in the army to help police the forest. It announced this week that it would extend that mission until April.
The government argues that only longterm economic opportunity in the region can reduce poverty, the main cause of environmental destruction. Bolsonaro has derided environmentalists and claimed repeatedly that there is ‘‘plenty’’ of forest to exploit.
Since taking office in 2019, Bolsonaro has cut environmental protection budgets. Satellite data from Brazil’s space research agency showed that in the 12 months to July this year, Amazon deforestation rose by nearly 35 per cent compared with the same period the previous year.