A major operation against illegal logging in the Amazon, seizing thousands of tons of precious timber amid growing frictions over land conflicts in the region, has been revealed by the Brazilian government.
More than 90 per cent of the logs seized were of ipe wood
Operation Captain of Forest 2 involving federal police, the military as well as experts from several forest protection agencies began on November 18.
Authorities said they seized 3,000 cubic metres of timber logs worth $2.5 million and six tractors. An illegal lumber yard was also shut down.
More than 90 per cent of the logs seized were of ipe wood, a large tropical hardwood tree prized for its durability, strength and natural resistance to decay and insect infestation, they added.
Ipe, an endangered species with the alluring nickname “Amazon gold,” is worth more than $1,300 per cubic metre.
The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest, and its protected areas in Brazil cover more than 2.1 million square kilometres.
Valdinei Ferreira, the man suspected of large-scale illegal logging in the area, is still at large and was fined only $1 million.
“A large part of the timber illegally logged is for export and leaves from the port of Belem,” the capital of Para state, said Davi Rocha, head of IBAMA, the Brazilian government’s environmental protection agency, in Itaituba in the southwest of Para. IBAMA, established in 1989, has played a key role in deterring deforestation.
An environmental crimes law passed in 1998 gave the agency new enforcement powers, which it has used, albeit selectively according to environmentalists, in raids aimed at arresting and fining the most blatant violators of the law.
Experts believe that 40 to 60 per cent of the timber extracted from the Amazon is illegal, compared with more than 80 per cent 10 years ago.
Ghilherme Betiollo, an expert at public forest protection agency ICM Bio who coordinates the anti-logging operation, explained that protected areas are now swarming with illegal loggers who are blocking access to prevent control operations by authorities.
In 2009, Amazon lumber represented a $2.5 billion market, according to a study by the Imazon institute and the Brazilian forestry agency.