Brazilian agents have seized the equivalent of more than 5,000 truckloads worth of illegal timber from the Amazon – which amounts to the biggest crackdown by IBAMA, Brazil’s federal environmental agency, for many years, Wood Central reports.
The raids started as a year-long project called Operation Marvalha with IBAMA already closing down a dozen sawmills (which have forged government documentation to hide the origin of timber) and levying fines of more than 15.5 million reais in the first two weeks alone.
According to Jair Schmitt, head of environmental protection for IBAMA, operation aims to clean up the trade of Amazonian timber – where the vast majority is illegally harvested and traded into global supply chains: “The idea is for us to contain the extraction of illegal timber in the Amazon, which is the first step to deforestation,” he told Reuters standing beside a pile of timber seized in Rondonia’s capital, Porto Velho.
Last year, Wood Central reported that up to 70% of timber traded from the Amazon was likely illegal, with research revealing that up to 15% of all (supposedly legal) forest management plans contain irregular logging credits.