Illegal loggers ‘cook the books’ to harvest Amazon’s most valuable tree

ipê (Handroanthus albus) in Jalapão, Tocantins, one of the most valuable tree species in the Amazon, and a popular target of illegal loggers. Image by Hermínio Lacerda/Banco de Imagens do IBAMA Brazil’s Ipê tree is one of the most valuable tree species in the world, and a chief target for illicit deforestation, with primary export markets for its illegally harvested timber especially found in the U.S. and Europe. In the past, a weak licensing system, along with continued indiscriminate, illicit logging of Ipê (formerly Tabebuia spp., but reclassified as Handroanthus spp.), has caused serious damage to the Amazon rainforest according to a Greenpeace Brazil investigation. The high value of Ipê wood — which made into flooring or decking can sell for up to US $2,500 per cubic meter at Brazilian export terminals — makes it very profitable for loggers, even though they must penetrate deep into forests to harvest the trees. The resulting environmental harm is severely impacting the Brazilian Amazon, says the report, with deep encroachment by illegal roads, increased forest degradation and fragmentation, harm to biodiversity, and intensification of violence in rural areas. A Logging Authorization (AUTEF) site with an approved Forest Management Plan (PMFS) in Rurópolis, Pará state. In October 2017, Greenpeace accompanied teams from the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) on PMFS inspections. The goal was to identify fraud in forest inventories. Nonconformities were found in every PMFS site visited. Image © Marizilda Cruppe / Greenpeace Fraud at the heart of the problem The report, Imaginary Trees, Real Destruction reveals…

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