Jake Spring

BRASILIA (Reuters), Brazilian environmental agents shut down schemes involving hundreds if companies, which they said were concealing illegal logging in Amazon (NASDAQ;) according to documents that were reviewed by Reuters.

Ibama, the federal agency that enforces environmental laws in all 50 states, conducted an operation to see how Amazon wood was illegally harvested. It also used shell companies and fake shipments.

One Ibama agent said to Reuters that the enforcement operation was one of the largest ever carried out by the agency. It caught many people doing business or hiding behind shell companies.

According to documents seen by Reuters, Ibama has identified over 220 companies as well 21 logging concessions that were involved in schemes concealing the origin of illegal timber.

According to the documents, the Environmental Agency will place an embargo on companies this week to prohibit them from selling wood. It will also hand out fines in excess of 50 million Reis ($8.76 Million).

According to the documents, Ibama also reported the results to police and public prosecutors for further criminal investigation.

Ibama has not responded to our request for comment.

While the agency may issue administrative penalties such as embargos and fines, they cannot arrest or file criminal charges. Ibama can make appeals to the companies or individuals involved.

Official government statistics show that Brazil’s Amazon deforestation rose under President Jair Bolsonaro in 2021 to their highest levels in fifteen years.

Bolsonaro wants to reduce environmental protections, and to allow more mining and agriculture to be done in the Amazon. He claims it’s necessary to end poverty.

Brazil allows legal logging. A limited number of concessions are granted that permit only certain trees to be felled in one area. There is also a cap on the amount of harvest.

These credits are used to certify that the wood is legal until it can be made into furniture or flooring.

The documents stated that companies had been selling credit cards without any wood under these schemes.

Woodless credits would then be used to purchase illegally sourced wood that is protected or tribal lands.

Some cases involved shell companies, some of which existed only on paper to channel the credit, according to the documents. Credits could have changed hands several times before they were used.

More than 102,000 cubic meters illegally cut timber from Para, Rondonia, and Mato Grosso were involved in the scheme. The harvest was approximately 97 kilometers in size, which is more than Manhattan. However, it still pales in comparison with 13,000 km of officially deforested land in the 12-month period ending July.

Raoni Rajao (a Federal University of Minas Gerais land-use expert) said, “That’s just a drop in an ocean,” when she was asked about her discovery.

Rajao says that the Ibama case is an example of how illegal loggers can sell wood to the legal system.

He said, “It is certainly widespread.”

According to an Ibama agent who spoke on condition anonymity, most of the wood from illegal harvest was imported into Brazil for various uses.

As the wood appears legitimate within the government system, either the end manufacturer or the consumer has no knowledge of its illegality. According to the agent, this means they can’t be held responsible.

Sometimes, the first step to deforestation is selective logging. The remaining forests are then burnt to make way for agricultural development.

($1 = 5.7052 reais)