• Nenhum resultado encontrado

Wood: from the forest to the consumer

N/A
N/A
Protected

Academic year: 2017

Share "Wood: from the forest to the consumer"

Copied!
129
0
0

Texto

(1)

WOOD

Illegal logging in the Amazon has

long attracted the attention of

environmentalists in Brazil and abroad,

but the issue is becoming increasingly

urgent. Climate change and other

challenges faced by the planet in the 21st

century mobilize businesses and require

a new approach by the government to

ight predatory uses of the forest. Fraud

takes many forms, from the initial timber

harvest to its inal use in furniture and

construction, which complicates efforts

to stem and control illegal trade. This

challenge requires a broad effort to

ensure the conservation of natural

resources for future generations.

From the forest to the consumer

W

ood - F

rom the f

or

est t

o the c

onsumer

How to address the swirl

of interests, emotions and

actions surrounding the most

important tropical forest in

the world? The Amazon Forest

reveals innumerable dilemmas

that our interconnected planet

faces today. One of the most

pressing matters is associated

to wood and its economic

applications – an issue that

encapsulates the challenge of

conserving natural resources

for future generations.

Addressing these issues is

the mission of the Friends

of the Amazon Network, an

initiative by the Center for

Sustainability Studies and the

Center for Public Management

and Government Studies at

the Getulio Vargas Foundation.

The network uses information

as a strategic tool to mobilize

governments, businesses and

society as a whole towards

changing attitudes.

We went deep into the Amazon

in search of the stories behind

forest, all the while maintaining

the objective and investigative

spirit of true journalism. The

result is a useful synthesis of

the best available statistics and

scientiic studies to support the

eforts of those who – within

governments or in civil society

– are trying to conserve the

forest.

With its detailed graphics and

documentary style, this book

reveals how pervasive fraud has

traditionally controlled timber

production, transport and

trade. We also demonstrate the

ingenious ways in which good

practices are spreading and

building a new economic model

that reconciles development

and conservation.

Malu Villela

Coordinator, Friends of the

Amazon Network

Peter Spink

Coordinator, Center for Public

Management and Government

Studies

Initiative Support Sponsorship

(2)

WOOD

First Edition

São Paulo

FGV RAE

2011

From the forest to the consumer

Sérgio Adeodato

Malu Villela

Luciana Stocco Betiol

(3)

This is a publication by t he Cent er for Sust ainabilit y St udies and t he Cent er for Public Management and Government St udies at Get ulio Vargas Foundat ion

Writing and editing: Sérgio Adeodat o

Research: Mart ha San Juan França, Silvia Torikachvili, Gust avo Faleiros (SP), Efraim Net o (Brasília)

Technical Coordination: Malu Villela (FGV)

Supervision: Mario Monzoni (FGV), Luciana Stocco Betiol (FGV) e Edson Vidal (ESALQ/USP)

Technical support: Daniela Sanches (FGV), Carlos Pignatari (FGV), Carolina Reis (FGV) e Thiago Uehara (FGV)

Copydesk: José Julio do Espirit o Sant o

English language translation: Flavia Pardini

Designer and art editor: Walkyria Garot t i

Graphics: Sandro Falset t i

Image processing: Momédio Nasciment o

Producer: Bel Brunharo (FGV)

Printing: Neoband Soluções Gráficas

Cover image: Morley Read/iSt ockphot o

We acknowledge t he collaborat ion of expert s around t he count ry who agreed t o be int erviewed; research organizat ions t hat supplied st at ist ics and st udies – especially t he Global Growt h Inst it ut e (GGGI); and t he Conservat ion Int ernat ional (CI- Brazil) for t he images t hat illust rat e t his book.

Funding: The Depart ment for Environment , Food and Rural Affairs of t he Brit ish Government – DEFRA

Support: European Commission

We authorize reproduction and distribution of this publication or parts of it, by any printed or electronic means, for study and research purposes only, and as long as the source is attributed.

The Getulio Vargas Foundation is a high quality educational center that strives to contribute to scholar development in Brazil. In view of its policies to promote debate, as well as the production of data and information, FGV is one of the most important institutions in Brazil. It also contributes to educate citizens ethically and make them aware of their responsibilities as transformative agents in society. This publication received support from the European Union. FGV is solely responsible for its contents, which do not necessarily reflect the European Union’s vision.

Cat aloging

Timber from end t o end: t he way from t he forest t o t he consumer / Sérgio Adeodat o, Mario Monzoni; Luciana St occo Bet iol and Malu Villela - São Paulo, SP: FGV RAE, 2011.

p.128;

ISBN: 978- 85- 63620- 02- 6

1. Responsible consumpt ion of t imber. 2. Environment al Conservat ion. 3. Deforest at ion. 4. Amazon - Forest . 5. Illegal t imber. 6. Fraud. 7. Product ion chain.

(4)

WOOD

First Edition

São Paulo

FGV RAE

2011

Sérgio Adeodato

Malu Villela

Luciana Stocco Betiol

Mario Monzoni

From the forest to the consumer

(5)

Preface

Illegal logging causes a number of environment al and social dama-ges in count ries where wood is sourced from nat ive forest s. Logging in prot ect ed areas is an act of irresponsibilit y t hat exacerbat es t he loss of biodiversit y. In addit ion, uncont rolled deforest at ion and bushfires may aggravat e climat e change, not t o ment ion t he negat ive effect s t hey impose on local populat ions, such as t he impoverishment of rural com-munit ies whose livelihoods depend on forest product s.

Several st udies show t hat Brazil ranks high in t erms of irresponsible use of nat ural resources, including nat ive wood from t he Amazon.

Even more worrisome is t he fact t hat t he st at e, despit e being res-ponsible for regulat ing logging act ivit ies, is one of t he largest consumers of nat ive wood, which subvert s t he goals of any government commit t ed t o sust ainable environment al management .

By monit oring t he development and impact s of illegal t imber pro-duct ion and consumpt ion around t he world, t he Friends of t he Amazon Net work – an init iat ive by t he Get ulio Vargas Foundat ion wit h support from t he Brit ish Government and t he European Commission – ident ified a need t o describe and evaluat e, in a brief and inst ruct ive manner, t he different mechanisms t he st at e has available t o reverse t his predat ory pract ice. One of t he aspect s discussed in t his book is t he role of civil servant s in major effort s aimed at repressing illegal logging and t imber product ion, as well as ident ifying product s derived from t hese act ivit ies in order t o prevent t heir consumpt ion.

(6)

In it s four chapt ers, t his book offers an overview of t he forest s and t heir ecosyst em services worldwide, as well as an evaluat ion of challen-ges and obst acles inherent t o responsible t imber product ion and con-sumpt ion. It discusses effort s t o use t echnological resources in order t o enhance t he government ’s act ion and t o minimize conflict s in t he forest , reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reverse t he enormous t ax evasion result ing from illegal logging.

This challenge is furt her compounded by t he fact t hat t he govern-ment is indeed a major consumer of t imber. Economic t ools have been developed and are available t o t he government t o encourage t he res-ponsible purchase of product s and services – especially t imber – in what is now being called “sust ainable procurement ”.

In addit ion t o t he barriers and challenges posed by illegal logging, we hope t hat readers will also be able t o ident ify t he possible solu-t ions solu-t o solu-t his problem. There are opporsolu-t unisolu-t ies for building a responsible business t hat benefit s t he forest and t he communit ies t hat inhabit it , encouraging everyone t o part icipat e in t he conservat ion and best use of t he environment around us.

Enjoy your reading!

São Paulo, March 4t h 2011.

Mario Prestes Monzoni Neto

Coordinat or, Cent er for Sust ainabilit y St udies at Get ulio Vargas Foundat ion

Luciana Stocco Betiol

(7)
(8)

Forests are vital for the planet and a

renewable source of wealth and income

From the opportunities in harvesting

timber to its consumption

The guarantee of legal and sustainable

origin for timber still faces challenges

Policies for responsible production

and c

onsumption and their efects

1

8

26

62

98

2

3

4

WOOD

Index

Forests under the spotlight

Chain reaction

In pursuit of legal loggingl

In pursuit of legal logging

The power of public authorities

The power of public authorities

(9)
(10)

The world turns its attention to the

sustainable economic use of this natural

treasure as a guarantor of biodiversity, water,

climate, income, and industrial raw materials

Forests under the spotlight

ven f rom af ar, a visit or t o t he Royal Bot anic Garden is able t o

see a large iron st ruct ure covered in f ogged glass nest led among

t he ext ensive law ns, and rose and t ulip gardens. The building

may resemble a small cryst al palace, but it is act ually t he oldest greenhouse

f or t ropical species built in t emperat e count ries such as t he Unit ed Kingdom.

These are t he Kew Gardens, one of t he w orld’s most t radit ional bot anical

cent ers, sit uat ed on t he banks of t he River Thames, just a f ew kilomet ers

f rom London’s pulsat ing cent er. Sir Ghillean Prance, w ho direct ed t he Bot anic

Gardens f rom 1988 t o 1999, guides us t ow ards t he imposing greenhouse. He

explains t hat t he building w as f inished in 1848, w hen t he Brit ish Empire w as

at it s peak. It w as during Queen Vict oria’s reign and researchers at Her M

aj-est y’s service in Sout heast Asia, Sout h America and Cent ral Af rica w ere

send-ing back species f rom t ropical f orest s in t he f art hest corners of t he w orld.

The collect ion illust rat es t he import ance of f orest s t o t he w orld. From

t he Amazon, species know n f or t heir economic value w ere t aken t o t he Kew

Gardens, such as t he mahogany – Sw iet enia M acrophylla – w hose w ood w as

t he most prized of Sout h America’s t ropical f orest s. The Amazon Forest holds

hundreds of renow ned t ree species and most of t hem are commercially

valu-able. The f act t hat t hese species are so abundant ly represent ed in bot anical

(11)

collect ions abroad ref lect s somet hing else ot her t han past ef f ort s t o conserve

t he global genet ic herit age. These collect ions ref lect t he st rat egic import ance

of st udying and conserving t hese species, not only f or t heir economic and

social value, but f or t heir import ance t o t he planet ’s climat e.

Inside t he greenhouse, t he chill from London’s evening is immediat ely

replaced by humid and warm air. “The t emperat ure is kept at 24 degrees,” says

Prance. Underneat h a mane of whit e hair, lurks t he keen research mind of one

of t he most renowned bot anist s specialized in species of t he Amazon. In 1964,

aft er t aking part in an expedit ion t o t he

forest s of Suriname, he arrived in

Bra-zil t o st art research in part nership wit h

t he Nat ional Inst it ut e of Amazon

Rese-arch (INPA in t he Port uguese acronym),

founded a decade before in Manaus.

“I got to Brazil just as the cycle of

large scale deforestation was beginning,

advanced mainly by government projects

such the Trans- Amazonian highway,” he says. Prance witnessed the onset of an

accelerating process of destruction that today, many decades later, has already

destroyed 17% of the original forest – an area equivalent to three times the state

of São Paulo.

Making sure t hat species f rom t he Amazon are prot ect ed in bot anical

gardens allows f ut ure generat ions t o get t o know t hem, but it does not mean

t hat t oday t he impact s of def orest at ion on ecosyst ems are smaller t han bef

re. On t he cont rary, f orest s are const ant ly t hreat ened by f ragment at ion, def

o-rest at ion, f ire, climat e change and loss of biological diversit y.

Despit e t he slower pace of deforest at ion seen in t he last decade, absolut e

numbers are st ill high. The lat est report from t he Unit ed Nat ions Food and

Agri-cult ure Organizat ion (FAO) published in 2010, shows t hat t he average forest

area cleared annually has fallen from 16 million hect ares in t he 1990s t o 13

(12)

million hect ares over t he last 10 years. In sum, every year an area equivalent t o

one and a half t imes t hat of Port ugal is lost . Sout h America and Africa are t he

leaders and account for more t han half of global deforest at ion.

This sit uat ion is worrisome because t hose regions cont ain t he largest

areas of nat ive old f orest f or f ut ure logging. This nat ural preserve is under

cont inuous pressure. In part s of t he world t hat have a longer hist ory of using

f orest resources, such as Europe and Asia, current ef f ort s f ocus on ref orest

a-t ion and recovery. On a-t hese cona-t inena-t s, in spia-t e of some gains in f oresa-t ed area,

t here are st ill high rat es of def orest at ion in order t o meet world demand f or

energy, wood and ot her f orest product s.

Nature’s cornucopia

Forest s are t errest rial ecosyst ems essent ial f or t he survival of t housands

of living creat ures. Nat ive or plant ed f orest s cover one t hird of t he Eart h’s

surf ace and t heir dist ribut ion is concent rat ed in f ive count ries: Russia, China,

Brazil, Canada and t he Unit ed St at es. These ref uges wit h diversif ied landscape

and climat e support t he reproduct ion of lif e and hold more t han half of all

animal and plant species in t he planet .

When we t hink about t his expanse of green it is nat ural t o immediat ely

connect it t o t he necessit y of prot ect ing biodiversit y. However, t he benefit s of

conserving forest s are much larger t han simply saving species. Forest s perform

ecological funct ions essent ial for t he planet ’s well- being – services ranging

from t he supply of clean wat er t o cit ies t o t he product ion of t imber for building

houses and furnit ure, as well as t he manufact ure of cosmet ics and a wealt h

of ot her common product s t hat depend on t he healt h of ecosyst ems. These

services cont ribut e t o t he climat e’s st abilit y and are essent ial fact ors t o food

product ion such as rain pat t erns, soil st abilit y, nut rient accumulat ion,

pollina-t ion and pespollina-t conpollina-t rol.

Nat ural abundance is on display everywhere in t he Brazilian Amazon,

(13)

of a mosaic of ecosyst ems: floodplains, freshwat er swamp forest s, wet lands,

Cerrado and mount ainous refuges. The forest is an enormous reposit ory for

commercially valuable wood, as well as ot her forms of carbon, a st rat egic

“commodit y” in t he fight against climat e change. The region is irrigat ed by t he

world’s largest river net work, which cont ains 15% of t he planet ’s pot able

wa-t er – a resource wa-t hawa-t is becoming scarce due wa-t o polluwa-t ion, populawa-t ion increase

and economic growt h in emerging count ries. The Amazon also holds significant

pot ent ial t o use wat er t o generat e energy. The region’s capacit y is est imat ed at

105,500 MW – a t hird of t he current inst alled capacit y for hydroelect ric

pro-duct ion in Brazil according t o t he Nat ional Agency for Elect ric Energy (Aneel).

Despit e it s import ant role for t he st abilit y of global environment , t he

Amazon, like ot her t ropical rainforest s, is t arget ed for dest ruct ion.

Approxi-mat ely 40% of global forest s were cleared in t he last cent ury. According t o UN

researchers, t he pace of ext inct ion may have negat ive effect s on t he economy

and on t he st ocks of food and wat er crucial t o t he growing human populat ion,

which is est imat ed t o reach 9 billion by 2050. The effect s of rainforest dest

ruc-t ion are global and noruc-t limiruc-t ed ruc-t o some far- off furuc-t ure. Scienruc-t ific sruc-t udies carried

out by researchers at t he Universit y of São Paulo indicat e t hat changes in forest

cover in t he Amazon have effect s on t he rain pat t erns elsewhere in Brazil, such

as part s of t he Midwest , t he Sout heast and t he Sout h. These regions support

most of t he agricult ure product ion and t he populat ion vulnerable t o disast ers

like floods and mudslides.

Alt hough t he use of t ree plant at ions t o supply t imber for indust rial uses

is increasing, t he world largely consumes t imber from nat ive forest s. It makes

sense t hen t o ensure t hat it s ext ract ion is done sust ainably. The world has lost

a t hird of t he genet ic resources used for agricult ure and food product ion in t he

last cent ury. The UN’s Millennium Ecosyst em Assessment , compiled by

resear-chers from several count ries, shows t hat of t he 24 ecosyst em services crucial

t o human survival 60% are in a st at e of advanced degradat ion. The human

(14)

can nat urally replace, causing negat ive effect s for t he qualit y of life and t he

supply of raw mat erials t o indust ry.

The magnit ude of t hese t hreat s has moved t he issue beyond t he narrow

confines of environment alist s’ circles and int o t he realm of st rat egic planning

by government s and t he business agenda for companies. Because

consump-t ion is one of consump-t he causes of biodiversiconsump-t y loss, conservaconsump-t ion efforconsump-t s musconsump-t involve

economic act ivit ies and societ y as a whole. “Demand creat es supply,” says t he

coordinat or of t he Cent er for Sust ainabilit y St udies at Fundação Get ulio Vargas

(FGV), Mario Monzoni. That is also t rue for environment al issues such as t he

harvest ing of nat ive t rees. “The impact of consumpt ion is st ill marginal, but

increasing,” adds Monzoni.

The responsible product ion and consumpt ion of t imber are direct ly

re-lat ed t o t he challenge of conservat ion and, at t he same t ime, of ensuring

humanit y’s w ell- being. It is indispensable t o advance on t hat f ront if w e are

t o meet t he M illennium Goals by 2015, as set by t he UN. We w ill need t o

double t he ef f ort s, according t o Bill Jackson, deput y direct or general of t he

Int ernat ional Union f or Conservat ion of Nat ure (IUCN), t he oldest and largest

Source: INPE/2010

2004

27,8

19,0

14,3

11,7

7,5

6,4

12,9

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

D

ef

or

est

ed ar

ea (thousands of k

m2/y

ear)

(15)

environment al organizat ion in t he w orld. He agrees t hat some advances w ere

made by 2010, deemed t he Int ernat ional Year of Biodiversit y. “There cert ainly

are a number of innovat ive policies f or t he management of f orest resources

arising in dif f erent count ries,” he says. On t he ot her hand, Jackson point s

out , “it seems t hat government s haven’t yet underst ood t hat cont aining

de-f orest at ion and it s impact s on biodiversit y is a condit ion t o reduce povert y

and misery”.

Ecosyst em services supplied by

f orest s, despit e being crucial f or

hu-man survival, are largely ignored and

have no assigned economic value. An

init iat ive by t he Unit ed Nat ions

Envi-ronment Programme (UNEP) at t

emp-t ed emp-t o change emp-t his semp-t aemp-t e of af f airs

in 2009 and 2010 by answering t he

quest ion, “How much is biodiversit y

wort h?” A group of expert s f rom all over t he world, led by Pavan Sukdev,

chief - economist f or invest ment f unds at Deut sche Bank, produced a series of

report s ent it led “The Economics of Ecosyst ems and Biodiversit y” (TEEB). More

t han once during his lect ures, Sukdev, a Brit ish cit izen of Pakist ani origin,

ex-plained t hat t he st udy does not necessarily seek t o est ablish a price f or f orest s,

but rat her t o ensure t hat societ y acknowledges it s value. “If t he goal was only

t o give f orest s a price, we would have an immediat e response: t he price is

inf init e, inest imable,” he usually says.

How ever, t he st udy came up w it h a value, based on economic act

ivi-t ies relaivi-t ed ivi-t o ivi-t he f oresivi-t , ivi-t o show ivi-t he cosivi-t s of def oresivi-t aivi-t ion. The conclusion

is shocking: t he dest ruct ion of vit al ecosyst ems cost s bet w een 2.5 and 4.5

t rillion dollars every year.

Nevert heless, t here is reason f or hope. On t he posit ive side, t he st udy

f ound t hat t here is increasing use of payment s f or ecosyst em services as a

(16)

t ool f or conservat ion, mainly in areas under int ense def orest at ion pressure.

It is clear t hat t hese prist ine areas are import ant f or t he livelihood of rural

communit ies, especially in developing count ries. According t o t he TEEB st udy,

ecosyst em services account f or 47% t o 89% of income of t he poorest people,

a segment of t he populat ion t hat occupies t he f ront line in t he supply of

f orest product s, including w ood.

The numbers are alarming. Nonet heless, t hey could have a dif f erent

sca-le if policies and t ools f or sust ainabsca-le product ion and consumpt ion of f orest

product s w ere put in place. St udies demonst rat e t hat f orest s are t he origin

of approximat ely 5 t housand commercial product s. The f orest ry sect or alone

account s f or 2% of t he global economy according t o t he M illennium

Ecosys-t em AssessmenEcosys-t published in 2005.

The economy of the forest

Timber product s account f or most of t he income generat ed f rom f orest s.

FAO’s dat a indicat es t hat bet ween 2003 and 2007, t he f orest ry sect or’s

reve-nues exceeded 100 billion dollars annually. Since 1961 global export s have

increased 25 f old. The value of non- t imber f orest product s, especially f ood,

was est imat ed t o be 18.5 billion dollars in 2005.

In Brazil, t he f orest economy involves subst ant ial numbers and af f ect s

t he social and economic condit ions in t he Amazon, home t o 21 million people.

Timber logs are an import ant resource and account f or almost half (47%) of

revenues f rom t he use of nat ive f orest s in Brazil as a whole. In t he Amazon,

t hat proport ion reaches t wo t hirds of revenues. These numbers were ext ract ed

f rom research done at t he Federal Universit y in São Carlos and at t he School

of Agricult ure Luiz de Queiroz at t he Universit y of São Paulo. Aiming t o build

a social mat rix f or t he Legal Amazon (a socio- geographic division t hat covers

t he ent ire Amazon Basin), t he st udy shows t he import ance of f orest ry t o social

development in t he Amazon, a region t hat covers 59% of t he count ry’s t

(17)

The product ion of t imber f rom nat ive t rees is a signif icant source of jobs

and income in t he f orest , as well as t hroughout t he supply chain unt il t he

product reaches t he consumer as f urnit ure, new houses or buildings. However,

Amazon product ion has been declining in recent years according t o t he Forest

Fact s 2010 report by t he Inst it ut e f or Men and t he Environment – Imazon (see

chapt er 2). Several f act ors explain t his decline, among t hem t he st rengt hening

of t he Brazilian real against t he American dollar and increasing ef f ort s by t he

government t o st op illegal logging.

Product ion numbers f or t he whole of Brazil reveal t he enormous size of

illegal act ivit ies wit hin t he logging indust ry, past and present (see chapt er 3),

as well as t he signif icant pot ent ial f or sust ainable management . The lat t er is a

viable and legal way t o supply indust ries wit h f orest raw mat erials and reclaim

t he space previously t aken by illegal act ivit ies.

Protection strategies

Nat ural st ocks are immense. The Amazon holds more t han 356 million

hect ares of nat ural f orest and 84.7% of t he nat ive w ood available in all

of Brazil’s biomes according t o t he Brazilian Forest Services (SFB). M ost of

t hese resources might be used sust ainably, given t hat t he government f inds

solut ions t o landholding issues and ot her problems t hat limit progress in t he

region. If t he f orest is managed f or low impact – and t hat t ool is used as a

mechanism t o increase t he value and conservat ion of nat ural resources –,

t here are billions of dollars t o be made.

M any count ries prot ect t heir f orest s t o secure f resh w at er sources

and t o reduce t he spread of degradat ion, w hich af f ect s one f ourt h of t he

planet ’s soils. Conservat ion reduces erosion of riverbanks and slopes, and

regulat es t he inf ilt rat ion during groundw at er recharge, says t he Convent ion

on Biological Diversit y (CBD). The w at er supply of 35 of t he w orld’s largest

105 cit ies comes f rom f orest ed w at ersheds.

(18)

t he silt ing of rivers, seriously damaging f resh w at er supplies. Forest

conserva-t ion measures are imporconserva-t anconserva-t because conserva-t hree quarconserva-t ers of conserva-t he w orld’s accessible

f resh w at er come f rom f orest ed w at ersheds. How ever, only 8% of t hese areas

are locat ed inside parks and reserves w here soils and w at er are prot ect ed.

M ost of t hese prot ect ed areas are in Asia – mainly in China –, a cont inent

t hat st rives t o supply w at er t o ever increasing indust ries and populat ions. In

Af rica, ecosyst em prot ect ion is also aimed at reducing t he process of

envi-ronment al degradat ion t hat leads t o w at er def icit s.

In addit ion t o prot ect ing w at er sources, f orest conservat ion ef f ort s also

f ocus on biodiversit y. Today t here are 463 million hect ares under prot ect ion

due t o biodiversit y concerns, 20% more t han a decade ago. Success in

main-t aining f auna and f lora species relies on main-t he exismain-t ence of primary f oresmain-t s,

A wArnIng AgAInsT povErTy

The majority of municipalities that

produce timber in the Amazon live

below the poverty line, despite the

richness and economic potential of

their forests. The more illegal and

predatory activities present in any

given municipality, the lower its

Human Development Index (HDI),

shows research done by the Institute

for Men and the Environment

(Imazon). “The state of the Amazon”

study, published recently by Imazon,

evaluates the region according

to efforts aimed at reaching the

Millennium Development goals –

targets related to inequality, health,

education and infant and childbirth

mortality set by the Un in 2005. A

(19)

t hose t hat have not yet been exploit ed and st ill keep t heir original

charac-t erischarac-t ics. M ore charac-t han one charac-t hird of f orescharac-t s on charac-t he planecharac-t are primary f orescharac-t s,

according t o a FAO report t hat does not include f orest s in t he Congo,

Came-roon, and Venezuela. Regionally, Sout h America has t he largest concent rat ion

of primary f orest s, f ollow ed by Cent ral America, Nort h America and Europe.

The w orld has a reasonable amount of f orest land and a port ion of t his t ot al is

suit able f or economic use. What is w orrisome, how ever, is t he f act t hat in one

decade t he planet lost 40 million hect ares of f orest – w it h most of t he ef f ect s

concent rat ed in t ropical count ries w it h high rat es of biodiversit y.

The largest net loss of f orest s in t he 1990s occurred in Brazil and

In-donesia, but bot h count ries have since reduced t he pace of def orest at ion.

In 2009, f orest areas cleared in t he Amazon w ere 42% smaller t han in t he

previous year, calculat es t he Nat ional Inst it ut e f or Space Research (INPE). In

2010, t he rat e of def orest at ion f ell t o t he low est level in 20 years and t he t

o-t al area cleared o-t hao-t year w as 13.6% smaller o-t han in 2009. So-t ill, a o-t oo-t al of 6.4

t housand square kilomet ers, an area equivalent t o 80% of t he met ropolit an

region of São Paulo, w as def orest ed. Despit e t he descending curve in t he last

couple of years, sat ellit e images show t hat def orest at ion almost quadrupled

in t he second half of 2010 compared t o t he same period f rom t he previous

year.

Is t he dow nw ard t rend t urning around? What ever t he answ er, t he

num-bers demonst rat e t hat t here is much t o be done. Def orest at ion is usually

preceded by f ire or predat ory logging and t he Amazon f orest is alw ays

un-der pressure. It is a never- ending st ory w it h a complex plot t hat began in

t he 1970s and 1980s w it h development al drive of t he milit ary government ,

w hich built roads and encouraged mass migrat ion by promising set t lers

Eldo-rado. The environment had t o be conquered at any cost . Trees w ere f elled t o

give w ay t o t he new era and logging f inanced t he est ablishment of past ures

and lat er, f armland. Public land grabbing, squat t ing and t huggery w ere t he

(20)

The world’s native forest

2.5 to 4.5 trillion U.S. dollars

per year are lost with the destruction of vital ecosystems (source: TEEB, 2010b)

US$ 100 billion

is the total revenue per year of timber industry worldwide (source: FAO, 2010)

US$ 2.5 billion

was the gross revenue of the logging industry in the Amazon in 2009 (source: Imazon, 2010)

666.732

–10

–3.997

–3.414

–700

676

2.235

850.530

659.010

187.283

469.737

935.863

Native forest area (1000 ha)

Change in forest cover (1000 ha/year)* Period between 2000 and 2010

*Rate of change includes native and planted

(21)

main environment al problem and must be def eat ed bef ore any real progress

against def orest at ion can be made.

The perverse cycle of dest ruct ion last ed f or decades, mired in chaot ic

land arrangement s, unt il t he w orld t urned it s at t ent ion t o t he Amazon and

asked how a f orest so essent ial t o t he planet could be dest royed in such a

w ant on f ashion. One indicat or of t his abuse is in t he product ion of t imber,

most ly of illegal origin and w it hout any environment al regulat ion. The sit

ua-t ion is serious buua-t noua-t irreversible. In f ace of ua-t he environmenua-t al dilemmas of

t he 21st cent ury, scient ist s and public administ rat ors are present ing solut ions

t o change t he region’s f at e. M ore rest rict ive legislat ion creat ed new cont rol

mechanisms t o limit dest ruct ive pract ices. Dif f erent sect ors of civil societ y

f ormed alliances such as t he “Zero Def orest at ion” movement , launched by

seven organizat ions in 2007 w it h t he aim of st opping def orest at ion by 2015.

Forest management is one of t he most w idely used t ools t o reverse t he

economic drivers behind def orest at ion of t ropical f orest s in Brazil and ot her

count ries. Forest management est ablishes rules and met hods f or t he low

im-pact product ion of t imber and non- t imber product s. Follow ed correct ly, t hese

rules and met hods help t o maint ain t he ecological condit ions necessary f or

t he supply of ecosyst em services and t he f ut ure economic use of t he f orest

(see chapt er 2).

Besides cont ribut ing t o t he sust ainable use of f orest resources, f orest

management aims t o reduce t he pressures f rom illicit incursions int o

indi-genous t errit ories, nat ional parks, ecological reserves and ot her conservat ion

areas. In t his w ay, f orest management also cont ribut es t o biodiversit y

pro-t ecpro-t ion.

There is a large global ef f ort t o increase f orest cover w it hin prot ect ed

areas, w hich have doubled in size in t he last 20 years, according t o FAO.

How ever, predat ory use of f orest resources is st ill t he norm, t he result of

economic and cult ural circumst ances as w ell as chronic problems such as lack

(22)

be overcome, a behavior change is necessary by all part ies involved in t he f

o-rest ry chain, f rom t he producer of f oo-rest product s t o t he indust ries, including

environment al agencies’ inspect ors, civil servant s w ho buy w ood f or public

w orks, and consumers at t he end of t he line.

In addit ion t o prot ect ed areas, payment f or environment al services t hat

replace predat ory act ivit ies and f orest management aimed at reducing t he

impact s of commercial exploit at ion, conservat ion st rat egies are also part of

t he f ront line of public policies – be it f or bet t er enf orcement and governance,

or as a driver of economic, social and environment al change. At t he core of

t his process, t here are market and governance inst rument s t hat encourage

t he sust ainable use of t he f orest . This is t he case of responsible public

pro-curement and socio- environment al cert if icat ion – a seal t hat dist inguishes

f orest product s w hose manuf act uring t akes people and t he environment int o

Source: Forest Facts 2010/Imazon

vegetation cover in the Legal Amazon region in 2009

State

Area (thousands

of km2)

Vegetation cover (%) Forests Non-forest native

vegetation

Deforested areas

Acre 152,6 87,0 — 13,0

Amapá 142,8 78,3 20,3 1,4

Amazonas 1.570,7 87,0 10,6 2,4

Maranhão 249,6 15,6 42,3 42,1

Mato Grosso 903,4 33,9 43,5 22,6

Pará 1.247,7 72,0 7,8 20,2

Rondônia 237,6 54,1 11,8 34,0

Roraima 224,3 61,7 34,7 3,6

Tocantins 277,6 6,2 83,6 10,3

(23)

considerat ion (see chapt er 4).

In the wake of climate change

Wit h climat e change on t he agenda, f orest s became cent ral due t o t heir

relat ion t o t he carbon cycle. Def orest at ion and f orest degradat ion are

res-ponsible f or large emissions of greenhouse gases. Thus, maint aining t he int

e-grit y of f orest ecosyst ems is vit al t o mit igat ion and adapt at ion t o already

oc-curring climat e changes. The UN Framew ork Convent ion on Climat e Change

(UNFCCC) est imat es t hat t he planet ’s f orest s st ore 628 Gt of carbon, or t w ice

as much as emissions cut by Europe f rom 1990 t o 2008.

Trees capt ure carbon f rom t he at mosphere during phot osynt hesis, but

f ire and def orest at ion release t hat carbon back int o t he environment . In t he

1990s, t ot al emissions due t o def orest at ion w ere subst ant ial: 5.8 Gt

year-ly, t he equivalent t o almost 10% of all carbon st ored in f orest s around t he

w orld. Because t his number w ent up, more recent ly it has been agreed t hat

avoiding f orest dest ruct ion might be t he most ef f icient alt ernat ive t o

redu-cing emissions in t he short t erm.

Brazil holds 20% of t he carbon st ored in biomass, w hich is t he mass of

all living organisms on Eart h. Ever since discussions f irst st art ed around a

global agreement t o cut greenhouse gases emissions, t hese numbers at t ract

at t ent ion t o t he Amazon, w here emissions due t o land use changes

inclu-de not only t he clearcut t ing of f orest s but also f orest f ires. In 1997 w hen

t he Kyot o Prot ocol w as signed, how ever, member count ries t o t he UNFCCC

decided t o exclude t he issue f rom t he list of measures designat ed t o mit

iga-t e emissions, poiniga-t ing iga-t o iga-t he dif f iculiga-t y in ef f icieniga-t ly moniiga-t oring large scale

emission cut s. It t ook eight years bef ore a coalit ion of t ropical count ries, led

by Cost a Rica and Papua New Guinea, w as able t o get a proposal t o cut

emis-sions due t o def orest at ion back on t he agenda. That w as 2005 in t he UNFCCC

meet ing in M ont real.

(24)

t he last f ive years and it is now known as REDD – Reducing Emissions f rom

Def orest at ion and Forest Degradat ion. This scheme involves f inancial

compensat ion t hrough project s support ed by int ernat ional part nerships aimed at cut

-t ing greenhouse gas emissions by s-t opping def ores-t a-t ion, conserving na-t ural

f orest s and ref orest ing of degraded areas. An advanced program known as

REDD+ provides compensat ion f or t he

sust ainable use of f orest s and opens a

range of opport unit ies t o expand t he

use of f orest management as an

emis-sion cut t ing t ool.

The ult imat e goal of t hese

mecha-nisms is t o est ablish an environment in

which t he dif f erence bet ween f elling

and plant ing, or regenerat ion of f orest s

is zero. There is pot ent ial f or 27 billion dollars in annual invest ment s in

sche-mes t o cut emissions f rom def orest at ion by 2020, according t o a 2008 st udy

commissioned by t he Brit ish government f rom a t eam led by businessman

Johan Eliasch. A t hird of t his amount could be raised in t he carbon market and

could be used t o encourage f armers, set t lers wit h t he land ref orm program,

and t radit ional communit ies t o preserve, wit h pot ent ial t o cut global def

ores-t aores-t ion of ores-t ropical f oresores-t s in half .

There is st ill a long w ay t o go. For t he REDD mechanisms t o

genera-t e benef igenera-t s, igenera-t is necessary genera-t o sgenera-t renggenera-t hen governance and enf orcemengenera-t genera-t o

end illegal act ivit ies. How ever, t here are some posit ive indicat ors. In 2008

t he Brazilian government creat ed t he Amazon Fund t o collect donat ions t o

prevent and f ight def orest at ion. During t he 15t h meet ing of t he part ies t o

t he UNFCCC in Copenhagen t he f ollow ing year, Brazil announced t hat it

w ill cut def orest at ion in t he Amazon by 80% f rom 2005 levels by 2020. The

commit ment is associat ed w it h volunt ary t arget s t o reduce greenhouse gas

emissions and should have ef f ect s on logging act ivit ies. There is expect at ion

As part of the efforts to

curb global warming,

forest management may

offer economic beneits

(25)

of new rules, cont rol met hods, incent ives and nat ional and int ernat ional

market requirement s, w hich w ill ref lect on t he pract ices employed t

hrou-ghout t he supply chain up t o t he consumer.

This is t he onset of a new era f or t he logging indust ry. The UN declared

2011 t he Int ernat ional Year of Forest s, w hich should expand ef f ort s t o

incre-ase f orest conservat ion and in t urn, t heir benef it s t o human beings.

“Biodi-versit y conservat ion requires not only t he engagement of t he government ,

but of all segment s of societ y,” says WWF Brazil’s Conservat ion Direct or

Claudio M aret t i. “It is necessary t o creat e prot ect ed areas w it h rest rict ed use

and w e have made some progress on

t hat f ront , but t his is not t he only

piece in t he game,” he adds,

empha-sizing t he import ance of using

eco-nomic policies t o change product ion

and consumpt ion pat t erns. He also

point s t o t he challenge of increasing

t he economic value of f orest s and

t heir product s so t hey can be used

w it hout damaging t he environment . The challenge is t o increase t he scale

and change t he st at e of af f airs, in w hich less t han 1% of t he value of

indus-t rial producindus-t s originaindus-t ing f rom biodiversiindus-t y remains in indus-t he f oresindus-t . “Wiindus-t houindus-t

sust ainable use, w e w ill burn our most valuable asset ”.

(26)

THE IMporTAnCE oF ForEsTs

Native forests are essential to the water supply, to the supply of raw materials to industries and to the keep the balance of the climate. Despite that, 40% of forests have been destroyed over the last century.

Is DEForEsTATIon DIMInIsHIng?

Law enforcement and the appreciation of the Brazilian currency largely explain the halving of deforestation in the Amazon between 2008 and 2010. However, satellite images show that destruction has been gaining pace since the beginning of 2011.

DEsTrUCTIon BEgETs povErTy

The world loses 4.5 trillion dollars a year due to damage to natural assets. Deprived of income alternatives, local communities practice economic activities that damage the forest.

Loss oF BIoDIvErsITy

Most of the destruction occurs in tropical forests that are rich in biodiversity and important economic resources such as timber.

sTrATEgIEs For ConsErvATIon

Forest conservation strategies include the establishment of protected areas, the use of sustainable forest management practices and the payment for ecosystem services supplied by forests.

CLIMATE CHAngE

Brazilian forests hold 20% of all carbon on the planet. The country has the opportunity to become a leader in forest management and beneit from projects that reward conservation..

(27)
(28)

Opportunities, obstacles and power of

new attitude towards legal timber, from

logging to consumption

Chain reaction

delaide Fát ima, owner of t he Canaã t imber company in Rio Branco

– capit al of t he st at e of Acre, in t he Amazon region – caused a st ir

when over a decade ago she decided t o no longer use t he product s

of illegal deforest at ion in her business. Fát ima received economic incent ives

from t he st at e’s government and opt ed inst ead for wood harvest ed according

t o sust ainable forest management t echniques, which lower t he impact of

lo-gging on ecosyst ems and allow t rees t o regrow for fut ure use. She faced

re-lent less react ion. “I was even expelled from t he loggers’ union,” says Fát ima.

Nowadays she is t he president of t he st at e’s associat ion of indust ries t hat use

t imber from forest management (Asimmanejo). The ent it y was founded by a

small but ambit ious group of ent repreneurs who envisioned a new era for t he

logging business. “Aware of t he commercial success of compet it ors who chose

t imber from forest management and facing market requirement s, skept ical

en-t repreneurs joined soon afen-t er,” she says.

The sust ainable use of nat ive forest s has been a recurring issue in Acre’s

hist ory since t he assassinat ion of communit y leader Chico Mendes in t he t own

of Xapuri in 1988. His deat h exhibit ed t o t he world t he st ruggle of Amazon’s

rubber t appers against powerful lobbies t hat backed t he forest ’s dest ruct ion.

More t han t wo decades on, t he st at e of Acre adopt ed t he forest ’s economy as

(29)

it s cult ural ident it y and as a driver for development . Today 95% of t imber is

obt ained t hrough met hods t hat do not dest roy t he forest . The remaining 5%

st ill originat es from deforest at ion and it primarily comes from small- scale

pro-pert ies, according t o official dat a.

Timber companies made t his scenario possible by est ablishing a pact t o

st op predat ory deforest at ion. Wit h money from t he Pilot Program t o

Conser-ve t he Brazilian Rainforest (PPG7) – an init iat iConser-ve funded by rich count ries –,

for t wo years t hey invest ed in t raining people, upgrading t heir businesses and

disseminat ing forest management pract ices. “There was no t urning back, we

eit her made our businesses legal or we would have t o shut down,” says Fát ima.

She has been invest ing furt her. In general, t imber companies in t he region buy

t imber from landowners who had a

harvest ing plan approved by t he st at e

environment al agency. “Now, inst ead

of buying from t hem, we will apply

t o have 2.7 t housand hect ares in t he

municipalit y of Sena Madureira

licen-sed,” she says.

She will pay 1.7 million reais in

rent to the landowner to produce 45

thousand cubic meters of timber logs for two years, generating an estimated net

profit of 1.4 million reais. “We will start other projects in our own areas, acquired

in remote hard to reach areas, as soon as the state improves the roads,” says

Fátima. Her ambition is to supply timber for the housing projects included in the

federal government’s Growth Acceleration Program (PAC).

The association headed by Fátima focuses on improving techniques, raising

support, searching for incentives and exchanging experiences based on the best

practices as ways to turn the supply chain of sustainable wood into a viable

bu-siness. “If in the past there were 50 timber companies that harvested only cedar,

mahogany and Brazilian cherry, today the 23 companies in the state that apply

Timber companies

received inancial

support from the

government and ngos

to make a pact to stop

deforestation and shift

to sustainable wood

(30)

forest management techniques use more than 20 species, relieving the pressure

on overused stocks,” explains Fátima. She points out that the Amazon is not an

uninhabited green expanse and as a significant income source for the local

com-munities, timber production should be encouraged. However, the reputation of

the timber industry, despite the use of conservation techniques, is still linked to

the destruction of the forest.

Before migrating to Acre in the late 1980s, Fátima and her family illegally

harvested wood in the state of Rondônia. They had come from the state of

Pa-raná, in southern Brazil, to work using the wood left behind by ranchers

esta-blishing their pastures. “We even went into Paraguay looking for peroba wood,”

she admits, looking proud for having changed her ways. Time has gone by, but

there is still a lack of information and prejudice. “My daughter has chosen to

ma-jor in Forest Engineering in college to be able to keep the family’s business in the

future, but she is sharply criticized in school for coming from a logging family”.

Problems such as the prejudice against Fátima’s daughter will soon end if

the timber industry keeps operating legally. Just a couple of years ago, images

of forest fires in the Amazon, as well as trees being felled by tractors equipped

with chains were common fare on television. It will take some time to reverse

this perception as society fully comprehends the benefits of sustainable timber

production. Meanwhile, governments, businesses and NGOs support the path to

a new industry with policies and concerted action. As an example Fátima points

to the recent ecological- economic zoning conducted in Acre with an eye to

regu-late land use and encourage the establishment of legal forest reserves, especially

along highways, as a way to contain deforestation. “Once land tenure is sorted

out, land owners are able to overcome obstacles that prevented them from

adop-ting forest management, and that increases the number of areas available,” she

explains.

As a result of the move by timber companies towards forest management,

as well as the increased demand for sustainable timber, production in the state

(31)

meters of logs in 2010. The area licensed for logging increased by a factor of ten

over a decade and there is need for new investment. “There is no lack of forest to

explore, as long as you keep in mind a diversified use of natural resources and

so-cial inclusion,” says Acre’s Environment Secretary Sérgio Resende. Acre has a big

advantage in this, as forests cover 90% of the state’s area and half of them were

declared protected areas. Private properties hold 1.8 million hectares of forests,

an area equivalent to 15 times the size of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Half of those

private forests have received licenses for sustainable use.

The state of Acre offers forests and

incentives for legal logging

The rest of Acre’s vast t errit ory is composed of public and communit y

areas. This includes t he st rat egic Ant imary St at e Forest was t he first t o receive

cert ificat ion from t he Forest St ewardship Council (FSC) t hat at t est s t o it s

pro-duct s’ sust ainable origin. Timber companies and indigenous communit ies t hat

obt ained harvest ing right s t hrough public concession have been using Ant

ima-ry St at e Forest ’s area of 76.8 t housand hect ares since 2004.

In cont rast wit h t he federal management of forest s, Acre’s model is based

on explorat ion by t hird part ies, while t he st at e is responsible for auct ioning

t he t imber off t o sawmills and indust ry for processing. Families t hat live in t he

forest receive part of t he auct ions’ revenue and are allowed t o sell t he logs

t hey are able t o harvest in t heir parcels, as well as receiving t raining in forest

management . Harvest ing is only allowed during dry mont hs and generat es

be-t ween six and eighbe-t be-t housand reais for be-t hese families. “Local communibe-t ies feel

t he real pocket book effect s [of t his syst em and] choose t o preserve t he forest ,”

says Secret ary Sérgio Resende.

The first Brazilian forest reserve was creat ed in t he areas surrounding t he

Ant imary River in 1911 and it has been import ant ever since. Declared a st at e

forest in 1997, t he Ant imary Forest yields 22 t housand cubic met ers of t imber

(32)

much larger however, wit h t he current licensing permit t ing t he product ion of

700 t housand cubic met ers a year. “Large product ion in public forest s is st rat

e-gic t o cont rolling lumber st ocks and prices,” explains Resende. Acre’s model is

also safer from t he st andpoint of land t enure, a chronic problem t hat slows t he

progress of legalized and low impact logging in t he Amazon.

Wit h an eye t o long- t erm development , t hree ot her st at e forest s are being

prepared t o go t hrough t he public concession process in 2011. They are locat ed

in t he so- called Gregório River Complex, in t he west ernmost region of t he st at e

and encompass 480 t housand hect ares of public land, as well as 150 t housand

hect ares of privat e land. The whole complex may receive invest ment of up

t o 52 million dollars. The st at e government t ries t o at t ract foreign invest ors

by point ing out advant ages beyond abundance of t he forest it self: plent iful

energy from t he hydroelect ric complex being built on t he Madeira River, as well

as t he possibilit y of get t ing product ion

t o port in t he Pacific t hanks t o a new

highway connect ing Acre t o t he

Peru-vian coast .

Pot ent ial invest ors may be lured

by land availabilit y, t ax incent ives and

t he newly built infrast ruct ure, as well

as by t he new opport unit ies creat ed by

changes in legislat ion. Some invest ors

may migrat e from ot her part s of t he Amazon in search of opport unit ies t o

operat e wit hin t he law. Recent examples of t he changes t o legislat ion include

payment s for ecosyst em services – payment t o land owners and communit ies

for t heir effort s t o conserve nat ure and t hus, wat er supply, climat e balance

and biodiversit y. By t apping t he forest inst ead of dest roying it , t here is also

t he prospect of raising revenue t hrough carbon market s, especially t hrough

t he REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforest at ion and Forest Degradat ion)

mechanism (see chapt er 1).

Forest management,

the prospect of gains in

the carbon markets and

payments for ecosystem

(33)

Land value is t he best gauge of t he success of forest development . An

unused hect are of forest wit hin a radius of 100 km of Acre’s capit al was wort h

70 reais t en years ago. Today, an area of t he same size licensed for forest

mana-gement is wort h 500 reais. “Forest product ion can t ake us t o an enviable level

of wealt h in just 20 years,” predict s Resende.

The value of t imber product ion – which t oday amount s t o double t hat

of livest ock and 16% of gross st at e product – is expect ed t o increase as new

areas are open t o explorat ion and

public works are forced t o employ

locally produced t imber. “Despit e t he

availabilit y of so much forest for legal

logging, builders oft en buy cheaper

t imber of unknown origin, from ot her

regions,” admit s Resende.

The overall scenario is posit ive

in spit e of obst acles such as t he red

t ape involved in licensing f orest product ion and t he need f or public

subsi-dies. Pressure and support f rom environment al NGOs in f avor of sust ainable

pract ices have been crucial f or t he t imber indust ry. “We f inanced t raining

and t he f irst init iat ives in f orest management w it hin local communit ies and

even exchanged experiences int ernat ionally,” says WWF Brazil’s coordinat or

f or t he Rio Branco of f ice, Albert o Tavares, nicknamed Dande.

A cooperat ive w as creat ed as a result of NGO involvement and t oday it

has a seat at t he St at e Forest Council, w hich allow s it s members t o inf luence

local policymaking on f orest issues. The cooperat ive also helped businesses

t o mobilize, organize and go t hrough pilot project s, cont ribut ing t o make

cert if icat ion a realit y f or Acre’s t imber indust ry. “Right now our role is t o

link t hose t w o sides of t he chain – communit ies and businesses – in f avor of

collect ive development ,” says Dande.

If the challenge of

expanding processing

capabilities and capacity

is met, business

(34)

Almost half of t he st at e of Acre – an area of 6 million hect ares – could

be used f or sust ainable t imber log product ion, w it h est imat ed revenues of

1.8 billion reais annually. Cont rary t o w hat such large numbers may suggest ,

t here is no need t o irrat ionally exploit t he area and if t he st at e government ’s

plans are an indicat ion, t he only w ay t o use t his green expanse is t o harvest

w ood using low impact t echniques. Each hect are of t ropical f orest in t hat

area cont ains on average 200 mat ure t rees and a t housand young t rees. From

t he mat ure st ock, f our t o six t rees per hect are can be removed every 30 years,

leaving enough t ime f or t he area t o nat urally regenerat e.

From logging t o processing of raw mat erials in saw mills, w oodw ork

shops, plyw ood and f iberboard f act ories, t he indust ry numbers 400

busines-ses in t he st at e and employs 2.5 t housand w orkers. A st at e- built f act ory t hat

produces w ooden f looring and decks is now privat ely operat ed and adds

sca-le t o product ion in t he Indust rial Hub of Xapuri. Sit uat ed alongside a plant

t hat uses t he nat ural lat ex produced by rubber t appers t o manuf act ure

con-doms, t he f act ory produces one cont ainer a day of t imber product s f or export

and uses 40 t housand cubic met ers of logs annually.

Export s doubled f rom 2003 t o 2009, according t o government dat a. The

clust er of f urnit ure makers in Rio Branco – Acre’s capit al – is nat ionally

re-cognized f or t aking nat ive f orest product s t o t he main domest ic consumer

market s. A bit f art her aw ay, t he indust rial complex planned f or t he Juruá

(35)

Extractive communities join

the industrial production

The commodit y chain for t imber includes public nurseries able t o produce

4 million seeds annually. Forest product ion is also support ed by services and

machinery such as t ract ors wort h 2 million reais bought t o mechanize

produc-t ion by indigenous communiproduc-t ies.

“In exchange for help t o legally produce t imber, we are commit t ed t o

not burning t he forest t o est ablish past ure and crops,” says Evandro Araújo de

Aquino, who supervises Cooperflorest a, a cooperat ive of 511 families t hat live

off ext ract ive indust ries. Each family get s 500 reais per year if t hey join t he

st at e’s program designed t o give forest asset s a value. In anot her init iat ive,

t he st at e pays t he cost (6 t housand reais per family), does t he planning and

gat hers document s for t he communit ies t o apply for an environment al license

t o produce t imber.

“Once a communit y area receives a license and is able t o pract ice forest

management , [t he land] is wort h t en t imes more,” says Aquino. Twent y per cent

of families already have an FSC diploma t hat at t est s t o t he good management

of t heir land. “We look for part nerships wit h buyers and int ernat ional

organiza-t ions organiza-t o increase organiza-t he value for our differenorganiza-t iaorganiza-t ed producorganiza-t ,” he adds.

There are some supply problems, such as int ermit t ent product ion due t o

ext ended wet seasons t hat prevent logging, such as in 2010. Usually

communi-t ies work for six moncommuni-t hs during communi-t he dry season. Anocommuni-t her bocommuni-t communi-t leneck is communi-t he lack

of infrast ruct ure. “We need at least 150 km of new roads t o be able t o access

t he forest , not t o ment ion anot her 450 km t hat need upgrading,” Aquino

com-plains.

One obst acle is t he ambiguous nat ure of land holdings. As a result of t he

ineffect iveness of t he federal government in solving t he problem, ext ract ive

set t lement s are unable t o obt ain land t it le and t herefore, t he license t o produce

t imber. Added t o t hese problems is t he lack of organizat ion and administ rat ion,

(36)

scale of t heir product ion despit e covering a larger area (2.7 million hect ares)

t han public and privat e owners. Environment al agencies have approved t he

harvest ing of 10 t housand cubic met ers of logs per year in communit y areas,

but current ly t here are only 6 t housand cubic met ers being produced. “The

si-t uasi-t ion used si-t o be worse, we used si-t o harvessi-t only a si-t hird of si-t hasi-t volume before

2009,” Aquino says.

To increase t heir revenues, communit ies are going back t o an act ivit y t hey

We drove 189 km from Acre’s capital,

Rio Branco, to the municipality of

Xapuri to investigate what has changed

in the forest where Chico Mendes used

to live. From the road we saw extensive

pastures dotted with solitary Brazil nut

trees, showing the power of the cattle

ranching business and its advance

on parts of the tropical rainforest. In

the distance, fragments of preserved

forest were still visible.

From Xapuri, it takes another 25 km

on dirt and winding roads to get to the

Seringal Cachoeira, a rubber plantation

that preserves the heritage of Chico

Mendes, the rubber tapper leader

assassinated in 1988. In the 1980s,

the area witnessed clashes between

rubber tappers and landowners who

wanted to occupy and clear the forest.

Today the rubber plantation is a

benchmark for forest management and

part of the Chico Mendes Agricultural

and Extractive Project. There we meet

Antônio Teixeira Mendes, nicknamed

Duda, a cousin of Mendes. “I was born

in the forest but really got to know it

ten years ago, when I started to use

forest management,” he says.

The porto Dias rubber Association

was the irst community area to

adopt, in 1996, forest management

techniques. The Seringal Cachoeira

followed two years later and in 2002

was the irst to receive a social and

environmental label for its timber. With

the certiication, wood became as

important a product for the community

as Brazil nuts and rubber. The timber

logs are sold for ive times more than

before receiving the label and today

represents the community’s largest

income source. “We get everything

we need from the forest without

destroying it,” says sebastião Teixeira

Mendes. He worked as a rubber tapper

for 45 years and now specializes in

explaining how forest management

works to visitors from all parts of Brazil

and the world

(37)

The native wood supply chain

Forest

The Forest Law allows deforestation within limits and establishes a Legal Reserve and areas of permanent forest preservation. Timber can also be harvested by selectively cutting trees based on a previously authorized management plan.

Correct harvest

The use of management plans decreases the impacts on forests, helps to maintain genetic stock and allows for future harvest. Regulated by law and directives, forest management plans may be submitted and carried out by the landowner, a timber company or a third party.

Transportation

Timber logs are transported on rivers or roads and must carry a forest document that attests to its origin and informs its destination. From the forest to the plants that perform the initial processing stage, timber travels 117 km on average.

primary processing

Sawmills transform logs into boards. Half of the wood is lost in the process and the residue is used to make charcoal or employed in brickyards. Smaller and less equipped sawmills produce more residue. More than 70% of the timber produced in the

(38)

Consumption

Regional markets use part of the Amazon processed timber. Most of it is exported or used in urban centers elsewhere in Brazil. Civil construction uses timber in residential and commercial buildings, as well as in public housing, bridges, overpasses, schools, hospitals and other public works. Furniture makers are the second largest user of timber, consuming lumber and its residues, woodblocks, boards, and plywood sheets.

secondary processing

Lumber is processed with jointers to make laminate looring, decks, parquet tiles, baseboards, miter joints, panels and other products for furniture making and civil construction. Residues are used to make several products. Companies that do secondary processing use only 15% of the timber processed in the Amazon.

Lumberyards

(39)

abandoned years ago due t o administ rat ion problems: processing. They plan t o

st art in 2011 wit h 25% of t he t imber usually out sourced t o sawmills. “We have

buyers for all our communit y product ion, especially in t he Unit ed Kingdom,”

Aquino says. The communit ies want t o receive cert ificat ion by t he FSC as well

as a Fair Trade label, which at t est s t o t he product ’s origin and ensures t he

pro-ducers get paid 10% more t han t heir convent ional compet it ors. “We prefer t o

depend on t he market rat her t han on government welfare as is t he case wit h

t he communit y use of public forest s,” says Aquino, adding t hat t hings have

improved since Chico Mendes’ t ime.

A new vision for the logging

business in the Amazon

The model developed by Acre, despit e t he challenges it st ill has t o f ace,

is seen as a benchmark f or Amazon’s nat ive w ood. The lat est dat a suggest

t hat operat ing w it hin t he law and according t o sust ainable pract ices can

generat e long last ing commercial gains as w ell as development w it h social

benef it s and no environment al damage. In f act , Acre w as t he only st at e in t he

Legal Amazon region t o increase logging act ivit ies in 2009. In t he Amazon

Forest as a w hole, t he consumpt ion of t imber logs w as almost halved bet w

e-en 2004 and 2009, as indicat ed by a st udy f rom Imazon. The number of jobs

in t he indust ry f ell f rom 344 t housand t o 203 t housand.

“Product ion is likely t o keep f alling in t he short t erm unt il it reaches a

sust ainable level at w hich it is possible t o reconcile prof it s w it h low

environ-ment al impact in order not t o exhaust nat ural st ocks,” says Daniel Sant os,

a coordinat or of t he st udy “Amazon Forest Fact s 2010”. The survival of t he

indust ry, af t er all, depends on f inding t hat equilibrium.

There are pressures f rom dif f erent sources. “The appreciat ion of t he

Bra-zilian currency against t he American dollar, it s ef f ect s on export s, t he int

er-nat ional crisis t hat st art ed in 2008, variat ions in prices f or commodit ies such

(40)

t he low er product ion,” says Sant os.

Of t he 2.2 t housand t imber companies t hat operat e in t he Amazon t

o-day, slight ly more t han half are saw mills. Four years ago t heir numbers w ere

a t hird higher, according t o Imazon, w hich has been doing t he count ing every

f ive years since 1998. “We survey all t he saw mills in operat ion, spend an

en-t ire year moving around in en-t he f oresen-t en-t o inen-t erview a represenen-t aen-t ive number of

companies,” explains Sant os.

The researchers vent ure t o isolat ed places – small and rudiment ary

sa-w mills usually operat e in est uaries accessible only by boat , sa-w it h t he t imber

shipped by f erry. M any w oodcut t ers do not like t o give inf ormat ion aw ay,

es-pecially in areas w here product ion has collapsed. “M ost end up t alking t

hou-gh,” says Sant os, adding t hat t he survey allow s f or a bet t er underst anding of

local cult ural, economic and social realit ies. “It is not rare t hat loggers chose

t o operat e illegally due t o cost s, bureaucracy, t he lack of orient at ion f rom

environment al agencies and ignorance about low impact t echniques”.

The challenge of going

beyond the sawmills

Besides measuring t he decline in product ion, t he researchers also st udied

t he harvest ing and init ial processing of t imber. They found t hat sawmills buy

most of t heir t imber (61%) from t hird part ies inst ead of logging it t hemselves.

Sawmills are t he st art ing point of a chain t hat t ransforms wood int o t he

pro-duct s as we know t hem – furnit ure, doors, windows, et c.

The processing of wood involves many phases. The so- called “primary

processing” uses t ools such as circular saws t o t ransform logs int o clapboards,

planks, beams and raft ers. In t his init ial phase, vises are used t o process

har-dwood int o sheet s t o make plywood.

The “secondary processing”’ t ransforms lumber (sawn wood) int o

refi-ned and value- added product s such as flooring, decks, parquet s, baseboards,

Referências

Documentos relacionados

A presença de táxons de áreas abertas, juntamente com os espécimes da Tribo Oryzomyini, sugere que na região do sítio Adelar Pilger existia uma paisagem com

5.3 Caracterização Microestrutural ... MO-MEV na resina Epóxi ... MEV na Resina Epóxi + Fios de Ti-Ni... MO-MEV no Silicone ... MEV na Resina Epóxi +Silicone ... PROPOSTAS

Modelos estatísticos geralmente não capturam o conhecimento estrutural disponível, seus parâmetros não possuem contrapartida ao sistema real, enquanto que os

ABSTRACT: The abiotic disturbance of urban wastewater discharge and its effects in the population structure, plant morphology, leaf nutrient content, epiphyte load and

On the question of rhythm, indigenous peoples of this hemisphere are world mas- ters in the realm of cycles.. There certainly exists rhythm that is not cyclical, but what the world

State of Amapá, represented by the Institute of Environment and Territorial Planning of the State of Amapá (IMAP), the State Environment Department (SEMA), the State

Stepanov Institute of Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Minsk, Republic of Belarus 91 National Scientific and Educational Centre for Particle and High Energy