Executive Summary
Partners in mahogany crime: paper protection for the Amazon
Almost ten years ago, world leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. The meeting, known as the Earth Summit, became one of
the defining moments of the fight to reverse the worldwide trend
of environmental degradation.
Mahogany
tree (Swietenia macrophylla) |
Together, more than 180 countries recognized the harm being
inflicted on our fragile Earth and vowed to put the world
on a more sustainable path. Central to this was the Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD). This legally binding agreement
was intended to provide a comprehensive framework for the
protection of the world's threatened natural habitats, including
ancient forests and the life that depends upon them.
A decade later, the world's ancient forests are still waiting
for governments to keep their Earth Summit promise.
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Today, some 80 percent of the world's forests have been degraded
or destroyed. The Amazon rainforest is no exception.
Last year deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon was greater than
at any time since 1995. Fuelled by high international market demand,
mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is driving the destruction of
the rainforests of the Brazilian Amazon.
The vast majority of Brazil's mahogany is exported. Luxury
products from Brazilian mahogany are sold in some of the most
prestigious retail outlets in the world's wealthiest countries.
But the glamorous image hides a corrupt industry that is undermining
traditional cultures, and leading the illegal destruction
of the world's most precious ancient forest, critical to the
survival of creatures such as the jaguar. |
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Often referred to as 'green gold', mahogany can fetch over US$1,600/m.
Illegal mahogany opens the door for illegal logging of other species,
and for widespread exploitation of the Brazilian Amazon. The Brazilian
government's assessment of the problem is that 80 percent of all
Amazon timber originates from illegal sources.
At the core of illegal logging is widespread corruption.
Despite many years of campaigning by non-governmental organisations
such as Greenpeace, the plethora of domestic and international
agreements, action programmes and laws pledging to protect the
Amazon or control the mahogany trade have proved hopelessly inadequate.
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Over the last decade, numerous international agreements
have been signed to protect species such as mahogany and
the remaining intact ancient forests where mahogany is found.
These include the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD),
the Group of Eight (G8) Nations' Action Programme on Forests
and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES). These agreements are not working.
Recent Greenpeace investigations in the Brazilian state
of Pará reveal just how deeply rooted the problem
remains. No reliable legal chain of custody exists for mahogany.
Illegality is widespread. The key players are ruthless.
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This report sets out the evidence and names many of the key actors
involved in the supply and trade of illegal mahogany from Brazil.
Osmar Alves Ferreira and Moisés Carvalho Pereira are two
kingpins in the state of Pará, who supply the vast majority
of Brazil's mahogany trade.
Illegal mahogany is laundered through fraudulent use of official
documents. By the time it is shipped from the Amazon, the mahogany
appears legal and its illegal origins are untraceable.
Ferreira and Moisés are connected to at least five export
companies - Exportadora Peracchi/Serraria Cotia, Tapajos Timber,
Semasa, Madeireira MCP and Juary/Jatoba - that together control
around 80 percent of exports from the state of Pará. On
the importing side, just four companies in the North - Aljoma
Lumber, DLH Nordisk, J Gibson McIlvain Co Ltd and
Intercontinental Hardwoods - account for over 80 percent of the
trade.
However unwittingly, manufacturers and retailers in North America,
Europe and Japan are aiding and abetting high level crime. This
goes for high-class retail outlets in the US carrying lines from
Furniture Brands International, LifeStyle Furnishings International,
Stickley and Ethan Allen; in the UK Harrods and John Lewis Partnership;
in Japan International Design Centres; and others are all involved
in the scandal.
Whatever these companies may claim, there is no way of knowing
whether the mahogany they sell is legal, and the odds are that
it is not.
The trade in illegal mahogany is just the tip of the iceberg.
It signals the failure of world governments to act to protect
the Amazon, one of the world's last remaining ancient forests.
A last chance to save the world's ancient forests
At the April 2002 Ancient Forest Summit in the Hague, the Netherlands,
world governments will meet to decide a ten-year plan for ancient
forests. The outcome of this meeting will determine the fate of
the world's remaining ancient forests and the plants, animals
and people they support.
Whether governments act to stamp out the illegal and destructive
trade in mahogany will be but one test of their ability to move
beyond rhetoric and into the realm of action. Governments must
act to stop the destruction, clean up the timber trade and fund
the protection of ancient forests.
Download the Greenpeace report: Partners
in mahogany crime: Amazon at the mercy of "gentlemen's agreements"
(942k)
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