An illegal raft of copaiba, virola and other logs. © Greenpeace International, May 1999.

Greenpeace International welcomes the efforts of CITES member States to control international trade in timber from endangered species. In this connection, we hope that progress can be made with a view to the inclusion of Big Leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla King) in CITES Appendix II. Although this issue has been the subject of a long controversy, we trust that a growing consensus can develop in time for the adoption of this much needed measure by the meeting of CITES Contracting Parties in Nairobi in the year 2000.

With Greenpeace Brazil, Greenpeace International plans to increase significantly, in the coming months and years, its effort for the conservation and sustainable use of the Amazon forest. With this in mind, Greenpeace sent an expedition to Amazonas State from May 7 to 31, 1999 to document the transport of illegally cut logs from isolated areas in the vicinity of the Purus River, to the City of Manaus, one of the two large log-handling facilities in Amazonas State.

The Government of Brazil estimates that 80% of the logs removed from the Amazon basin are illegally cut, transported and sold.

This paper describes the transport of one raft of illegally cut logs. To put this into perspective, in one two day period alone we documented fourteen illegal rafts.

Although the area we investigated does not contain commercially extracted mahogany, the pattern of impunity with which the logs are illegally harvested and sold will be basically identical to that of Big Leaf mahogany. For this reason we believe that it is useful to bring this information to the attention of the CITES Plant Committee meeting in Darwin.

Because our investigation is very recent and not yet completed, we have not, in this paper, supplied co-ordinates, nor can we, at this time, supply the names of the expedition members, or of the local officials and residents that we interviewed and/or investigated. We ask your indulgence for this deliberate omission. We can anticipate, though, that – as our investigations continue to develop between now and the meeting of CITES Contracting Parties in the year 2000 – more attention will be given to this important issue, and the public is likely to question the lack of effective action by governments and industry to better control international trade in timber.

In April, 1999, an official from FUNAI, the Brazilian Federal Government department responsible for Indian affairs, apprehended and seized a raft of logs on the Rio Branco that had been illegally cut in Hi-Mariman Indian lands. The Hi-Mariman Indians have never been contacted by outsiders, and a special Federal Government permit is required before entering their lands.

The tug boat towing illegal log raft on the Purus river. The raft is primarily composed of opaiba and virola logs. © Greenpeace International, May 1999

According to the official, the owner of one of the boats that were towing the raft is a supplier of logs to a Manaus business man, who in turn sells logs to Brazilian and transnational companies, mainly to Amaplac, a subsidiary of the Malaysian company WTK, which is in Manaus.

The government official placed the logs in the custody of the two local residents who had originally illegally felled the logs, while he further pursued his investigation. According to Brazilian law, a legal guardian, appointed by a government official, must on request, present the object under guard to the authorities.

On May 10, however, the Greenpeace expedition encountered a raft of logs, under tow by two boats, that were marked in a manner similar to those described to us as having been on the logs that were apprehended by the government official in April.

The raft was travelling down river from an area for which no forest management plan exists, so were by definition illegal, regardless of their precise source. It was part of a convoy of three rafts, with an estimated combined volume of 4,000 cubic meters. The rafts were now on the Tapaua River, a tributary of the Purus River in Amazonas State, heading in the direction of Manaus. They were 250 km from where they had been originally apprehended.

On May 11 we confirmed with the official that the marks were indeed from the logs he had apprehended.

Measuring Cedrela spp. Illegally felled and removed from Indian land.

© Greenpeace International, May 1999.

Two workers on the boats informed us that the logs were being delivered to the owner of one of the tugs, the same man who owned one of the tugs from whom the logs had originally been apprehended in April.

On May 15, according to our representatives who were watching down river, the raft departed from Cocotahan on the Purus River.

On May 16 and 17 the raft was joined to a larger raft.

On May 18 the larger raft passed the city of Tapaua, and on May 19 it passed the IBAMA control post at the Abafuri Reserve. No one apprehended it. In fact, no one inspected it or checked the documentation for the logs.

The raft was expected to arrive in Manaus by the end of May, perhaps continuing on to Itacoatiara.

Greenpeace Amazon Campaigner Paulo Adario marking the location of an

illegal raft of copaiba, virola and jacareuba logs.

We informed IBAMA officials in Manaus of the estimated arrival date of the raft. They have advised us that they will send two groups of inspectors to stop the log-raft and make the necessary checks.

We do not yet know the planned final destination of these logs, nor do we know under what precise form of illegal documentation the logs would be transferred to the mills.

However, the following scenario, or a reasonable version of it, is probable:

It is, sadly, common knowledge in Amazonas State that agents and log brokers not only operate with impunity, but also acquire logging concessions or purchase land outright, in order to draw up management plans, their only purpose being to clear or "launder" illegally cut logs.

In these plans they deliberately inflate the volume of commercial timber on their land and use the resultant government ATPF (authorisation for transport of forestry products) to 'legalise' timber cut in areas without management plans, and taken from Indian areas where logging is illegal.

One of the parties through which custody of the logs will pass has an authorised management plan up river from Manaus.

The situation is clearly out of control and can only deteriorate further.

For example, a part of our research took us to the heart of the enormous plain between the Purus and Jurua Rivers. There, at the border of the Caniuá River, the Asian logging company WTK bought 313,900 hectares to start a forest management plan which, if it goes into production, is destined to produce 369,000 cubic meters of log/year. This is half of the total current production of the entire State of Amazonas.

The WTK concession is located in an area claimed and occupied by the Deni Indians. Both FUNAI, and the Deni who mapped their area for us, and who were unaware of the WTK purchase of their land, are deeply concerned that the authorisation of a management plan for this area, in the absence of effective monitoring and enforcement, will open up a massive channel for theft of logs from their territory.

As an aside, the WTK subsidiary Amaplac was charged and fined in April by Brazilian government officials for having in excess of 2,700 cubic meters of processed wood in their Manaus facility, wood that could not be accounted for in their documentation, i.e. Amaplac could not produce ATPF´s for the wood.

Deni Indian leaders drawing a map of their territory, which Is claimed by

the Malaysian transnational logging company WTK.

Now is the time to take action to prevent it.

There is an urgent need to increase control on the trade of Amazon timber. The anecdotal evidence provided above shows that the reality of illegal logging and illegal trade in the Amazon appears to be beyond the worst expected scenario.

Resolving in the year 2000 the long-standing controversy on the issue of the listing of Big Leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla King) in CITES Appendix II would send a clear signal that – at long last – the international community, through CITES, is willing to put its words into action, and put an end to the illegal and immoral destruction of the Amazon.

Pursuant to recent evidence that the rate of deforestation in the Amazon continues to increase, the Brazilian government is now showing signs of stronger political will to address this issue more effectively. Greenpeace International welcomes this new development. We believe that the action proposed with regard to listing Big Leaf mahogany (Swietena macrophylla King) on Appendix II represents a test-case of the ability of the international community to work together with Brazil in an effort to bring to an end the chronic and seemingly irreversible deforestation in the Amazon.