From the forest to the consumer - GVces - Fundação Getulio Vargas

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 communities,
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 Paraná,
in southern Brazil, to work using the wood left behind by ranchers establishing
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 major
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 regulate
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 adopting
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
of Acre doubled from 170 thousand cubic meters in 2008 to 350 thousand cubic
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