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

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Aside from these plans, a lot is yet to be done to counter frauds. Pará is
the largest producer in Brazil and the only state in the Amazon region where
the volume of illegal timber exceeds the authorized harvest. But even when
logging is allowed, there is no guarantee that predatory techniques are not
involved. “Illegal timber is cheaper and less bureaucratic,” says Luis Alberto
Pereira, president of the Amazon Forestry Supply Chain Association (Unifloresta),
a business association that provides legal assistance to timber companies.
crIMInAl scHeMes sPreAd FeAr
The following conversation with a
journalist from Pará illustrates the
underworld of illegal timber in the
Amazon.
- do you know any illegal timber
schemes there?
- Yes, many of them.
- I need to suss out these stories.
- But that is very risky.
- Why risky?
- It’s a network… high ranking
people… I prefer not to know much.
In fact, when people tell me, I try to
change the subject. There are people
with a lot to lose and, in order not to
lose they are ready to do anything.
Have you watched elite squad 2, the
movie?
- no, but I can imagine what you
mean.
- It’s the same thing, federal police
officers fight among themselves to
decide who will escort the timber.
A corporal does not antagonize an
official.
- What do you mean?
- There are bribes… I got to know
the whole scheme by getting close
to a woman who deals drugs.
- A woman?
- Yes. This world is incredibly dirty.
My life has been crazy because I
became her confidant, her friend.
she started to open up and now she
does not talk about anything else.
- What is the risk?
- sometimes it’s better not to know
anything. High ranking officials at
Ibama have lost their jobs. The whole
thing has to do with the Indians, they
are the biggest suppliers of timber.
The chief drives an F 1000 but it
could have been a Hilux. The other
day the loggers invaded their land to
steal timber when they were away
for the Indian games. It was a big
mess.