Press release - July 18, 2008
Belém, Pará State, Brazilian Amazon. 18 July 2008 – Greenpeace welcomes today's announcement of a pact between the Amazon State of Pará, the world's largest producer of Amazon timber, the Brazilian environment ministry and representatives of the logging industry, aiming to ban trade in illegal timber and timber from deforestation.
Industry signatories to the agreement include the influential
Association of Timber Exports Industries and the Pará Federation of
Industries.
Building on the fruitful cooperation between civil society and
industry that produced the July 2006 Brazilian soya moratorium, in
which major traders agreed to stop trading in soya grown on newly
deforested land, the "Pact for Legal and Sustainable Timber"
recognises the importance of voluntary agreements that combine
economic production with environmental protection.
"In a country where intention and action don't always meet, the
implementation of this agreement by industry and Government will be
vital for establishing effective protection for the forests while
preserving jobs. It will benefit local communities and promote
legal and sustainable logging activities ", said Paulo Adario,
Greenpeace Amazon Campaign Director.
The agreement is a major step towards creating the governance
system necessary for reducing deforestation and forest degradation
by the Amazon logging sector. Furthermore, the pact meets several
long-time Greenpeace demands calling for law enforcement, combined
with positive incentives for local communities and to that part of
the industry committed to
environmental sustainability. Pará is the source of 45% of
Brazilian Amazon's sawed timber and is notorious for its high rates
of illegal timber activity.
It is expected that the pact will strengthen international
measures to halt illegal logging, including the recent US decision
to ban illegal wood imports (including a wide range of forest
products) as part of the Lacey Act. It is also hoped that it might
influence current discussions by the European Commission regarding
legislation to ban illegal timber from the European market.
Some 63% to 80% of the timber produced in the Amazon is illegal.
Not only does illegal and intense timber exploitation destroy the
livelihoods of local peoples, but it is a major contributor to
climate change. Recent science has shown that destruction of
tropical forests is responsible for about one-fifth of global
greenhouse gas emissions. Brazil is currently the fourth largest
emitter of Greenhouse gases worldwide, primarily due to the Amazon
deforestation.
VVPR info: Tica Minami + 55 92 8114 4517Paulo Adario + 55 92 8115 8928Greenpeace International press desk + 31 207 182 470