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WASHINGTON/BELEM, BRAZIL - October 31 - Greenpeace documented three helicopters, two planes, five trucks, and 16 Brazilian environmental police raiding an illegal mahogany sawmill today in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. The sawmill is owned by Osmar Ferreira, who owns a number of lumber mills that supply mahogany to the U.S. market, including companies such as Ethan Allen, J. Zeluck, L. & J.G. Stickley, and Georgia Pacific via U.S. based importers including DLH Nordisk and Inter-Continental Hardwoods. Over the last five days, officials have seized over 250,000 cubic feet worth almost $7 million on the international market.
"Brazil's crackdown on the illegal mahogany trade is a direct result of ongoing Greenpeace exposés," said Scott Paul, Greenpeace Forests Campaigner. "U.S. companies that use mahogany need to take a serious look at their sources to be sure that they will no longer fuel the destruction of the Amazon."
As a result of ongoing Greenpeace investigations, the Brazilian government last week suspended the mahogany trade and has since seized thousands of logs in raids such as the one documented today. The move was in anticipation of a Greenpeace report released on October 24, 2001, entitled "Partners in Mahogany Crime." The report details rampant illegalities in the mahogany trade. Mounting pressure on the logging industry also led to a death threat against Greenpeace's Amazon campaign coordinator Paulo Adario.
"The illegal mahogany industry has been driving the destruction of the Amazon for years," said Adario. "After witnessing the rampant destruction of this rainforest firsthand, it is clear that the only course of action left is to throw these loggers in jail and put an end to this industry until it can be brought under control."
High quality mahogany is only found in pristine areas of rainforest. The illegal mahogany trade intensifies the destruction of these areas by leaving behind a network of roads and trails that other loggers use to access the remaining forest.
On the whole, over 80 percent of Amazon timber is logged illegally, with over 70 percent of the mahogany exports feeding U.S. demand. The U.S. is the largest importer of forest products in the world.
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