How loggers are destroying the Amazon — and getting away with it
The Amazon rainforest is the largest on earth. Its biodiversity is
unparalleled, it is crucial to the stability of the global climate, and
it is home to many indigenous peoples. But for its immense size and
importance, the Amazon is also incredibly vulnerable. In the past three
decades alone, human activity has destroyed an area of Brazilian Amazon
roughly the size of Germany.
Brazilian authorities have some systems in place, supposedly to help stem the tide of destruction. But a new investigation
from Greenpeace Brazil shows just how woefully inadequate the
enforcement of these measures are when it comes to stopping illegal
logging of Amazon timber.
Loggers in Brazil are not only able to harvest Amazon timber
illegally; they have elaborate systems to launder the wood, label it as
'legal', and then send to consumers around the world.
