Study: Fake Logging Permits Stifle Conservation Efforts in Amazon

Researchers in Brazil said they have found falsified numbers in logging permits are a key contributor of illegal logging and forest degradation occurring in the country’s portion of the Amazon Rain Forest, according to a study published in Science Advances.

The falsified data in the permits is used to transport, market and sell the illegal timber legally.

“Essentially, fake permits are making it possible for illegally-logged high-value timer species to pass through the cracks undetected, as though they were legally harvested,” nonprofit conservation news source Mongabay stated.

Deforestation has been on the decline in Brazil in recent years, but high-value timber such as ipé still faces a threat of overexploitation.

“If a company receives permits to extract and transport more timber than exists on the property covered by the permits, wood harvested illegally from other areas can be sold as if it came from the permitted property,” said Mark Schulze, a faculty member with Oregon State University’s College of Forestry, who co-authored the Science Advances report.