Companies from the United States and the European Union import timber potentially linked to illegal deforestation in Brazil, favoring the lifting of sanctions imposed by the Jair Bolsonaro government on the country’s largest hardwood floor exporter.
London-based environmental group EarthSight argues that Brazil’s Indusparquet is “growing in the US and also in Europe” after being “liberated” from sanctions imposed by the far-right Bolsonaro government, despite evidence linking that company to illegal deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
The Brazilian environmental watchdog, Ibama, confiscated more than 1,800 cubic meters of wood from the Indusparquet lial plant in 2018, with an estimated value of US $ 2.5 million. The seizure was carried out as part of an investigation into an alleged corrupt Ibama agent, which, according to the complaints, helped illegal loggers “wash” their raw materials by issuing fake licenses.
However, after Bolsonaro came to power in 2019, the new president of Ibama in São Paulo rescinded a fine of 482,300 Omani rials against the indopark (it was $ 122,000 at the time that changed) and released more than 1,600 cubic meters of seized wood, according to the monitoring Earth.
Ibama confirmed in a statement that it accepted the company’s arguments that the wood was legal and that the problem was, in fact, a clerical error.
The company said in a statement that the company “deeply regrets its frivolous involvement and lies in the allegations and doubts that have a political background.”
The case adds to the many controversies surrounding the Bolsonaro government’s environmental stewardship, which, amid record rates of deforestation in the Amazon more than a decade ago, is fostering forest openness – which is essential to curbing climate change. Agro-industries.
Earthsight determined that Indusparquet’s exports to the US and Europe have increased significantly despite investigations, indicating a possible violation of import regulations.
In the US, Indusparquet’s import volume has increased 15% since 2018, the organization compiled.
