ENVIRONMENT-EU: Portugal Exposed as Gateway for Illegal Timber

By Mario de Queiroz Reprint | | Print |

Mario de Queiroz

LISBON, Mar 23 2005 (IPS) - Environmental activists dealt a blow to the trade in illegal Amazon timber destined for the wealthy markets of the European Union (EU) with a daring stunt in the northern Portuguese port of Leixoes.

The value of the illegal timber shipment found Tuesday on the Cypriot ship Skyman was 253,760 dollars, a relatively modest sum.

But the environmental groups Greenpeace and Quercus – the largest in Portugal – took full advantage of this opportunity to expose the extensive trade in illegally logged timber that enters Europe through Portuguese ports.

The Skyman was blocked from entering its planned docking area by six activists who rappelled from a bridge at the port entry.

The six protestors – two Dutch, two Belgian, one Brazilian and one Portuguese national – were taken into police but released less than two hours later.

Quercus spokesman Domingos Patacho told IPS that the group’s president, Hélder Spínola, will be meeting this week with Portuguese government representatives to convince them of the urgent need for Portugal to adopt the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) measures implemented by other European countries to stop the trade in illegal timber.

Although Portugal is home to only 10.2 million of the 480 million inhabitants of the EU, it is the world’s fifth largest importer of timber from the Brazilian Amazon and a major importer of timber from ancient forest areas in other countries, accounting for 15 percent of purchases of these products made by the 25-member bloc.

In view of Portugal’s relatively small population and modest economy – which add up to limited buying power – it is almost certain that its lax controls on the illegal timber trade are being used to make it the port of entry for exports to larger, wealthier EU countries, Patacho noted.

These suspicions are further supported by the fact that Europe’s biggest wood importers, like Germany, Britain, France and Belgium, could have difficulty satisfying their domestic demand, since their governments strictly implement the FLEGT measures to combat this illicit trade.

“Portugal, on the other hand, has made no visible effort to support FLEGT,” said Patacho. “This is why Greenpeace and Quercus have called on the Portuguese government to “publicly endorse the European measures to fight this trade and adopt legislation prohibiting the import of illegally logged timber,” he added.

The shipment discovered on the Skyman contained wood sold by four companies already convicted in Brazil for supplying illegal timber.

One of them, Milton Schnorr, was fined in 2001, 2002 and 2004 for illegal logging, while the owner of Rancho da Cabocla, Moair Ciesco, was arrested in December for his company’s illicit logging operations on public land.

Brazil’s Amazon jungle region is the victim of one of the highest rates of deforestation on the planet.

In 2003, Amazon deforestation reached 24,000 square kilometres, with the northern Brazilian state of Pará accounting for one-third of the total destruction.

In addition to illegal logging, the expansion of cattle farming has also had a major impact on the deforestation rate.

Marcelo Marquesini, head of Greenpeace’s Amazon campaign, said Tuesday in Leixoes, “The trade in Amazon timber from illegal and destructive logging is linked to corruption, theft of public land, violence against local communities and in some cases murder. By failing to tackle the trade in this timber, Portugal could be considered complicit in these crimes.”

For his part, Quercus president Spínola stated that “it is time for Portugal to assume its responsibility and stop turning a blind eye to the illegal activities that take place in producer countries.”

“We publicly challenge Portugal’s new government (led by socialist José Sócrates, who took power last week) to show its environmental credentials by fully supporting European measures to tackle the trade in illegal timber,” he added.

In late 2004, Greenpeace and Quercus called on Portugal’s timber importers to support the campaign for EU legislation to stop the import of illegal timber, but only two, Sardinha & Leite and Sonae Industria, have declared their support.

The two organisations are now urging importers to deal solely with exporters certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which provides an independent guarantee that the timber they sell has come from forests managed to the highest ecological and social standards.

Although the shipment blocked in Leixoes was relatively small, Greenpeace considers Tuesday’s operation a success because it helped expose the role played by Portugal as “a gateway to Europe for illegal timber from ancient forests around the world.”