The leading provider of housing finances in Brazil, the government-run Federal Economic Bank, will only finance buildings made from certified legally-cut lumber, beginning in 2009. Between 78 and 88 percent of the lumber used in construction or furniture production comes from the Amazon region, according to the Bank.

The measure could help halt illegal logging in the jungle, which is an intensive activity, because “it would force producers who don't yet certify their lumber to do so,” Mario Menezes, assistant director of the environmental group Friends of the Earth/Brazilian Amazon, told Tierramérica

In the southern state of Sao Paulo, which consumes one-fifth of the timber from the Amazon — or five million cubic meters per year –, 80 percent goes to construction, Menezes said.