Ibama, Brazil’s environmental-enforcement agency, will likely maintain its ban on all logging, transport and export of mahogany through this year and perhaps into next year, officials tell EcoAméricas. The agency believes this will be necessary because all but one of the timber operators it allows to cut mahogany in Amazon-area managed forests appear to be violating the terms of their licenses. Ibama imposed the ban last October after determining mahogany was being cut not only in managed forests, as allowed, but also illegally in indigenous lands and protected forests. Since 1989, the agency has issued 18 mahogany licenses—12 in Pará state, three in Acre state and three in Mato Grosso state. Last year officials visited managed forests in Pará and found strong... [Log in to read more]