Some Brazilian states are issuing fraudulent managed-forestry authorizations that likely allow illegally cut Amazon timber to be sold as legitimate in world export markets, the environmental group Greenpeace claims. In a May 15 report titled “Logging, the Amazon’s Silent Crisis,” Greenpeace alleges its two-year probe turned up evidence of “timber laundering.” In issuing the study, Greenpeace said: “Governance in the timber sector in the Brazilian Amazon is weak and open to exploitation, allowing criminals to launder illegal timber as legal with official documentation.” The vast majority of legal logging in Brazil occurs in so-called managed forests in the Amazon—private land where state governments are empowered to authorize selective cutting in a manner and intensity intended to ensure adequate forest regeneration. The... [Log in to read more]