The Amazon rainforest is one of the largest gifts the nature has ever given to us. Its biodiversity is among the richest, it contributes significantly the stability of the global climate, and it is the precious home to many indigenous peoples and animals. However, despite its magnificent size, the Amazon is also incredibly vulnerable. In the past three decades alone, human activity has destroyed an area of Brazilian Amazon roughly the size of Germany.

Logging is the main cause of deforestation in Brazil. Loggers do not only harvest Amazon timber illegally they also have elaborate systems to launder the wood, ridiculously label it as ‘legal’ and then send to consumers around the world. By obtaining fraudulent paperwork, companies can bring illegal wood from protected areas of the Amazon to be processed. And once the timber leaves the logging factory, it is practically impossible to make sure if the wood is legal. Carbon Filter

The Brazilian government has responded with some systems, supposedly to help stop such kind of destruction. But the enforcement of these measures has far lag behind the extent of illegal logging in Amazon. The authority always adopts a post-active approach, which is to impose sanctions on the violating company. But it’s far too late: “a large scale of wood has long been cut and entered the global markets with the fraudulent claim of legal timber.”

A global problem
This is a difficult problem. The timber becomes hard to track as illegal loggers get away with their crimes while consumers unknowingly use wood stolen from the heart of the Amazon. Stop buying and importing Brazilian timber is one of the good ways to combat it. Carbon Filter

But even that is not enough. To truly protect the Amazon rainforest, the Brazilian government has to step forward. It must reform and strengthen the governance of the timber industry. It’s time authorities fulfill their obligations and enforce existing laws to keep Amazon, our greatest natural gift, out of any form of illegal deforestation.