Brazil: 41% of the wood harvested in Mato Grosso of illegal origin

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Approximately 41% of the timber exploited in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso is in unauthorized areas. The Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV) presented this conclusion, after it mapped the activity based on satellite images collected between August 2013 and July 2016 and compared them to the authorizations to exploit the material, according to Folha de S.Paulo.

The investigation shows how 195,600 hectares of forests in the Amazon were cut down in illegal exploitation practices during the mentioned period. Moreover, the ICV investigation shows that the area of illegal deforestation declined by 8% as compared to the previous three-year period. There was also a 25% fall in the exploited area (476,700 hectares of native forest).

Most of the illegal exploitation (66%) occurred in private rural properties, in which the state government is the main responsible for inspection. They are followed by areas without defined agrarian categories (24%) and protected areas (9%). The study also shows that the main reason for the illegal deforestation is the failure of Mato Grosso's Environment Department (Sema) to centralize information – this facilitates the use of official documents to allow the illegal deforestation, Folha de S. Paulo reports.

Yet, despite the fact that this resolution was presented to the authorities in Mato Grosso ever since 2011, little progress was made to stop the illegal deforestation.

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