75% of exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

The tropical wood type ipê is popular for building exclusive wooden decks, and in North America and Europe, the demand for the material has increased sharply. Now, a study from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, shows that more than three-quarters of all ipêfrom the top producing region in Brazil could have been harvested illegally. "The study reveals where in the chain the greatest risks lie. It can be a tool to counteract illegal logging," says Caroline S.S. Franca, PhD student at Chalmers.

Ipê is one of the world's hardest woods. It is therefore particularly suitable for building balconies, conservatories, stairs or piers. Demand for the exclusive, tropical wood has increased steadily in recent years, especially on European, American and Canadian markets. In Brazil, the country of origin for 96 percent of all ipê on the market, exports have increased by over 76 percent in volume over the past decade.

This development means an increased risk of illegal logging of ipê, which in November 2022 was included on the Cites list of species threatened by overexploitation due to its popularity and increasing demand through international trade.

"Some products from the rainforest are more valuable and therefore more vulnerable to illegal logging. Ipê is at the top of that list. At the same time, ipê trees grow slowly, which means that regrowth takes a long time. The risk of extinction is real, and today there are no reliable figures on the amount of remaining trees and the damage to existing stands that has already been done," says Caroline S.S. Franca, PhD student in Physical Resource Theory at Chalmers.

Mapping where risks are greatest

Caroline S.S. Franca is the lead author of a research study on the risks for illegal logging of ipê in Brazil, which was recently published in Nature Sustainability. In the study, the researchers analysed extensive amounts of data to identify where in the supply chains there are significant risks that logging has taken place illegally.

The conclusion is that more than three-quarters of all ipê from Pará -- the top producing state of this wood in Brazil and a major source of exports -- in the period 2009-2019 may have been illegally harvested.

"In the study, we see, for example, that 16 percent of the ipê that ends up on the market is harvested without proper permits, and that landowners claim that they have felled more ipê on their land than is likely to exist on the stated area. We also show that there is more wood in circulation than the official production figures indicate," she says.

Paving the way for better enforcement and practices

"We know that illegal logging is driving forest degradation, and is linked to organised crime, conflict and the destruction of forest-dependent local communities," continues Caroline S.S. Franca, adding that "degradation of Amazon forests does not only affect the local environment and the ecological diversity of the rainforest, it is also as large of a contributor to climate change as outright deforestation."

She hopes that her research results can contribute to an increased awareness of the extent of illegal logging among decision-makers and actors in the supply chain, as well as among consumers.

"The novel methods developed in the study, exploring existing patterns in the data for transactions and approvals of ipê exploration have an enormous potential both to improve forest control systems in Brazil, as well as to support supply-chain actors in their efforts to make timber sourcing more responsible and sustainable," says Marco Lentini, a co-author of the study with a long-standing experience working on sustainable forest management in the Brazilian Amazon.

The information already exists, now there is political will to use it

Recent numbers form Brazil's forest monitoring system shows that deforestation in the Amazon have been almost halved in 2023, compared to last year. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also initiated the so-called Belém Declaration -- an alliance among eight South American countries to combat the deforestation of the Amazon, adopted on August 8, 2023.

"This declaration is a welcome expression of renewed political will to reduce deforestation," comments Martin Persson, co-author of the ipê study and a Chalmers researcher with extensive experience of research on the devastation of the Amazon.

But he also emphasises that the danger is far from over, and that the declaration itself will not lead to change.

"Halting deforestation and forest degradation requires concrete policy measures. And what we point out in our study is that there is already data and information that can be used by authorities to get to those who harvest forests illegally," he says.

Important for consumers to ask questions

There is a certification for sustainably produced wood, FSC, which can serve as a guide for consumers who want to avoid buying non-sustainable or illegally harvested wood. But regardless of whether the wood has an FSC certification or not, Caroline S.S. Franca emphasises that it is always important to ask a few basic questions before buying.

"Where exactly does the wood come from? Is there documentation of the origin of the wood and its path through the production chain? As a consumer, you have a greater opportunity to make an informed decision if you get answers to those questions," she says.

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Widespread illegal trade of hazardous chemicals

54 chemicals and groups of chemicals are covered by the Rotterdam Convention due to their high potential to cause severe harm on human health and the environment. These include mercury compounds, various pesticides and five of the six types of asbestos. The Convention, also known as the PIC Convention (Prior Informed Consent), does not ban these hazardous substances. However, the parties may only trade them among themselves if the importing country has expressly consented to the import.

The PIC procedure is primarily intended to protect developing countries from the uncontrolled import of highly hazardous chemicals, since these countries often lack the necessary infrastructure to safely process and dispose of them. Now, a new study initiated by Empa scientists delivers sobering results: The PIC procedure is defaulted on in nearly half of the traded volume of these chemicals.

Worldwide violations

For the study, published on 10 July in the journal Nature Sustainability, researchers from China and Switzerland analyzed public trade data from the United Nations Comtrade database for 46 of the 54 listed chemicals. A total of 64.5 million tons were traded globally from 2004 to 2019. Of these, 27.5 million tons were traded illegally, i.e., exported to countries that had explicitly refused to import them.

Non-compliance with the Rotterdam Convention is a worldwide phenomenon, especially by many countries in Western, Central and Southern Europe, as well as South and Southeast Asia. At the same time, these regions were also the most affected by illegal imports, along with the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Latin America. "This prevalent illegal trade is highly concerning because it undermines global efforts to protect us and our environment from hazardous chemicals," says Empa researcher Zhanyun Wang, who initiated the study.

According to Wang and his co-authors, the result of the study is a rather conservative estimate of the illicit trade in hazardous chemicals, as situations such as smuggling and black markets were not includes in the analysis. In addition, the US, for example, exported about four million tons of chemicals to countries that refuse to import them under the Convention. However, this is not necessarily illegal -- because the US has not ratified the Rotterdam Convention and is subject to different rules.

Ongoing large-scale trade

Wang also considers the very high overall volume of hazardous substances being traded as problematic. Of the total 64.5 million tons, the majority -- 55.3 million tons -- is ethylene dichloride, a carcinogenic and organ-damaging solvent used in the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). In second place, with 6.3 million tons, is the toxic reagent, disinfectant and pesticide ethylene dioxide.

The other chemicals, which are predominantly pesticides, make up a relatively small portion of the total. "But we see that these highly toxic compounds are still being traded in significant quantities," Wang says. "Since the Rotterdam Convention came into force, trade has decreased only slightly. Yet for many of these substances, we've known for decades how harmful they are."

Surprisingly, the authors also discovered a brisk trade in some substances that have been severely restricted or even banned for years to decades. These include, for instance, the legacy toxic pesticides aldrin, chlordane, heptachlor and dieldrin, which have been banned worldwide as the "Dirty Dozen" under the Stockholm Convention since 2004. Also still traded, albeit in much smaller quantities of several thousand tons, are the notoriously neurotoxic compounds tetraethyl lead and tetramethyl lead. Despite decades of global efforts to phase them out in gasoline for normal cars, they seem to be still used in certain specialty fuels.

Strengthening national and international action

All of the data used in the study are public -- so why aren't the countries addressing the defaults? There are several reasons. "For many countries, the environmental ministry is responsible for implementing the Rotterdam Convention," Wang explains. "But trade is supervised by the customs authority." In addition, there are often insufficient resources available to monitor chemical trade, especially in developing countries.

The researchers recommend that international and national action needs to step up to address global trade of highly hazardous chemicals, particularly illegal trade. Among others, other problematic chemicals should be listed under the Convention, such as chrysotile asbestos. This type of asbestos is by far the most common -- and the only one of the six types of asbestos not yet covered by the Convention. "Switzerland has recently taken the initiative here to bring about changes, along with several other countries, but so far without success," Wang says.

The Rotterdam Convention, meanwhile, has only had a Compliance Committee to monitor and address its implementation since 2020. "We are hopeful that this, together with national efforts on reducing the production and use of highly hazardous chemicals, will greatly reduce illegal trade in the future," Wang says.

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