According to SEMAS, in the Brazilian state of Pará, from January to June of this year, they’ve seized more than 4,600 cubic meters of wood.
While it’s unclear if the 4,600m3 is “through” June, or “to” June, on an annualized basis, it amounts to a projected annual rate of 9,200m3 (41.5% more) in the former case, and 11,040m3 (69.8% more) in the latter.
Either way, these trends (red bars below) are well above the rate in 2019 (dark bar), in which they seized 6,500m3 of illegally traded wood.
The unusually high occurrence of wood seizures is not limited to Pará. Across the Brazilian Amazon, almost 14,000m3 of illegal wood were seized in one month alone. And in the state of Rondônia, illegal wood seizures by police are up 787% year-over-year in the first half of 2020.
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Header Photo Credit: SEMAS
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