Of the 68,000 hectares logged in Amazonas, 42,000 lacked authorization from environmental agencies, according to a survey released on Friday (Nov. 5) by the Imazon research institute. This means that 62 percent of the state’s timber-harvested area is illegal.

Conducted annually by Rede Simex - composed of three environmental organizations: ICV, Imaflora, and Imazon - the survey mapped logging in Amazonas using satellite images and cross-referenced them with permits issued by environmental agencies, covering the period from August 2023 to July 2024.

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Compared to the previous survey (August 2022–July 2023), when 38,000 hectares were logged without authorization, there was a 9 percent increase in the area of illegal logging.

Camila Damasceno, a researcher with Imazon’s Amazon Monitoring Program, says the increase is extremely worrying, as illegal logging ends up financing other environmental crimes, such as burning and deforestation.

“In addition, it harms the legal timber market, which removes trees through sustainable forest management and generates jobs and taxes for Amazonas,” she added.

In terms of authorized logging, Amazonas went from 11,300 hectares from August 2022 to July 2023 to 26,100 hectares from August 2023 to July 2024, a 131 percent increase.

Boca do Acre and Lábrea

Just two municipalities in the south of the state - Boca do Acre and Lábrea - account for 75 percent of all illegal logging in Amazonas. Leading the ranking, Boca do Acre recorded 20,500 hectares of irregular logging, while Lábrea had 10,900 hectares of illegal timber removal.

“These municipalities are located in the agricultural expansion region known as Amacro, on the border between Amazonas, Acre, and Rondônia states. Therefore, we warn that timber extraction in these territories may indicate future deforestation for land grabbing or for grain and cattle production, which reinforces the need to increase enforcement in these municipalities and prevent illegal products from entering the market,” Damasceno warned.

Protected lands

Illegal logging, the researcher said, encroaches on protected areas of the state, such as indigenous lands and conservation units, which raises concerns not only about environmental degradation but also about the survival of the communities that inhabit these areas.

“The entry of invaders to remove timber from these territories threatens traditional peoples and communities, who depend on the standing forest to sustain their way of life,” Damasceno explained.

The survey found that 13 percent of illegal timber extraction (5,600 hectares) occurred in protected areas, with 9 percent on indigenous lands (3,900 hectares) and 4 percent in conservation units (1,600 hectares). There was a 19 percent drop in illegal logging in protected areas compared to the previous study, when 6,900 hectares were mapped, of which 6,400 were on indigenous lands.

Despite the reduction, illegal logging still affected an area larger than 5,000 soccer fields within protected areas. Imazon notes that, in addition to the carbon emissions resulting from degradation, illegal logging also leads to biodiversity loss and social conflicts.

Rural properties listed in public databases such as the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), the Land Management System (Sigef), and the Terra Legal Program accounted for 32,500 hectares of the area with illegal logging, representing 77 percent of the total. According to Imazon’s assessment, this result shows that public agencies already have the data needed to monitor and punish illegal activity in these areas.

Another category that drew the researchers’ attention regarding illegal logging in Amazonas is that of undesignated public forests (FPNDs), with 3,300 hectares (8%). FPNDs are publicly owned forest areas (federal, state, or municipal) whose use has not yet been officially defined, whether as conservation units or indigenous lands.

“Therefore, allocating these lands to traditional peoples and communities or to conservation is an urgent action to protect the public and environmental heritage of the people of Amazonas and of Brazil,” concluded the institute.