How does sustainable management work? The first public area designated for sustainable timber extraction in Brazil is in Rondônia, in the Jamari National Forest, a conservation area of 2150km2, an area larger than the city of São Paulo. Three areas were opened up.
The company that won the first round of bidding was Amata S. A. , which set up in 2009 in an area of forest management of 460km2.
The first step for extraction was to carry out a survey of the flora of the region and exclude the areas where it would not be possible to extract trees. The remaining area was then divided into 25 fragments, called production units. First, a survey on the distribution of the trees in the area is carried out.
Trees that have a trunk of a diameter of more than 40cm are identified, and then located on the map. Protected species such as mahogany and chestnut are excluded, as are very large trees, which are much rarer than smaller ones. After this, the trees to be cut down are selected and marked.
The company chooses up to 25m3 of wood to chop down per hectare, which is equivalent to the removal of up to six trees from an area the size of a football pitch. Once this limit has been reached, the company withdraws from the production unit, which begins to regenerate. After a year, the company can begin to extract timber from another unit – the limit is one per year.
The company will only return to the first unit after having extracted in all the others in other words, after 25 years. When these rules are followed, the forest preserves its biodiversity, it is always able to recover the volume of wood lost, and it remains protected against predatory extraction of timber and minerals.
