“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.”
Brazil supplies 96 percent of the world’s ipê, and exports grew more than 76 percent in a decade on demand from European and North American deck builders. The study flags over three quarters of the ipê from Pará between 2009 and 2019 as at risk of illegal harvest. Landowners report felling trees that cannot exist on their land, and the paperwork goes through anyway. That premium deck comes with laundered timber.