12
December 2008 - Brazil — High-tech smuggling
operations may not be what you'd normally
associate with the ongoing clearance of
the Amazon rainforest, but logging companies
intent on plundering it for timber have
been using hackers to break into the Brazilian
government's sophisticated tracking system
and fiddle the records.
To monitor the amount
of timber leaving the Amazon state of Pará,
the Brazilian environment ministry did away
with paper dockets and two years ago introduced
an online system. Companies logging the
rainforest for timber or charcoal production
are only allowed to fell a certain amount
of timber every year and this is controlled
by the use of transport permits issued by
the state government's computer system.
To be exported from
Pará, each shipment of timber requires
one of these transport permits, and the
volume of timber in each shipment is deducted
from the total amount allowed under the
company's forest management plan. Once that
amount is reduced to zero, no more transport
permits are issued so there's no profit
in felling more trees.
Brazil, the world's
"hacking capital"
At least, that's what's
supposed to happen. But today the public
prosecutor will release details of how hackers
employed by 107 logging and charcoal companies
have compromised the system, falsifying
online records to increase the timber transport
allocations for certain areas of the forest.
In the past, Brazil has been called the
world's hacking capital and has a history
of criminal gangs hacking into bank computer
systems to engage in large-scale online
fraud.
Hacking has led to 1.7million
cubic metres of timber being illegally smuggled
out of Amazon
The result of the Amazon
hacking scandal is that nearly 1.7 million
cubic metres of illegal timber have been
smuggled out of the Amazon, enough to fill
780 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The sums
of money involved are also huge, and the
public prosecutor is suing the companies
responsible for 2 billion reais (US $833m).
According to federal prosecutor Daniel Avelino,
many of these companies have a track record
of illegal practices: "Almost half
of the companies involved in this scam have
other law suits pending for environmental
crimes or the use of slave labour, amongst
other things."
Investigation started
in April 2007
Police started investigating
the suspect hackers in April 2007, swooping
in a couple of months later to arrest 30
ring leaders. One is still in jail - the
intermediary who brought the hackers and
the loggers together - in total, 202 people
are facing prosecution.
André Muggiati,
campaigner in our Amazon office in Manaus,
told me they have flagged up potential security
holes in the past. "We've pointed out
before that this method of controlling the
transport of timber was subject to fraud.
And this is only the tip of the iceberg,
because the same computer system is also
used in two other Brazilian states."
"By hacking into
the permit system, these companies have
made their timber shipments appear legal
and compliant with the forest management
plans. But in reality, they're trading illegal
timber which is making the problem of deforestation
worse, and a lack of control and policing
in the areas they're logging means they
think they can get away with it."
Scandal comes as Brazilian
national congress prepares to vote on forest
code
If this scandal weren't
bad enough, it comes as the Brazilian national
congress prepares to vote on a change to
the country's forest code which could massively
increase the amount of legal logging that
will be allowed.
At the moment, land
owners in the Amazon are able to clear trees
from 20 per cent of their property but if
the proposed changes are adopted, it will
raise that to 50 per cent. Given the contentious
nature of land ownership in the region,
no one knows exactly the damage this will
cause but as deforestation rates are once
again on the increase, it's certain to push
them up even further.
Brazil must adopt a
zero deforestation plan
This scandal of loggers
and hackers just demonstrates that the Brazilian
government is failing to protect the Amazon
forest from logging companies determined
to break the law. If the rainforest is to
have any long-term future, the only answer
is to adopt a zero deforestation plan, like
the one we and other campaign groups think
is needed, setting ambitious targets to
bring deforestation under control. Otherwise
illegal logging and corporate fraud such
this will continue to be a massive problem.
+ More
Glimmer of hope for
Pacific tuna
12 December 2008 - Busan,
Korea, Republic of — The final outcome of
the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries
Commission is too weak to stop overfishing
of Pacific bigeye and yellowfin tuna. Pacific
islanders are still at great risk from the
collapse of this fishery. But the decision
to close two of the high seas pockets, between
Pacific Island countries, to purse seine
fishing from 2010 has left them with a shred
of hope.
The Commission will
also consider the closure of a third high
seas area in 2009. We have been campaigning
for these areas to be designated as marine
reserves since 2004.
Last year, our ship,
Esperanza, patrolled these high seas areas
for over ten weeks. During this time we
took action against fishing fleets from
Taiwan, Korea, the US and the Philippines.
In order to support
sustainable fisheries, protect marine life
and clean up pirate fishing in the region
- marine reserves are essential.
Scientists have been
warning since 2001 that the bigeye and yellowfin
stocks in the Pacific are in decline and
recommended a minimum 30 percent reduction
in fishing for 2009. Yet the commission
only agreed to cut fishing on bigeye tuna
with a range of measures including a 10
percent reduction for longliners only.
Greenpeace activists
from Fiji and Papua New Guinea stand on
juvenile yellowfin and skipjack tuna in
the hold of a vessel that was caught offloading
fish from purse seiners in the Pacific Commons.
Tuna exterminators strike
back
Australia, New Zealand,
the Pacific Island countries, and the US
all put up a strong front to save the Pacific
tuna. But resistance from Japan, Korea,
China, Chinese Taipei and the Philippines
meant that fishing will not be reduced enough
to make a difference.
These nations, with
a huge appetite for tuna, resisted moves
to ensure the long-term sustainability of
the fishery, despite strong economic arguments.
Recent studies indicate that the fishing
industry is undermining its own profits
by having too many fishing vessels on the
water and by depleting stocks to the point
that fish are harder to catch. We've been
calling for a precautionary 50 percent fishing
reduction in order to ensure both the long
term sustainability and profitability of
the fishery.
Just add water
But rather than protecting
their fishing future - these shortsighted
governments are sending entire species into
oblivion. As usual consensus based decision
making ensured that many agreements were
diluted to the lowest common denominator
- determined only by short term interests.
The needs of the Pacific Island States,
whose livelihoods and economies depend on
tuna, have been neglected yet again - despite
members of the fishing industry calling
upon these nations to follow the advice
of scientists and reduce fishing by at least
30 percent.
Markets and marine reserves
In order to save fish for the future we're
now calling on retailers and fish purchasers
to stop buying all overfished bluefin, bigeye
and yellowfin tuna as well as skipjack caught
using fish aggregation devices.
We're also continuing
to push for a global network of fully protected
marine reserves covering 40 percent of our
oceans. This will help to; buffer our seas
from the ravages of climate change, restore
the health of fish stocks and protect ocean
life from habitat destruction and collapse.
