Photo: Ibama/PA
Raisa Pina*
(Texto também disponível em português.)
To address and correct irregularities in the Amazon timber supply chain, the Center for Climate Crime Analysis (CCCA) and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), in partnership with the Pará State Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPE/PA), held a training workshop for public officials and civil society.
Most of the participants already work in monitoring the trade of forest products but face challenges within Sisflora, the state system for controlling timber extraction. The event served as a space for discussion to identify systemic flaws in Sisflora that benefit actors engaged in illegal practices.
During the Collaborative Workshop on Strengthening the Timber Chain of Custody in Pará, CCCA and EIA trained participating public officials by sharing their investigative methodologies that make it possible to identify irregularities in timber extraction. One of the strategies, for example, focuses on locating embargoed areas and validating timber permits, which are still not verified by Sisflora.
The two-day event, held at the Center for Studies and Functional Development of the MPE/PA in Belém, consolidated a technical mapping with recommendations to improve public monitoring. Also speaking at the workshop and sharing information were experts from the Brazilian Institute of the Environment (Ibama/PA), the Pará State Secretariat for the Environment (Semas), and the Federal Highway Police (PRF)
The initiative to hold a collaborative workshop was designed following the release of the Illegal Timber Route report, prepared by EIA with support from CCCA. The document, launched in April 2025, estimates that more than one-third of the timber extracted from the Brazilian Amazon shows signs of illegality at its origin.
In Pará alone, the study found that the area of illegal logging corresponds to nearly half (42%) of the total state area exploited between 2021 and 2023. The European Union and the United States rank among the main export destinations from Brazil.
CCCA’s Corporate Accountability for Extractive Industries Lead, lawyer Daniele Galvão, presents possible improvements for Sisflora.
Fundamental challenges
Pará stands out in the national ranking for deforestation and illegal logging. The state accounts for more than one-fifth (22%) of all deforestation in Brazil, surpassing Mato Grosso, another leader in the suppression of native vegetation. Both states use a state-level system for controlling forest products instead of the national system, Sinaflor.
According to Daniele Galvão, Corporate Accountability for Extractive Industries Lead at CCCA, Sisflora faces challenges that require prompt correction by the state in order to combat deforestation. The solutions are well known and have already been implemented elsewhere, with successful results.
Current problems include the absence of territorial verification, the acceptance of fictitious forest management plans, and the lack of validation of timber permits, among other factors in a long list of challenges that, however, can be overcome.
Dave Gehl, Traceability and Technology Manager at EIA, notes that because Sisflora is largely fed by self-declared data from operators, the system allows transport permits to be used to launder illegal timber.
One of the most serious issues is the lack of automatic blocking of already embargoed areas, a flaw that directly violates the provisions of the Forest Code and the Environmental Crimes Law, as well as Decree No. 6,514/2008, which provides sanctions for the continuation of activities in embargoed areas.
Feasible solutions
According to Galvão, the persistence of basic flaws in Sisflora allows recurring illegal practices and puts the credibility of forest management at risk.
‘It is likely that the state’s noncompliance to correct Sisflora allows the continuation of a tolerated irregular pattern, but it is possible to fix the most critical flaws within three months, align inspection procedures within a year, and implement a system resistant to fraudulent practices within two years,’ she explains.
Gehl reinforces this with a concrete and simple solution: ‘A transparent, real-time traceability system, such as a mobile app requiring log truck drivers to digitally record their tracks from the forest to sawmills, would make laundering far harder and help authorities monitor more effectively.’
‘Such system vulnerabilities can be easily addressed through the adoption of already available technologies,’ adds Galvão.
While Sisflora remains vulnerable, CCCA and partners such as EIA continue to strengthen the fight against illegal logging, supporting local environmental governance through investigations and training of public officials, as in the case of the collaborative workshop with MPE/PA.
*Communication and Engagement Coordinator at CCCA.