TIMBER MAFIA: EDWIN CHOTA - THE MAN WHO GAVE HIS LIFE FOR PERU´S RAINFOREST

Edwin Chota. Fuente: New York Times via Juan Arellano.

  

By Gundhramns Hammer

July 25, 2015

In some parts of the world, it is a dangerous task to fight to stop the destruction of the forests. Anyone who stands up to defend the trees is at risk of losing his/her neck. 

In fact, many people have been killed fighting to save the forests.

This is exactly what happened to Edwin Chota in Peru in September 2014. 

Chota had the guts to fight against the timber mafia which is destroying Peru´s Amazonian rainforest. 

But sadly, he got killed (Video 1).

Video 1. Peru: Death and corruption in the Amazonian rainforest. Uploaded by Channel 4 News.

Read more about Edwin Chota: here and here.

Leer más sobre Edwin Chota: aquí, aquí y aquí.

Mon Capitaine, it is sad news. Indeed.

Oui, mon ami. 

Over ten months have gone by after Edwin Chota´s death. And trees continue losing their lives. So do people who speak up or defend the forests.

On the other side of the Atlantic, in Europe, or anywhere else in the world where luxury hard woods are sold at high prices, we must keep in mind that these are directly or indirectly somehow linked to death in tropical rainforests, mon ami.

So, shop smart and green. Bring some true sustainability into your life. Keep your pocket away from the fucking world´s timber mafia. 

Let us all be ecologically and biospherically caring, considerate and coherent.

PERU: THE GREEN WASHING MACHINE

Source: SPDA Actualidad Ambiental.

Fuente: Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)

Ver original 

This multi-year investigative report reveals evidence that, since 2008, over 20 US companies have imported millions of dollars in illegal wood from the Peruvian Amazon. This trade appears to be in violation of US and international endangered species laws as well as the US-Peru free trade agreement.

EIA’s report analysed official documents which demonstrate that at least 112 illegal shipments of cedar or mahogany wood – laundered with fabricated papers and signed off on by Peruvian government officials – arrived in the US between 2008 and 2010. These shipments account for over 35% of all trade in these protected species between the US and Peru.

Twenty-two US companies were found to have imported at least one shipment of this illegal wood. At least 45% of the shipments exported by Peru’s largest timber trader, Maderera Bozovich, most of which were received by Alabama-based affiliate Bozovich Timber Products, Inc, appear to have contained laundered wood. EIA believes that these figures are conservative, and would increase with access to more complete data from field verifications.

Read or get a PDF of the full report:

The Laundering Machine: How Fraud and Corruption in Peru’s Concession System are Destroying the Future of its Forests, by EIA-Global.org. Click HERE. 

Or go HERE. 

And watch the following video:

The Laundering Machine: How U.S. Corporations Threaten Peru's Forests Through Illegal Logging. Uploaded by Democracy Now!

Additional information: HERE.