The Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture participated in the launch of the National System for the Control of the Origin of Forest Products – Sinaflor, held yesterday in Brasília, with the presence of the Minister of the Environment, Sarney Filho, and the president of Ibama, Suely Araújo.
Sinaflor is a system that integrates other platforms from Ibama, such as the Forest Origin Document (DOF) and the Annual Operational Plan (POA), as well as the Rural Environmental Registry National System (Sicar). One of its objectives is to improve the control of the origin of products, such as wood and coal, tracking all the process, from authorizations of exploration to their transport, storage, industrialization and export. Therefore, it aims to increase the degree of security and reliability of the systems as a whole.
All states in the country are expected to use Sinaflor as of 2018 to issue operating and marketing authorizations for these products.
For the Brazilian Coalition, the first version of Sinaflor, presented yesterday, represents an important step for the timber sector. “The system brings progress for the productive chain of native wood, which suffers from irregularities in its production processes. The minister and the president of Ibama also pledged to launch a new version of Sinaflor by the end of the year, responding to traceability and transparency challenges. The Brazilian Coalition is ready to contribute to this process”, said Marcelo Furtado, facilitator at the Brazilian Coalition, who participated in the event’s opening table.
“Sinaflor still needs some improvements, but it can already reduce significantly the possibility of fraud by bringing more operational security to the issuing of permits for timber extraction”, says Jeanicolau de Lacerda, an assessor at Precious Woods company and one of the leaders of the Coalition’s Tropical Forest Economy Working Group. He and other members of the Working Group were also present at the launch.
For the Working Group, it is still necessary to find concrete ways to promote the broad traceability and transparency of information on the origin and final destination of timber products. These are key elements for achieving two objectives of the Brazilian Coalition, which are to curb illegality in the sector and increase the area of sustainable managed forest in the country by 10-fold, reaching 25 million hectares by 2030. This will promote the fight against illegal deforestation and lead to a more sustainable forest economy based on the correct management of forests and the generation of income and quality jobs throughout the production chain. “Transparency puts the spotlight on enterprises that operate in the right way. It encourages the maintenance of forests, the respect for local communities and the preservation of natural resources. It also contributes to the development of adequate public policies that bring the whole sector to legality”, says Leonardo Sobral, forest manager at Imaflora, who also leads the Tropical Forest Economy Working Group.
The tropical timber market is responsible for more than 200,000 direct jobs and produces 13 million m3 of log/year, generating a gross annual income of R$ 4.3 billion. However, according to data from the Institute BVRio, about 80% of timber sold in the country seems to be illegal and is not certified.