A discovery at a wood processing plant in the Amazon is absolutely staggering.
Conservationist Paul Rosolie (@junglekeeper) shared a distressing TikTok showcasing the mass scale of illegal deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
@junglekeeper On the trail of the illegal timber trade. Ancient pillars of the Amazon, each of these shihuahuaco trees (Dipteryx micrantha) was a skyscraper of life. Some were over 1000 years old. #climatechange #conservation #news #fyp #rainforest #junglekeepers #urgente #paulrosolie ♬ original sound - Paul Rosolie
In the video, Rosolie walks past enormous tree trunks that have been chopped down. He explains that the trees are cut in the forest before being transported by river or by road to a processing plant.
Research by the Instituto Centro de Vida, a leading environmental civil society organization in Brazil, found that 91% of forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon is linked to illegal activity. This could include clearing land to be used for mining or agriculture instead.
It is likely that many of the trees in Rosolie's TikTok are victims of illegal logging, and as he mentions, many of them are ancient and have been around for more than 500 years, if not over 1,000.
The logs are identified as the shihuahuaco tree. This species is one of the tallest and most ancient, taking around "one millennium to grow to full height of up to 60 meters or almost 200 feet," according to Amazon Aid.
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The shihuahuaco tree is at risk, as many people use the dark wood for furniture. However, with the frequency of illegal trade, the lack of planting new trees, and the centuries it takes to grow them, continuing to chop them down is simply unsustainable.
Rosolie mentions that once timber has been cut down into boards, it can more easily "disappear on the international market."
This illegal trade has a profound impact on the environment and puts the shihuahuaco tree at risk of extinction. The animals and insects that make their home inside these massive trees are also put in danger. The harpy eagle is particularly at risk because of its love of building nests as high in a canopy as it can.
Given the enormous scale of this illegal deforestation, it makes it difficult to buy new furniture that doesn't harm the planet. Shopping secondhand or ensuring you're buying from sustainable and local timber companies is the best way to avoid accidentally buying illegal and harmful timber.
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No way 🙅 One TikTok user, distressed by Rosolie's video, commented, "Terrible what's happening to the Amazon," with a sobbing emoji.
Another user added: "How can people not feel bad destroying something that lived for 500 years?? How???"
"We need to start demanding accountability from these big companies doing this," another TikToker despaired.
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