SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Brazil’s environmental assets exchange BVRio yesterday launched an app that promises to help foreign traders and buyers of Brazilian timber make sure the product hasn’t been illegally logged.
The exchange, which provides a market for the trading of assets such as carbon and forest credits, says buyers using the app will be able to scan a code that is legally required on every lot of timber coming out of the country and receive a report on its status.
Logging is an important industry in Brazil, where half of the country is blanketed by forests. The government considers illegal logging the main factor behind the deforestation of the Amazon region, with about 5,000 square kilometers of rainforest destroyed every year.
