The associations said in a statement that there were Portuguese import agents implicated in the trade in illegal timber, following a two-year investigation by Greenpeace Africa.
The document said that Portugal is the second main destination of the illegal timber from Cotrefor (a logging company in the Democratic Republic of Congo) after France and that some of the companies that import the timber into the European Union through Portugal are African Logs, Global & Infinite Traders SAL, Neuholtz Investment Ltd, Angot Bois SARL and F. Jammes SAS.
The export figures show that the port of Leixões is one of the main entry ports into the European Union for timber from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“It is obvious that some Portuguese timber importers still do not properly assess the risks of buying illegal timber”, said Domingos Patacho, from Quercus, adding that the ‘European Timber Regulation’, “obliges them to avoid buying timber from poor forestry practices.”
The investigation report released by Greenpeace today refers to “repeated non-compliance with forestry legislation, local communities that are deprived of their rights, the unauthorised chopping down of threatened species and the destruction of habitats for animals such as the bonobo or pigmy chimpanzee”.