Roberto Waack likes to take risks. This biologist training has abandoned a promising career in the pharmaceutical industry to venture into the forest, without knowing anything about it. He joined a company producing certified wood [which traceability is proven] that he then chaired before creating Amata six years later, his own company.
Today, the work of Roberto Waack is to cut down trees to protect the Amazon forest. At first glance, the two goals seem impossible to reconcile. But sustainable development of the Amazon is through the enhancement of its biodiversity. Balancing gains and preservation of nature is the only way to guarantee the survival of forests in the long term.
Roberto Waack and his partner, Dario Guarita Neto, won the right to use part of 46 000 hectares of forest allocated by the Brazilian state in 2008. These are public lands, located in the Jamari National Forest, in the heart of the State of Rondônia, which were hitherto closed to all commercial operations.
It is a very controversial law, passed in 2006, which allowed to rent portions of the Amazon to private companies. Dealers pay a fee in exchange for exploiting these "national forests" for forty years, and must comply with specifications including social and environmental obligations. Companies must, for example, create jobs in the region and reduce the environmental impact by managing the forest to ensure its renewal.
Logging companies hectare every thirty years for the forest has time to recover. Systems, satellite monitoring and independent agencies to ensure compliance. Today Brazil has 96,000 hectares of national forest leased. The government aims at 1 million hectares by 2012. Far from the Amazon, it is difficult to imagine how the destruction of forests can be compatible with its preservation.
The idea that it is better to maintain inviolate is strongly rooted. But the reality is quite different. Some 23 million Brazilians are often very poor, live in the Amazon. 7 million of them, they saw is their livelihood and for this reason it is crucial to create sustainable economic alternatives.
The new licensing system may also hinder another predator of the Amazon: Deforestation caused by the articulation between grileiros [loggers with false title], ranchers and illegal loggers. Generally, the cycle of deforestation begins with the invasion of grileiros. They cut down trees, sell timber, then cleared the land by fire to prepare for the arrival of cattle.
This process generates less revenue per hectare as the management of the forest over several years. Deforestation leads to wild indeed a sharp increase in revenues, but they inevitably collapse after five years. Logging companies are so bankrupt, jobs are disappearing. The loggers are forced to seek new areas.
The licensing system established by the government claims to the contrary set logging on these lands by providing a stable income while intelligently exploiting the forest. Amata is today one of the three concessionaires of forest plots in Amazonia. The other two are Sakura and Madeflona, with respectively 33 000 and 17 000 hectares.
Sakura was the first company to cut down a tree by following this model, in September 2010. It was a species of amaranth, a dense wood, red, used in construction and manufacture of luxury furniture. The owner of Sakura, Mauro Yamagishi, lives in Rondonia since the late 1970s. He arrived child with his father, who came from the State of Paraná to grow cocoa.
At that time, "the government encouraged settlers to be cleared," he recalls. When I started, nobody was talking about sustainability. "But the rules have changed for ten years. Yamagishi and Mauro chose to comply. "Our customers now require certificates of origin for the timber," he says.
So, to continue to do business, he had to adapt to this new situation. 
Today, the work of Roberto Waack is to cut down trees to protect the Amazon forest. At first glance, the two goals seem impossible to reconcile. But sustainable development of the Amazon is through the enhancement of its biodiversity. Balancing gains and preservation of nature is the only way to guarantee the survival of forests in the long term.
Roberto Waack and his partner, Dario Guarita Neto, won the right to use part of 46 000 hectares of forest allocated by the Brazilian state in 2008. These are public lands, located in the Jamari National Forest, in the heart of the State of Rondônia, which were hitherto closed to all commercial operations.
It is a very controversial law, passed in 2006, which allowed to rent portions of the Amazon to private companies. Dealers pay a fee in exchange for exploiting these "national forests" for forty years, and must comply with specifications including social and environmental obligations. Companies must, for example, create jobs in the region and reduce the environmental impact by managing the forest to ensure its renewal.
Logging companies hectare every thirty years for the forest has time to recover. Systems, satellite monitoring and independent agencies to ensure compliance. Today Brazil has 96,000 hectares of national forest leased. The government aims at 1 million hectares by 2012. Far from the Amazon, it is difficult to imagine how the destruction of forests can be compatible with its preservation.
The idea that it is better to maintain inviolate is strongly rooted. But the reality is quite different. Some 23 million Brazilians are often very poor, live in the Amazon. 7 million of them, they saw is their livelihood and for this reason it is crucial to create sustainable economic alternatives.
The new licensing system may also hinder another predator of the Amazon: Deforestation caused by the articulation between grileiros [loggers with false title], ranchers and illegal loggers. Generally, the cycle of deforestation begins with the invasion of grileiros. They cut down trees, sell timber, then cleared the land by fire to prepare for the arrival of cattle.
This process generates less revenue per hectare as the management of the forest over several years. Deforestation leads to wild indeed a sharp increase in revenues, but they inevitably collapse after five years. Logging companies are so bankrupt, jobs are disappearing. The loggers are forced to seek new areas.
The licensing system established by the government claims to the contrary set logging on these lands by providing a stable income while intelligently exploiting the forest. Amata is today one of the three concessionaires of forest plots in Amazonia. The other two are Sakura and Madeflona, with respectively 33 000 and 17 000 hectares.
Sakura was the first company to cut down a tree by following this model, in September 2010. It was a species of amaranth, a dense wood, red, used in construction and manufacture of luxury furniture. The owner of Sakura, Mauro Yamagishi, lives in Rondonia since the late 1970s. He arrived child with his father, who came from the State of Paraná to grow cocoa.
At that time, "the government encouraged settlers to be cleared," he recalls. When I started, nobody was talking about sustainability. "But the rules have changed for ten years. Yamagishi and Mauro chose to comply. "Our customers now require certificates of origin for the timber," he says.
So, to continue to do business, he had to adapt to this new situation.
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