Challenges of the lumber production in the Amazon region: relation between sustainability of sawmills, process yield and logs quality

Putting numbers on timber illegality risk: the case of ipê in Pará

“…Conversion factors to RWE were drawn from a combination of both legislation and recent research, and estimates aimed to reflect assumptions on both low and high conversion efficiency by processing industry operators. On the lower boundary, CONAMA Resolution 474 of 2016 [70] sets the current baseline for primary breakdown-first processing of log from which a mix of products is derived [71]-at 35%. The figure is not speciesspecific and it is understood to assume low sawmill efficiency [71], as well as incorporate the risk of illegal timber laundering [72] (since a lower conversion factor implies that less processed products could be sold after processing, for a given input volume).…”

“…On the lower boundary, CONAMA Resolution 474 of 2016 [70] sets the current baseline for primary breakdown-first processing of log from which a mix of products is derived [71]-at 35%. The figure is not speciesspecific and it is understood to assume low sawmill efficiency [71], as well as incorporate the risk of illegal timber laundering [72] (since a lower conversion factor implies that less processed products could be sold after processing, for a given input volume). For the upper boundary, operators are still allowed to submit own technical reports with revised species-specific values to be applied to own processing (though this is administratively cumbersome).…”

Wood Production and Its Correlation with Socioeconomic and Environmental Indicators in the Amazon Region

“…It is worth noting that the term 'sawn yield' is characterized as the division between the volume in cubic meters produced by the piece from the sawmill divided by the volume of the log. Consequently, sawn yield in the Amazon region is particularly important: first, because it is related to the sustainability of the wood industries, second, because it is linked to forest degradation and CO 2 emissions [4], and third, because wood residues represent underutilized energy potential in Amazon's wood industries. Due to the importance of this factor, many authors have inferred the sawn yield of Amazon wood industries, such as the late works of Gerwing et al (2001) [5], Veríssimo et al (2002) [6], and Lentini et al (2005) [7].…”

“…Nascimento et al (2006) [8] presented sawn yields between 32% and 41% for the industries of the State of Pará, Brazil, while the recent works of de Mendoza Borges et al (2017) [9] and Melo et al (2019) [10] showed an average lumber yield of 47.7% for the Amazon region. Recently, da Silva Luz et al (2021) [4] inferred an average lumber yield of 45% for the State of Pará and mentioned the prospect of the energy potential of wood residues. An average sawn yield of 45% was also found from the dataset of de Mendonça Brasil (2021) [11], which proposed a methodology for the electric energy potential of wood residues in the State of Pará.…”

“…The works of Brasil, Brasil Jr. and Malico (2020) [16], da Silva Luz et al (2020) [4] and de Mendonça Brasil (2021) [11] considered the destination of wood residues for energy use in the State of Pará, but if lumber activities are linked to forest degradation and CO 2 emissions, both wood products and wood residues carry a footprint of deforestation and CO 2 emissions. Therefore, the present work aimed to evaluate how wood production is connected to socioeconomic and environmental factors in the Amazon region by analyzing a historical series of ten years (2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018) of the available indicators from the State of Pará governmental authority.…”