Already in 1997, Precious Woods Amazon was the first forestry operation in Brazil to achieve certification under the high standards of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). Twenty years later, we passed our fourth recertification with flying colours. Each year, fulfilment of the standards is audited by an external expert, and a recertification audit is carried out every fifth year.

The FSC standard is based on ten principles that are further specified for each country. Apart from social and environmental aspects, the standard requires proof that tropical timber is harvested legally in order to prevent illegal logging. The FSC standard has been tightened continuously over the past twenty years. New rules have been introduced to ensure sustainability.

Precious Woods has been certified not only for forest management, but also for chain of custody (CoC). This ensures that only FSC-certified logs are processed in the company's own operations and guarantees traceability.

Sadly, trading in illegally sourced and non-sustainably harvested tropical logs is still dominant. For that reason, Precious Woods has barely any local market in Brazil even though demand is very high. 95% of production is exported.

Production costs are many times higher than they would be for non-sustainable cultivation. The average harvest using sustainable methods is 12m3 per hectare per year with a harvest cycle of thirty-five years. This corresponds to a harvest of two to three trees per hectare per year. This also means that a piece of land can be cultivated again only thirty-five years after being harvested, so that flora and fauna can regenerate during that time.

Precious Woods is committed to sustainable tropical forest management because this is the only way to make use of the valuable timber while protecting the rain forest with its entire biodiversity and generating direct and indirect income for the local population as well.

We are very proud to be able to accomplish this responsible work and also that we have stayed true to this approach even in very difficult times.

We would like to thank everyone who supports us in our daily work, and of course especially all our employees for the outstanding effort they perform every day. We would also like to thank our clients, who join us in taking responsibility for the preservation of the rain forest. Only together are we able to engage in this responsible undertaking.

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