Swedish company accused of intensive exploitation of wood and human labor, to feed illegal trade. Documentary leaves alerts.
A IKEA It is one of the best known brands in many countries, including Portugal. It is a world leader in real estate production, has revenues of thousands of euros, numerous visitors every day.
It is essential in the kitchens of many Portuguese, in the rooms, in the rooms. It features simple, attractive, easy -to -ride and cheaper pieces.
Also as a “Green company”, An “environment friend”, a company that bets on sustainability and chooses more sustainable materials. A company that respects the planet, officially.
But a documentary of, published last year and recently recovered by, shows the backstage of Ikea.
The Swedish company is accused of intensive exploration of wood and human work, to feed the illegal trade of wood and from threaten the last forests most precious in Europe.
The data collected in this analysis show that the Ikea “devour” a tree every 2 secondsIt drops 20 million cubic meters of wood per year.
The largest wooden consumer destroys forests; It does not protect the environment, according to the documentary.
This unique investigation accompanied Ikea’s production chain for over a year. Swedes subcontract the manufacture of their furniture in dozens of countries. To renew your stock of wood, they buy thousands of hectares of land around the world and put Ecosystems at risk.
IKEA needs to have a cheap raw material (wood, essentially) to continue selling at lower prices. And for that, he accuses the documentary, “surrounds the rules and closes his eyes” – Madeira from China, but through Siberia came. All illegal. The company denies.
Gabriel took risks
Sweden, Brazil or New Zealand are some of the affected countries. In Romania, Ikea is the largest forest owner of that European country. It has about 50 000 hectares.
Gabriel Paun, biologist and forest protector, began to inspect the activities performed in the Romania Forest. And almost died while trying to show that Ikea receives wood through illegal activities.
In 2015, he was making one of his trips, in his investigations, when he was the subject of a ambush. There were about 10 men around him: “As soon as they saw me, they recognized me. And They tried to kill me. They shot me to the ground and beat me to the punch and kick. ”But he got up and fled as he heard the loggers shout that that obstacle (Gabriel) had to disappear. They wanted to“ end ”him.
In installments that belong to Ikea, there are illegal excavated ditches, which can lead to landslides; Roaded forests, spoiled peripheral trees; very deep tracks in forbidden places. The erosion of the soil starts, warns Gabriel Paun. “It’s a massacre”.
“It’s a theft. They are ruthless. It seems to lose their heads before nature. It seems that they hate it. I call it loot,” the activist reacts.
“We do what is necessary to preserve the environment. Before any forest intervention, we perform an exhaustive assessment of the potential impact on the environment; and measures are taken to prevent soil erosion,” reacts Ikea.
Fines in Brazil
Research journalist Sílvia Lisboa reports that Artemobili, a company that was then supplier to Ikea in Brazil, was the target of two Severe environmental fines.
The first per deforest A native forest and for dismissing chemicals inappropriately, burying them.
The second fine was related to the construction of a sawmill, without authorization, in the area that deforested.
“I don’t know anything. Perhaps the direction, the legal department will know,” reacts Rafael Bocchi, Artemobili’s director of operations.
“We take any violation of our code of conduct seriously. We hope that all our suppliers will comply with all local laws and regulations,” reacts to the Swedish multinational – which often transfer responsibilities to companies that subcontracts, avoiding lawsuits.
The investigators wanted to better see behind the scenes of such sustainable forest exploitation announced by Ikea. THE Company refused “Open Doors” several times.
