This situation will get worse in the next decade or so, as the international timber market, running out of stocks in the Far East, increases its demands on the Amazon rainforest. It is nevertheless unrealistic to stop logging altogether - for one thing, almost half the human population of Paragominas depends on it for survival. The way forward, therefore, is to establish sustainable forest management practices that are acceptable to the loggers themselves. The project has designed and tested a management methodology to be promoted as a model for the region. Training workshops for loggers play an important role.
Results are encouraging.
It has been shown that wastage of valuable trees can be cut by half, and that forest regenerates faster in a managed area. Saving the golden lion tamarin Destroying a large tract of virgin forest takes only a few decades, and with it go the plants and wildlife that have flourished there for thousands of years. Less than a tenth remains along Brazil's eastern seaboard of the once-magnificent Atlantic Forest . To save what's left of it, and the species within it, is the goal of WWF's oldest project in Brazil. The flagship of this endeavour is the golden lion tamarin, a beautiful small primate at great risk of extinction.