During the last months of 2009, the Institute on Environmental Law and Economics – IDEA drafted a position paper on the production and trade of vegetable charcoal in Paraguay. In this document, IDEA describes the current situation of this sector providing data including volumes of production, product prices, transportation, main export destinations as well as the applicable legal framework. Taking this into account, the document provides possible courses of action that may be taken to achieve the sustainable production of vegetable charcoal and render its trade more transparent.
This document was used by the Paraguayan delegation during a dialogue carried out with the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Natural Resources (IBAMA) and some representatives from the Brazilian steel industry. The Paraguayan delegation, headed by the President of the National Forestry Institute (INFONA), Mr. Luis Torales Kennedy, and representatives from the Paraguayan Federation of Wood Production and the Institute of Environmental Law and Economics visited Brasilia between December 8 and 10, 2009.
As a result, the Paraguayan delegation and the Brazilian representatives agreed to begin working together in order to generate mechanisms that would formalize, vitalize and certify Paraguayan charcoal exports in Brazil and avoid the “clonation” of import documents used in Brazil to commercialize charcoal coming from the illegal exploitation of Brazilian native forests, through harmonized policies of control in both countries. It was also agreed to work with satellite information exchange mechanisms that will facilitate the control and traceability of the production and trade of the Paraguayan charcoal.
