No, it’s not an anti-abortion campaign: This Operation Rescue is an attempt to save Brazil’s mahogany trees from the chainsaw. The nation has launched a “war” to recover an estimated $16 million worth of the valuable wood before it is shipped abroad, and to set up road and river patrols to block smuggling routes. The effort is being coordinated by the Brazilian environmental agency Ibama with the cooperation of the police and the army. Brazil banned mahogany logging in October, and only a handful of companies can now legally cut the wood, which fetches up to $350 for about 100 board feet. Still, illegal logging continues, and environmentalists fear that at the current rate, the country’s Amazon mahogany reserves could disappear within eight years.
