Social and environmental sustainability continues to be at a very high level

Precious Woods Amazon passed the recertification audits for FSC and PEFC in 2022 with excellent results. This means that MIL Madeiras has now been FSC-certified for 25 years and PEFC-certified for 6 years. This is a sustained confirmation of our pioneering role in forest certification.

After both the PEFC and FSC audits were carried out completely online in the previous year due to the pandemic, the 2022 audits were again conducted on site. This gives the auditors a better overview, helping to guarantee a comprehensive and reliable verification of all the standards. We continue to work on a wide variety of research projects to deepen information on forest ecology and to optimize and document our resource-preserving forestry operations. We are also in close and intensive contact with the regional communities, allowing us to undertake useful joint projects. Supporting the local population and businesses through a wide range of development projects continues to be a focus of our social engagement.

In the reporting year we conducted the following activities:

Using the most recent data from the Brazilian Space Agency, we conducted a study of how the forest cover has changed over time. The study shows that the canopy has declined by only 1 % since 2008. This result includes the communities and their agricultural areas, which have increased since 2008. This demonstrates that MIL Madeiras is making an essential contribution to the protection of the forests.

We also support various research projects in the field of environment and sustainability in collaboration with four local universities and research institutions. A major project on fauna inventory before and after timber use is investigating the influence of management on fauna. The goal of such projects is not only to obtain scientific data, but also to gain insights into how we could apply our harvesting techniques with even lower impact. The initial results were presented at a conference in 2022, confirming that for the purpose of wildlife conservation, sustainable forestry is a good alternative to merely placing forests under protection.
It continues to be a major priority and endeavour to support and promote the agricultural production of the communities in our region. In 2022, we intensified our agricultural consulting. One of our employees, a trained agronomist, provides advice and support to the communities and helps to deepen knowledge and develop new projects, such as coffee cultivation.
In 2022, we again carried out a detailed socioeconomic study that we have been conducting regularly since 2011. As part of this study, 465 families in 9 communities were interviewed with the aim of determining the influence of sustainable forestry on aspects such as health, employment, and demographics.
Education continues to be a major priority. In addition to offering internships for trainees at MIL Madeiras, we also participated in educational programmes for the younger generation in 2022. We organized the CINEMIL project, which makes age-appropriate films on health and the environment available in the surrounding communities, addressed to pupils in first to fifth grade – the next generation of our employees.
Not only MIL Madeiras as a company demonstrates social commitment! As part of the Occupational Safety Action Week, our employees also conducted a “Reach Out” campaign, in which they collected more than four tonnes of food donations for needy population groups.