To reach Cachoeira do Aru\u00e3, a remote riverside community in the Brazilian state of Par\u00e1, one must travel from the port of Santar\u00e9m along the River Arapiuns. For much of the four-hour speedboat trip, the riverside is flanked by pristine forest, giving the impression of arriving in an almost untouched Amazon.<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s note<\/p>\n
The reality is much different: the area around Cachoeira do Aru\u00e3 is a hotspot for the extraction of wood. Today, the settlement is home to around 130 families, with the population having grown since logging companies began to exploit the region.<\/p>\n
This dense native forest is punctuated by signs of logging activity. On the banks of the Arapiuns River, we see two clearings before which large rafts are moored, the departure point for huge loads of Amazon logs, especially in the dry season between July and January.<\/p>\n
Aru\u00e3 has also become a tourist attraction, with visitors arriving to see the waterfall that gives the area its name. It also attracted headlines in March 2021, when the former Minister for the Environment, Ricardo Salles, was pictured<\/a> in the region, soon after the Federal Police seized more than 226,000 cubic metres of wood, worth around 129 million reais (US$25 million).<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n