"Our goal is stop all illegal logging," Minister Marina Silva said at a conference in Sao Paulo. "This system is more transparent and more efficient." Brazil has been widely criticized for failing to stop illegal logging in the Amazon, the world's largest tropical rainforest. Environmental groups say the paper documents previously required to transport timber and other forestry products were too easy to falsify.

Greenpeace showed just how easy last year when it bought 30 tonnes of illegally harvested timber in the Amazon and delivered it to the police in Sao Paulo, more than 2600km to the south.

Ms Silva said the new electronic system will reduce fraud because all forestry products traveling on Brazil's roads must be registered in a central database with the Environment Ministry and the environmental Protection Agency, known as Ibama.

However, several workers at Ibama have been implicated in illegal logging operations. One illegal logging ring uncovered last year in Mato Grosso, on the southern border of the Amazon, involved dozens of Ibama workers.

Another illegal ring involving 24 Ibama employees was uncovered in Rio de Janeiro this week.

Ms Silva said the government had been working to root out what she referred to as "bad public servants".

(Published news.com.au, September 1, 2006)

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