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Modern Outdoor, a company designing outdoor furniture, has successfully perpetrated a subterfuge on wholesalers, retailers and the public by making long-disproved claims of sustainability about the source of the ipê used in much of their furniture.

Modern Outdoor epitomizes the problems with ipê imports, certification and greenwashing in the US market.

Ipe, a wood logged from the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon, is mostly logged illegally. In both Brazil and Peru, estimates are that 80% of logging is taking place illegally. Even legal logging is not sustainable as government regulations to not protect forests well enough. All ipê is originating from ancient tropical forests; there are no ipê plantations. While there is some ipê originating from forests certified by organizations accredited by the Forest Stewarship Council, these certifiers are not certifying that logging is "sustainable" but that it is "well managed" according to the various definitions at which these organizations have arrived. Scientific studies have shown that, in old growth rainforests, even so-called "certified" logging is having a large-scale detrimental impact on biodiversity. As well, when one looks at the logging taking place in old growth in Brazil, the roads left behind by loggers are then used by others to further destroy logged-over forests. Ipê logging is not sustainable, period.

As well, many certifications by FSC-accredited organizations are not actually in compliance with the Principles and Criteria of the FSC, as detailed on theFSC-Watch website.

Yet, importers of ipê have been able to convince the public that it is a sustainable material. Many retailers, architects, designers and others have fallen for the ruse, from This Old House to Dwell Magazine.

But Modern Outdoor has taken this scam to a higher plateau. They have used specific language to confuse buyers and promoters into believing that ipê is sustainable and that their ipê is "certified".

Over the last decade, "certified" has come to mean certified by an organization accredited by the FSC. Yet, Modern Outdoor states, "We use ITTO or IBAMA certified Ipe - a beautiful Brazilian hardwood that is three times as dense as Teak, Red Balau — another extremely dense and durable exterior hardwood…"

ITTO, the International Timber Trade Organization, does not certify anything. It is an organization that promotes the use of tropical hardwoods. All countries selling or buying tropical hardwoods are members of the ITTO. There is no such thing as ITTO "certified".

IBAMA is the Brazilian government's environment agency that oversees logging. They are supposed to control logging but for the last 20 years, study after study has shown that about 80% of wood originating from Brazil has been logged illegally. IBAMA finally admitted to this figure when the SAE, the Brazilian intelligence agency, ran a sting operation that included dozens of IBAMA employees on the take.

Not much has changed since then and IBAMA directors have stated that IBAMA would need five-times their current budget to police logging in the Brazilian Amazon. The SAE's leaked report showed the IBAMA cetificates issued to legal loggers were being photocopied with impunity, and are thus not worth the paper on which they are printed.

Yet these are the organizations that buyers are led to believe have 'certified' Modern Outdoor's ipê. This slight of hand has led dozens of resellers and affiliates to believe that MO's furniture is "sustainable".

The list is extensive:





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