KATSARAKISPlant Your Future
Forestry News · 18 October 2026 · By Kostas Katsarakis

Amazon clearing at a record low, and an FSC audit in Romania

Weekly digest for people considering tree and forestry investments.

Two stories this week, and both are about the same thing: who checks what happens in a forest, and how. One shows satellite monitoring at national scale. The other shows a certification label being tested by an on-site audit.

Amazon clearing falls 41.8% to the lowest level since records began

Forest clearing in Brazil's Amazon fell by 41.8% in the twelve months to July 2026, from 5,731 km² to 3,335 km², according to a preliminary estimate from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). Wood Central reports that this is the lowest figure since INPE's satellite series began in 1988, below the previous low of 4,571 km² in 2012.

The figure is preliminary. It is based on 271 of 516 priority satellite images, and the final rate is due in the first half of next year.

Why it matters for tree investors: Forest change is now measured from space, year after year, and much of the data is public. When a seller makes claims about a forest project in a tropical region, independent monitoring data is one of the few things an individual investor can check without travelling there.

Source: Wood Central: Amazon deforestation

FSC opens an audit of a Romanian harvest linked to an IKEA supplier

Greenpeace has alleged that a harvest in Parcel 37 of the Rusca Montană forest district in Romania, managed by the state forest company Romsilva, did not meet certification rules. Greenpeace Romania's investigators say they found no habitat trees or deadwood left on the site. Wood Central reports that the timber is linked to a supplier of IKEA furniture.

The Soil Association, an independent certification body, has registered a formal complaint under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) system. Auditors will check harvesting records, regeneration plans and environmental impacts, and will visit the site. Inter IKEA Group says its forestry experts visited the site and that the harvest complied with local law. No finding has been made yet.

Why it matters for tree investors: A certification label is not a permanent guarantee. It can be challenged, audited and, if problems are not fixed, affected. If a tree investment is sold as certified, ask for the certificate number and look it up yourself in FSC's public certificate database.

Source: Wood Central: FSC complaint in Romania

I'm a long-term tree-plantation investor, not a forestry scientist or a licensed financial adviser. I earn referral commissions from a plantation company I work with. Nothing in this digest is investment advice. Always read the original sources.

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