There’s no such thing as a routine assignment in this untamed place. Even so, the mission Lobo directed last week near the Pichacha River was typical enough. The objective was to retrieve a stash of mahogany, valued at about $1 million, which was illegally cut down on the lands of the Kayapo Indians. On the way, some seven IBAMA agents in three vehicles sped through the smoke of numerous illegal slash-and-burn fires and past gaping craters left by hundreds of wildcat gold prospectors. Lobo’s team was too late to catch the timber rustlers with the goods, but the agents combed the woods for stragglers. The outlaws had built a 25-meter bridge to get their logging trucks onto Kayapo territory. Lobo and his men destroyed it with plastic explosives–for the second time in three weeks. They could only wonder how soon they would have to come back and demolish it again.

That brief surge of hope has passed. Settlers, ranchers and lumbermen are once again pouring onto the frontier, felling and burning acre after virgin acre. The settlers are trapped in a ruinous cycle. They strip away the forest and plant their crops. In a few years the land wears out, and poverty drives the people to move on to repeat the process elsewhere. Brazil’s recently stable economy and strong currency, along with new advances in tropical-farming techniques, have encouraged the spreading environmental disaster. Back-to-back droughts caused by El Nino only worsened the flames. In 1997, some 16,000 square kilometers went up in smoke; last year an additional 18,000 square kilometers were lost–approximately the area of Israel. Satellite photos suggest that 1999’s record will be no better.

Lobo insists the destruction can be curbed. “But only if we have more manpower, the proper technology and funding at the right time,” he adds. Up to now IBAMA has come up short on all counts. Ten years ago, in greener times, the agency’s budget for inspection and enforcement was $20 million. This year the sum was slashed to $3 million. Foreign donors have sent some assistance–such as the $340 million pledged by G-7, and administered by the World Bank–but that money is lost in a jungle of red tape.

Now IBAMA seems to be getting a bit of help. Last month the Brazilian Congress passed a new environmental law, making unauthorized deforestation a jailable offense and raising the maximum fine to $25 million. “We’re never going to stop illegal logging,” says Edson Cruz. “But we can sure make life for the outlaws more difficult, and a lot more expensive.” The lumber companies seem to be getting the message. Some 30 of them are working to earn certification from the international Forestry Stewardship Council, a sort of green seal for non-predatory wood cutting.