Tag: Ecuador

Huge 2025 Rise in Ecuadorian Balsa Exports to Feed Wind Turbine Demand Raises Fears of Increased Illegal Logging

The rape of the Amazon rainforest to feed an exploding global demand for wind turbine balsa wood cores could be getting worse.

Along with the global slaughter of millions of bats and the decimation of local raptor populations, the looting of the Amazon for balsa is one of the dirty secrets of the ‘green’ power revolution.

From The Daily Sceptic

By Chris Morrison

The rape of the Amazon rainforest to feed an exploding global demand for wind turbine balsa wood cores could be getting worse. According to local reports, the main balsa-producing country Ecuador has seen a huge 2025 rise in exports of the vital turbine core wood from US$218 million in 2024 to US$301 million. Last March, the Daily Sceptic reported exclusively on figures that suggested half a million mature balsa trees were being illegally logged every year in Ecuador and Peru to make up for shortfalls from sustainable plantations. The massive export rise over just one year hardly suggests the illegal deforestation is easing – if anything, it is a possible sign that the situation is getting worse.

Along with the global slaughter of millions of bats and the decimation of local raptor populations, the looting of the Amazon for balsa is one of the dirty secrets of the ‘green’ power revolution. For obvious political reasons, it cannot be mentioned in Net Zero-supporting mainstream media. Balsa is a tropical hardwood that is both lightweight and strong, and despite chemical foam alternatives, it is the material of choice for large 15 MW offshore turbine blades. According to a recent Mordor Intelligence report, foams can lose rigidity under extreme marine conditions – especially near the blade roots where stresses peak in structures that are almost as high as the Eiffel Tower.

Ecuador provides at least 70% of world balsa and China takes over half this supply as it attempts to dominate the global manufacture of wind turbines. It is thought that about 50% of global balsa production is used in turbine blades. Each blade is composed of 7% balsa, and it is estimated that each set of three can use up to 40 trees. Given what is known about annual balsa production, the scale of illegal logging and the requirements of turbine manufacturers, it is not difficult to arrive at a possible Amazon natural forest yearly loss of around half a million trees. The detailed figures can be found in our March article.

Balsa is a fast-growing wood that reaches the maturity needed for wind turbine use in about seven years. Until the soaring demand from turbines kicked in, it was harvested in sustainable plantations. But since the turn of the decade, this sustainable harvest cannot keep up with demand. In a damning 2024 survey, the Environment Investigation Agency (EIA) found that Ecuadorian exports were boosted by up to 50% following illegal logging in virgin rainforest.

The EIA report was damning. Investigators toured many of the illegal logging sites and charged that most, if not all, exporters turned to natural forests as a “convenient and immediate replacement” when plantations were quickly depleted of older trees. The areas under attack were noted to be some of the last intact forest landscapes in the country. They were said to be unique protected areas and emblematic indigenous territories.

One can only imagine the worldwide outcry if oil companies needed the wood for their own operations. But when alleged ‘green’ companies loot the forest, the blind eye turned is positively Nelsonian.

A continued lack of enough sustainable wood in Ecuador allied to a massive 37% increase in 2025 manufactured balsa exports hardly suggests a fall in illegal logging. Given that over 40 trees are required for a giant turbine, perhaps an educational plaque should be attached noting that at least 20 were illegally taken from the Amazon so this unreliable power machine can help us stop the Earth catching fire. (Other pseudoscience climate scares are of course available.)

Within days of the Daily Sceptic illegal logging article going viral on social media, a ‘fact check’ was published blowing smoke around similar claims. Green blob-funded Science Feedback didn’t mention the Daily Sceptic by name – it seems to have learnt we bite back – but it noted: “A common strategy that misinformers use against renewable energy is to claim that wind turbines or solar panels aren’t as green as they seem.” It is accepted that illegal balsa wood logging occurs, “but the main cause of deforestation in the Amazon is agriculture, not wind turbines or logging in general”.

So that’s all right then – if it were the main cause, we would have to get rather more upset about the matter. We should not minimise the illegal logging harms, continues the ever-reliable smoke blower. But is the entire wind industry now dependent on illegal Amazon wood? “Probably not” is the reply. A more relevant question would ask whether a significant portion of the wind industry was dependent on illegally obtained wood – and the answer would be: definitely yes.

“It is quite misleading to blame wind turbines for deforestation in the Amazon without crucial context,” Science Feedback observes. At this point, your correspondent started to lose the will to continue reading this tripe. One can only wonder how Science Feedback would spin our story that large areas of the Indonesian rainforest are being turned into open-cast mining pits to supply nickel and increase the range of high-end electric vehicles.

“Necessary thinning of overgrown vegetation designed to improve the overall health of the local ecosystem – and of course help stop the Earth going up in flames” would be our helpful suggestion.

Chris Morrison is the Daily Sceptic’s Environment Editor. Follow him on X.

EXCLUSIVE: Half a Million Balsa Trees Illegally Logged in Amazon Rainforest Every Year to Feed Global Wind Turbine Demand

Over half a million balsa hardwood trees are being illegally logged in the Amazon rainforest every year to feed the massive demand for wind turbines in many parts of the world. Balsa is a lightweight but strong wood that is commonly used in the core of giant turbine blades. It can make up around 7% of the blade and each set of three can use up to 40 trees.

From The Daily Sceptic

By Chris Morrison

Over half a million balsa hardwood trees are being illegally logged in the Amazon rainforest every year to feed the massive demand for wind turbines in many parts of the world. Balsa is a lightweight but strong wood that is commonly used in the core of giant turbine blades. It can make up around 7% of the blade and each set of three can use up to 40 trees.

This discovery is a genuine shock and follows an exclusive investigation by the Daily Sceptic. It adds to the huge ecological toll that the ‘green’ wind turbines are taking on the natural environment. These inefficient, unreliable, unsightly monsters require a large footprint on land and sea, kill millions of bats, decimate raptor populations, sweep the air of quadrillions of insects and alter local ecology on both land and sea. Nobody would install one in a free market, so they require vast financial subsidies to produce expensive electricity.

Given what is known about annual balsa production, the scale of illegal logging and the demands of wind turbine manufactures, it is not difficult to arrive at a possible Amazon forest yearly loss of over half a million trees. Most commercial balsa is exported by Ecuador and it has produced approximately 500,000 cubic metres annually in recent years, or about 80,000 metric tonnes. Around 55% of production is thought to end up in wind turbines and each group of three requires about 10.5m3 a set. Each set requires about 40 trees so annual balsa consumption for wind turbines equates to 1,047,619. Balsa is a relatively fast growing tropical wood and until the soaring demand from turbines kicked in, it was harvested in sustainable plantations. But since the turn of the decade, this sustainable harvest cannot keep up with demand. In a damning survey, the Environment Investigation Agency (EIA) found that exports were boosted by up to 50% following illegal logging in virgin rainforest.

Halve the turbine consumption of 1,047,619 trees and the illegal logging amounts to around 523,810 mature specimens. This figure is likely to be controversial so the Daily Sceptic has shown its workings-out in full. But any substantial annual cull is horrific, and far outstrips the one-off loss of 100,000 tropical rainforest trees logged to build a convenient road for delegates attending the recent ‘save the forest’ COP30 meeting in the Brazilian city of Belém.

Blind eyes are of course turned to the illegal logging, and have been for some time. In 2020, it was reported that 20,000 balsa trees were illegally felled between March and September in the Achuar indigenous territory along Ecuador’s Copataza River. Other reports refer to intense illegal logging, with some estimates noting the removal of 75% of the trees in some areas.

The EIA report that was published in 2024 was damning. Investigators toured many of the illegal logging sites and charged that most, if not all, exporters turned to natural forests as a “convenient and immediate replacement” when plantations were quickly depleted of older trees. The areas under attack were noted to be some of the last intact forest landscapes in the country. They were said to be unique protected areas and emblematic indigenous territories. Traders are said to have told the EIA that the logging of balsa was taking place “from north to south across most of the Amazonian provinces of the country”. It is estimated that at least 50% of production is currently being supplied by these illegal means. Blending of plantation wood with illegal logging is thought to vary between 10% to 70% depending on the exporter.

The EIA report gained little mainstream media or political attention when it was published, although the body is an established NGO, founded in the UK in 1984 with offices in the UK and Europe. For the narrative-driven mainstream, this type of upsetting news is simply too hot to handle.

However there have been attempts by turbine manufactures and supporters to suggest that balsa is being replaced in parts of the turbine core by various synthetic polymer foam substitutes. This is true, but balsa remains in popular use due to its excellent strength-to-weight ratio. Hybrid designs are said to have become more common, with balsa used in high-shear and other critical areas. In these areas it still holds an advantage over foams. But overall production figures suggest wind turbines are still using a great deal of the wood. Ecuadorean production is said to have spiked around 2020 with a previous sustainable total of 33,000 tonnes rising to 75,000, driven by Chinese turbines manufactures. It is a little difficult to get exact production figures but sources such as the EIA and UN Comtrade suggest exports of 80-100,000 tonnes in 2021, 60-80,000 in 2022, and 50-80,000 in 2023 and 2024.

After the spike, production has stabilised but at levels that can only have been possible by massive looting of the rainforest. It is obvious that a great deal of this is supported by huge increases in Chinese wind turbine manufacture. Overall figures for both domestic and export production are not available in one place, but credible estimate suggest monetary total of $8-12 billion in 2021 has risen to nearly $16 billion in 2024 with the projection for 2025 edging towards $18 billion.

The annual loss of balsa trees in virgin rainforests is unnecessary ecological rape traceable back to ideologues driving a hard-Left Net Zero fantasy. The Daily Septic has attempted to put an annual number on the loss using known figures. Our workings-out are supplied so others, if they wish, can contest our assumptions and maths and arrive at different conclusions. But few will be able to cover up the fact that there are very significant and continuing annual illegal logging balsa losses.

Chris Morrison is the Daily Sceptic’s Environment Editor. Follow him on X.

Shock COP Dirty Secret: At Least Half the Balsa Wood in Wind Turbine Blades is Illegally Logged in Amazonian Rainforests

How clean is clean when the rainforest pays the price?
The wood’s unique qualities make it ideal as a core for the giant blades attached to wind turbines. Ecuador produces over 90% of balsa due to unique climatic conditions in this particular area of the Americas.

Diagram illustrating the structure of a wind turbine blade, highlighting components such as the core material (balsa wood), spar, shear web, and structural adhesive.

From The Climate Sceptic

By Chris Morrison

Two men on a wooden boat navigating a river lined with lush greenery, with a log raft visible in the water.

How clean is clean when the rainforest pays the price?

Protecting the Amazon rainforest is one of the main goals of COP30, with the location in the Brazilian city of Belém chosen to emphasise what is described as the crucial role that such forests play in global climate regulation, biodiversity and “carbon” storage. It is bad enough that 100,000 mature rainforest trees had to be cut down to build a ‘Highway of Shame’ to speed COP delegates around town this week and next. But a far greater scandal, which today the Daily Sceptic brings to wider public attention, is the illegal logging of balsa wood in the Ecuadorian rainforest to supply rocketing demand from mostly Chinese wind turbine manufacturers. Such is the need for the strong but extraordinarily lightweight wood; it is estimated that at least 50% of the world’s balsa demand is currently being supplied by illegal logging in virgin rainforest.

The wood’s unique qualities make it ideal as a core for the giant blades attached to wind turbines. Ecuador produces over 90% of balsa due to unique climatic conditions in this particular area of the Americas. Much of it was previously obtained from plantations, but a ‘balsa boom’ over the last five years has depleted these resources and shortages have been made good by plundering the rainforest. And plunder is hardly an exaggeration, with trees apparently being removed from some of the most protected areas of the Ecuadorian forest.

Last year, the Environmental Investigation Agency produced a damning report that found many producers blended plantation wood with illegally harvested wild balsa from Amazon forests, including the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve, home to uncontacted indigenous groups. Its key finding is reprinted below:

According to EIA’s investigation this skyrocketing demand has had a long lasting effect. It appears that since the 2019–2020 balsa boom, the entire balsa production sector continues to depend upon the logging of natural forests, with a blending of plantation vs natural forest that allegedly varies between10% and 70% depending on exporter. These mixing practices in Ecuador have global repercussions.

Curiously, this shocking report, that seriously undermines the ethical production chain of wind turbines, failed to get a mention in the mainstream media. The EIA is not a small unknown operation, rather it is a substantial well-funded NGO founded in 1984 in the UK, with offices in the US and Europe. The Net Zero fantasy requires the planet to be blanketed with wind turbines, and this obviously overrules any ecological concerns. Bats and birds can be killed in their millions, whales beached on shorelines and entire local ecosystems disrupted, but the political activists don’t seem to care. If anything is said, it is little more than justifying and accepting the ecological consequences for the greater Net Zero good. For instance, in the UK the Bat Conservation Trust states that “climate change” is a significant threat to bat populations. “We need renewable energy to help mitigate for climate change for the benefit of the bats, people and the wider environment,” it adds.

Until recently, balsa wood was a small market, its uses including model aircraft and surfboards. The balsa boom led by wind blade demand means the current market is estimated at an annual value of at least $200 million. The balsa tree (Ochroma pyramidale) is fast growing in the right tropical conditions. If it wasn’t for the enormous demand created by the wind industry, it could be harvested on plantations as a sustainable commodity. As it is, recent and continuing demand has exhausted many plantations and denuded areas of virgin rainforest. In a wild setting, balsa trees often fill in natural gaps. Harvesting them creates sudden clear spaces that disturb the complex webs of life that support thousands of animal and plant species. Although fast growing in rich soils, regeneration in the rainforest can be much slower due to poor quality ground and local erosion caused by canopy removal.

To this day, balsa wood has numerous advantages as a core wind blade material over possible plastic foam substitutes. It has superior strength and stiffness compared to foam materials, and this allows for thinner core layers in high load areas like a blade’s root. This helps overall weight to be reduced without any reduction in overall engineering integrity. Prices of balsa wood are generally considered competitive, not least it would seem because production of plantation timber is massively boosted by the illegal logging.

The EIA report is worth reading in full. Mainstream media might even consider reporting its findings. The EIA investigators toured many of the illegal logging sites and charged that most, if not all, exporters quickly turned to natural forests as a “convenient and immediate available replacement” when plantations were quickly depleted of older trees from around the turn of the decade. It was found that balsa was extracted from Ecuador’s Amazonian heartland, “much of it spanning some of the last intact forest landscapes in the country”. These were said to be unique protected areas and emblematic indigenous territories. Traders are said to have told EIA that the logging of balsa was taking place “from north to south across most of the Amazonian provinces of the country”.

The EIA recommended that wind blade manufactures and wind power developers suspend the use of balsa until Ecuadorian supply chains are traced and transparent. The answer to that, as Britain’s unhinged energy secretary Ed Miliband once sang, is blowing in the wind.

Chris Morrison is the Daily Sceptic’s Environment Editor. Follow him on X.

A logging machine and workers in a deforested area, surrounded by cut trees, showcasing the impact of illegal logging.

Big Wind Decimates Balsa Farmers

Booming demand for balsa wood, used to make turbine blades for wind energy,
is ravaging Amazon forests and indigenous communities —
in the name of “green power.”

From Science Matters

By Ron Clutz

Amazon rain forest devastated to mount monstrous virtue signalling prayer wheels elsewhere. Stop the subsidies and the devastation from wind “farms.”

From The Defender Wind Energy’s Dirty Secret: Deforestation of the Amazon and Devastation of Indigenous Communities.  Excerpts in italics with my bolds.  H/T mohandeer

Booming demand for balsa wood, used to make turbine blades for wind energy,
is ravaging Amazon forests and indigenous communities —
in the name of “green power.”

Story at a glance:

  • The rapid expansion of wind energy has led to increasing demand for windmills and balsa wood to build them.
  • The tropical tree is facing exploitation and being cleared from Amazon forests, causing potentially more environmental problems than the windmills it creates can solve.
  • Wind turbine blades can be up to 328 feet (100 meters) long; each blade requires 150 cubic meters of balsa wood, which is several tons.
  • China is a major consumer of balsa wood, purchasing 85% of Ecuador’s exports in 2020.
  • The Open Democracy video, “A Green Paradox,” documents how the rush for balsa wood to create “green” wind energy has destroyed local indigenous communities and decimated ecosystems.
A global rush towards wind turbines has decimated Ecuador’s balsa trees – destroying local Indigenous communities and fragile ecosystems.

Balsa, a tree that’s native to South America, is a coveted resource. Growing up to 98 feet (30 meters) and ready for harvesting in just three to four years from planting, balsa holds the promise for high profits for those who grow them.

Adding to its value, balsa wood is flexible and light yet very strong, making it an ideal material for manufacturing bridges, skis, boats and wind turbine propellers.

In an ironic tragedy, however, the rapid expansion of wind energy has led to
increasing demand for windmills and balsa wood to build them.

Now, the tropical tree is facing exploitation and being cleared from Amazon forests, causing potentially more environmental problems than the windmills it creates can solve.  

Logging Amazon rainforests to create massive wind turbine propellers is the opposite of sustainable. Meanwhile, birds and bats — many species of which are already endangered — are suffering. It’s estimated that 600,000 to 949,000 bats, and up to 679,000 birds, are killed annually by wind turbines in the U.S.

But the number of wind turbines has increased significantly since these estimates were calculated, which means many more are probably affected. Areas, where wind farms are built, are also in peril, as the giant structures have a significant socio-economic impact.

As it stands, wind energy is falling into the trap of many “green” initiatives before it,
claiming to offer a solution to save the planet
while instead helping to destroy it.