ACA Staff Report Demonstrates Illegal Logging Rampant in Peru

Dr. Matt Finer standing beside a felled tree in Peru. According to the new study, much of this timber may have come from unauthorized areas, including protected areas and indigenous territories outside of legal concessions.

Dr. Matt Finer, ACA’s Research Specialist, is the lead author of a paper published yesterday in Scientific Reports, an open access, peer-reviewed journal affiliated with Nature. Focused on logging in Peru, the paper analyzes 609 logging concessions with data obtained from OSINFOR, the supervisory body in Peru that oversees post-logging inspections. Finer, along with colleagues representing the Center for International Environmental Law and the Instituto de Pequisas Ecologicas, found that 68% of officially inspected concessions are either cancelled or under investigation for major violations of Peru’s forestry laws. (Sound familiar?  Newsweek and The Guardian have published articles reporting on this study.) 

Each logging concession represents a 40-year lease to officially manage public land for timber use. Reasons for cancelling logging concessions include timber extraction outside of concession limits, extraction or transport of illegal timber, non-compliance with management, and submission of false information; often, as this paper describes, OSINFOR discovered no stumps where legally sanctioned logging was to have taken place.

“Our new study presents evidence that the illegal logging concession system is in reality enabling an illegal logging crisis in the Peruvian Amazon despite important reform efforts,” says Finer. “As a consequence, logging is not contained to concessions, and instead it threatens all forested lands, including protected areas and indigenous territories.”  But another key finding is that OSINFOR’s regulatory work is critically important to improving the concession system. Finer adds, “OSINFOR deserves additional support, not less, as the office is increasingly criticized by loggers whose concessions have been canceled.”  

Featured photo: Dr. Matt Finer standing beside a felled tree in Peru. According to the new study, much of this timber may have come from unauthorized areas, including protected areas and indigenous territories outside of legal concessions. (Credit: Clinton Jenkins)

Partnering to Protect Cusco’s Biodiversity

Earlier this year, ACCA (ACA’s Peruvian sister organization) signed a formal cooperative agreement with Cusco’s regional government to support the creation of two new regional protected areas, Urusayhua-Koshireni and Ausangate. As part of this partnership, ACCA will also support the regional government in the management of the Choquequirao Regional Conservation Area, a span of forest which includes ancient Incan ruins just 30 miles from Machu Picchu.  

In Peru’s park system, a regional protected area is the equivalent of a U.S. state park. Urusayhua-Koshireni and Ausangate span over 1.5 million acres; Choquequirao, Cusco’s first regional conservation area, stands at 256,530 acres. ACCA hopes to have Urusayhua-Koshireni and Ausangate officially declared as regional protected areas by 2015. Once officially declared, this Partnering to Protect Cusco's Biodiversity Danielle Poglianipartnership will offer additional protection for close to 2 million acres of forested and culturally significant land. 

Daniela Pogliani, ACCA’s Executive Director, and Efraín Samochuallpa Solis, Cusco’s Regional Manager of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, signed the agreement February 20 on behalf of their respective institutions. The partnership took effect the same day.

Over the coming months and years, ACCA will assist Cusco in implementing its plan for Choquequirao and provide additional support for hiring staff, equipping rangers, developing a research plan, and seeking long-term financing for the area.

 

Who Lives in These Protected Areas?

Protected areas give wildlife the space they to need to thrive. Here are just a few of the majestic species that the partnership between ACCA and the Cusco regional governmentto create these protected areaswill help:

Logging Concessions Enable Illegal Logging Crisis in the Peruvian Amazon

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WASHINGTON, DC (April 17, 2014)—The megadiverse Peruvian Amazon is a globally important arena when it comes to promoting sustainable logging. Despite efforts to achieve sustainability, including a modern Forestry Law and an important Forestry Annex in the US–Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, illegal logging continues to plague the region.

These instruments reformed the legal logging concession system – which allows the Peruvian government to grant long-term contracts for logging rights on specific tracts of public land – and the seemingly comprehensive regulatory framework to manage it. There are currently 609 logging concessions in the Peruvian Amazon.

In a new study published today in the open-access journal Scientific Reports, researchers found that 68% of officially inspected concessions are either cancelled or under investigation for major violations of forestry regulations. Moreover, the nature of the violations indicates that the permits associated with legal concessions are used to harvest and transport trees in unauthorized areas.

“Our new study presents evidence that the legal logging concession system is in reality enabling an illegal logging crisis in the Peruvian Amazon despite important reform efforts,” said Matt Finer of the Amazon Conservation Association. “As a consequence, logging is not contained to concessions, and instead, it threatens all forested lands, including protected areas and indigenous territories.”

The findings derive from analyzing nine years of official information from OSINFOR1 , the supervisory body in Peru that conducts post-logging inspections. In the majority of inspected concessions, OSINFOR documented: timber extraction outside of concession limits, extraction or transport of illegal timber, non-compliance with management plans, and submission of false or incomplete information.

Many of the violations pertain to the illegal extraction of threatened cedar species that are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which aims to ensure that international trade in species does not threaten their survival.

“Overall, we found a troubling, yet common, pattern indicating that legal logging permits are often used to facilitate the extraction and transit of timber outside the concession area,” said Melissa Blue Sky of the Center for International Environmental Law.

Through the analysis of reports of inspected concessions, the study found that logging concession owners often indicate the presence of abundant timber, particularly cedar, in their management plan and then claim authorized logging took place. However, when OSINFOR eventually inspects the concession area, they often find that the information in the management plan was false because there are no stumps of the supposedly harvested trees.

“Despite important reforms, much of the timber coming out of the Peruvian Amazon is still likely sourced outside of authorized concession areas,” said Clinton Jenkins of the Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas in Brazil. “More reforms and enforcement of regulations are obviously still needed.”

Another key finding of the study is that OSINFOR’s regulatory work is critically important to improving the concession system. “OSINFOR deserves additional support, not less, as the office is increasingly criticized by loggers whose concessions have been canceled,” said Finer.

A new Forestry Law was passed in July 2011, but has not yet gone into effect due to delays in the adoption of the implementing regulation. “Unfortunately, the new 2011 Forestry Law and implementing regulation, which is under development, currently fall short of what is needed to address this problem,” said Blue Sky.

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CONTACT Matt Finer (Amazon Conservation Association) mfiner@amazonconservation.org, Tel: 202-234-2356

Clinton N. Jenkins (Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas) clinton.jenkins@gmail.com

Melissa Blue Sky (Center for International Environmental Law) mbluesky@ciel.org

Justin Pine (Northern Arizona University) jrp263@nau.edu

Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) and its sister organization in Peru, Conservación Amazónica-ACCA, have been pioneers in conserving biodiversity in the southwest Amazon since 1999. They seek to preserve the world’s richest forests, train the next generation of Amazonian conservationists, and help people in the Amazon live better lives through sustainable means.

Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) uses international law and institutions to protect the environment, promote human health, and ensure a just and sustainable society. CIEL is a non‐profit organization dedicated to advocacy in the global public interest, including through legal counsel, policy research, analysis, education, training and capacity building.

The Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (IPÊ) is one of the largest environmental NGOs in Brazil with over ninety professionals working in more than forty projects throughout Brazil. IPÊ undertakes an integrated action model, developed through decades of experience, which combines research, environmental education, habitat restoration, and community involvement with sustainable development, landscape conservation and policy-making.

1 Organismo de Supervisión de los Recursos Forestales y de Fauna Silvestre

Illegal logging

Illegal logging
 Logs passing through an Iquitos port. According to the new study, many of these giant logs may have come from unauthorized areas, including protected areas and indigenous territories, outside of legal concessions (photo: Matt Finer).

Dr. Matt Finer, ACA’s Research Specialist, is the lead author of a paper published on April 17th, 2014 in Scientific Reports, an open access, peer-reviewed journal affiliated with Nature. Focused on logging in Peru, the paper analyzes 609 logging concessions with data obtained from OSINFOR, the supervisory body in Peru that oversees post-logging inspections. Finer, along with colleagues representing the Center for International Environmental Law and the Instituto de Pequisas Ecologicas, found that 68% of officially inspected concessions are either cancelled or under investigation for major violations of Peru’s forestry laws. 

Each logging concession represents a 40-year lease to officially manage public land for timber use. Reasons for cancelling logging concessions include timber extraction outside of concession limits, extraction or transport of illegal timber, non-compliance with management, and submission of false information; often, as this paper describes, OSINFOR discovered no stumps where legally sanctioned logging was to have taken place.

 

“Our new study presents evidence that the illegal logging concession system is in reality enabling an illegal logging crisis in the Peruvian Amazon despite important reform efforts,” says Finer. “As a consequence, logging is not contained to concessions, and instead it threatens all forested lands, including protected areas and indigenous territories.”  But another key finding is that OSINFOR’s regulatory work is critically important to improving the concession system. Finer adds, “OSINFOR deserves additional support, not less, as the office is increasingly criticized by loggers whose concessions have been canceled.” Read more about this topic in Newsweek or The Guardian»