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Viewing cable 06LIMA4528, FORESTRY IN PERU: FIGHTING ILLEGAL LOGGING AND CORRUPTION

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06LIMA4528 2006-11-29 20:26 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Lima
VZCZCXYZ0032
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPE #4528/01 3332026
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 292026Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY LIMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3135
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 4138
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 7108
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 2691
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 9975
RUEHGE/AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN 0506
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ NOV PARAMARIBO 0143
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 0853
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 0976
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHINGTON DC
UNCLAS LIMA 004528 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/AND, EPSC AND OES/ETC,ENV 
BRASILIA FOR ESTH HUB - J STORY 
USAID FOR LAC, EGAT 
USDA FOR /AS/FAA/BAILEY,/FAS/ITP/FSTSD/BREHM,/FS/MAYHE W 
INTERIOR FOR USFWS/GABRIEL,ST.JOHN 
USTR FOR MARA BURR 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAGR SENV ETRD EAID ECON PE
SUBJECT: FORESTRY IN PERU: FIGHTING ILLEGAL LOGGING AND CORRUPTION 
 
REF: Lima 1534 
 
1.  (U) SUMMARY: Peru's timber exports have been growing at 14% a 
year for the past five years, and overseas demand for the country's 
fabled mahogany and other tropical hardwoods is growing.  Yet 
illegal logging is significant, according to the GOP's top forestry 
official.  There is growing evidence that the government 
certification and the export control systems in place fall victim to 
endemic corruption and poor organization.  Inventories of key 
species are still inadequate and certification problems persist. 
However, there is reason for optimism in three areas: the new Garcia 
administration's focus on sustainable development, a commitment by 
newly-appointed forestry officials to improve conditions, and 
successes by the USAID-sponsored certification program.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
ILLEGAL LOGGING 
--------------- 
2.  Over the past two months, USAID Forestry program officers and 
ESTHoff have talked with a range of NGOs and indigenous community 
representatives who have first hand knowledge of the logging 
situation.   We solicited information from respected international 
NGOs such as the Field Museum of Chicago and World Wildlife Fund 
(USAID partners), private companies engaged in mining whose 
employees have observed illegal logging, INRENA officials and 
indigenous community representatives.  The uniform response was that 
corruption and poorly enforced illegal logging still thrives 
throughout the Amazon basin. 
 
3. Logging, like mining or hydrocarbon extraction, is only permitted 
in Peru under license from the national government. In the forest 
products sector, this means either a commercial concession or an 
indigenous community permit.  Since Reftel update, illegal logging 
appears to persist. The GOP's forest management agency, INRENA, is 
unable to either verify all concessions or patrol all protected 
areas to spot illegal logging.  Since 2004, INRENA has verified 79 
sites (out of around 575 concessions or permits). In March through 
July of 2006, 57 of the 79 concessions were inspected. In 50 of 
those, irregularities were found; typically no stump where a log had 
supposedly been taken the year before, indicating the log was 
actually taken from a different area.  There are few reliable 
figures for illegal logging in general in Peru, and estimates range 
from 70 to 90 percent. 
 
USAID COMBATS ILLEGAL LOGGING WITH CERTIFICATION 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
4.  To counter illegal logging, USAID is in the midst of a multi 
year effort (Septel) to support certification of forests in a number 
of commercial concessions and indigenous communities; 400,000 ha of 
Peruvian forest have been certified, giving exporters and U.S. 
importers confidence in the legal acquisition of te wood traded. 
(Note: Export firms we talk to insist on a distinction between 
illegal logging and exports; many firms claim that exports are by 
and large legal, due to the documentation required.  It is true that 
wood sold for domestic consumption requires less rigorous paperwork. 
End Note.) Likewise a number of chains of custody through the 
country have been certified (WWF has numbers, specific names and 
locations for that). 
 
MAHOGANY, CITES AND INVENTORIES 
------------------------------- 
5.  (U) Peru's National Agrarian University (UNALM) is making 
progress in its inventory of mahogany, the species most in danger; 
however, there is widespread concern that the UNALM inventory will 
not be completed in time to mitigate the effects of illegal logging. 
 In addition, inventory of other species that may soon be 
threatened, such as cedar, will also be important.  UNALM is the 
scientific authority for the listing of Mahogany under Appendix II 
of the Convention on International Trafficking in Endangered Species 
(CITES). The CITES Secretariat recently petitioned to the CITES 
Standing Committee to suspend all trade in Peruvian mahogany due to 
illegal logging and the alleged failure of UNALM to credibly show 
lack of detriment to the species from logging.  While the Standing 
Committee decided not to recommend a trade ban (mainly on procedural 
grounds), Peru will be expected to make significant progress against 
illegal logging by the next CITES meeting in July 2007. 
 
INTERNAL INRENA PROBLEMS 
------------------------ 
6.  (U) President Garcia's recently appointed Minister of 
Agriculture, Jose Salazar, has publicly criticized problems within 
INRENA: corruption, a cumbersome organizational structure and overly 
complicated documentation requirements.  Salazar directed a 
reorganization of INRENA that is underway.  INRENA's new Director 
has admitted that these problems exist and has promised to fix 
them. 
 
7.  (SBU) A USAID environment team visited a remote area of Loreto 
department and witnessed logging of a protected area firsthand; the 
team then visited the INRENA inspector the following day and was 
shown permits for those very logs, showing that they had been 
harvested from a legal concession.  One of the Loreto region's 
Congressmen, Mario Fernando Pena told us that the main problem 
facing government officials, whether INRENA or local police, in the 
logging areas is corruption.  INRENA forest inspectors are paid 
approximately $200 per month. The temptation to accept bribes for 
valuable timber shipments is ever present. 
 
CHAIN OF CUSTODY: DOCUMENT FABRICATION IN CONCESSIONS 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
8. (SBU) INRENA Director RobertQAngeles admits that illegal logging 
is significant and pledged to combat it, including rooting out 
INRENA employees that he believed were part of the problem. USAID 
Environment Director and ESTHoff met with Roberto Angeles soon after 
he took office in September 2006, and again on November 17.  USAID 
Mission Director and Environment Director also met with Mr. Angeles 
on November 20 and November 27.  In Angeles' presentation to the 
CITES Standing Committee in October in Geneva, as well in meetings 
with USG in Peru, he admitted that false documentation resulted in 
denying export permits for 56 concessions out of the 79 inspected 
since 2004, and pledged priority attention to the matter. 
 
EXPLOITATION OF INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES 
-------------------------------------- 
9.  (SBU) Numerous NGOs have done credible fieldwork to document 
logging as practiced on the ground.  Data collection in August 
conducted by Round River Conservation Studies and ParksWatch Peru in 
the Alto Purus protected area (the most remote jungle of Peru, 
jutting into Brazil) found extensive illegal logging as well as 
waste (leaving imperfect felled mahogany trees to rot).  They also 
found exploitation of indigenous peoples.  In this case, local 
residents hired by loggers are charged large amounts for living 
essentials, logging equipment and transportation and are paid 
pittances for labor and the trees.  INRENA's November news letter 
highlights a recent report by the International Labor Organization 
reporting pseudo-slavery conditions of indigenous communities in the 
forest sector. 
 
INADEQUATE PERSONNEL AND CORRUPTION IN LAW ENFORCEMENT 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
10. (SBU)  In another anecdote from the Madre de Dios department, 
southeast of Lima, international NGO sources we find credible told 
us of mahogany logs in police and military planes arriving in 
Pucallpa from an area in the Alto Purus protected area where there 
are no logging concessions or indigenous permits.  (Note: Police 
contacts tell us that the logs transported in police aircraft have 
appropriate documentation, suggesting chain of custody fraud 
somewhere.  End Note.) 
 
11. (SBU) INRENA forestry officials told ESTH officer of enforcement 
issues during field trips to Yanachaga-Chemiyin national park in 
February and eco-tourist buffer zones near Iquitos in August. The 
officials reported similar problems in both areas: in order to have 
police arrest illegal loggers and seize the wood, they had to supply 
police officials with fuel for police boats and vehicles. 
Conversations with INRENA officials in October revealed that this 
 
situation has not changed; police officials continue to report to 
INRENA officials insufficient resources to conduct enforcement 
actions. 
 
12. (SBU) ESTH off discussed illegal logging with representatives of 
the local indigenous NGO AIDER in September and October.  While 
AIDER reports that their organization successfully resists the labor 
exploitation problem, illegal logging on their land by outsiders is 
their greatest problem; INRENA officials and police are too few in 
number and unwilling to confront the illegal loggers that AIDER 
members identify. 
 
CERTIFICATION, INVENTORY, GARCIA: A START 
----------------------------------------- 
13. (SBU) Efforts to make a dent in illegal logging have just begun. 
 President Garcia took office on July 28, promising a policy of 
sustainable forestry.  With USAID support, the GOP has begun to 
certify the forest, but so far only managed 400,000 hectares out of 
7 million concessioned. Forest certification identifies social, 
economic and environmental indicators and provides benchmarks that 
are internationally recognized as best practices in these different 
areas. Agriculture Minister Jose Salazar announced a goal to reach 
one million certified hectares by the end of 2007. A mahogany 
inventory is underway, but in only three of the seven departments 
where mahogany is found.  Salazar has also begun to restructure 
INRENA to promote greater transparency and efficiency. 
 
COMMENT: 
------- 
14. (U) It will take time for policy changes to reach the remote 
areas where illegal logging takes place.  Without minimizing the 
seriousness of the illegal logging that endures in Peru, we note 
several factors have come together to suggest improvement in the 
coming year.  President Garcia has installed a new team that 
acknowledges past mistakes and has solid ideas for the future. 
USAID, in partnership with local and international NGOs, GOP and 
private sector partners has made solid progress in forest 
certification. USG continues to monitor the situation closely and 
systematically. 
 
15.  Nevertheless, serious problems remain for Peru's management of 
this vital natural resource, including poor enforcement of existing 
laws, INRENA'S cumbersome bureaucratic structure and continued 
widespread corruption.  Peru's selection as a MCC Threshold country 
this year might be an opportunity to focus further on corruption in 
forest management. 
STRUBLE