17 April 2014, Mongabay news - Nearly 70 percent of "officially inspected" logging concessions in Peru  have had their permits canceled or are under investigation for major breaches of  forestry laws, finds a new study published in the journal Scientific  Reports. Worryingly, the research also concludes that forestry permits are  being widely used to launder timber illegally logged from outside concession  areas.

Analyzing nine years of data from OSINFOR, a Peruvian government  agency tasked with inspecting logging concessions, a team of scientists led by  Matt Finer of the Center for International Environmental Law and the Amazon  Conservation Association found that 68 percent of all concessions supervised by  the government were suspected of major violations, while 30 percent of 609 total  concessions had been canceled due to breaches of forestry laws. Only 20 percent  of concessions received clearance for lesser or no violations from OSINFOR

The findings suggest that despite efforts to improve the sustainability  of Peru's forestry sector via reform of its forest regulations in 2000 and  provisions in the 2009 US–Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, abuses remain  widespread, according to Finer.

"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," he said in a  statement. "As a consequence, logging is not contained to concessions, and  instead, it threatens all forested lands, including protected areas and  indigenous territories."

The study seems to confirm reports from  indigenous communities about encroachment and conflicts with illegal loggers,  according to Alberto Pizango, President of AIDESEP, Peruvian indigenous peoples  group.

"This new study supports the stories we are hearing from  communities across the Amazon," said Pizango in a release. "The findings also  reinforce our demand that the government help us to protect our lands, and that  it recognize our rights over the forests where our peoples have lived for  hundreds of years."

The findings are also consistent with a  report released last year by the Environmental Investigative Agency, an  international NGO. EIA identified over 112 shipments of illegally logged cedar  and big-leaf mahogany from Peru to the U.S. between January 2008 and May 2010.  The volume represented 35 percent of all cedar and mahogany shipments from Peru  to the U.S.

The apparent widespread illegality of logging in Peru raises  questions about policies that grant big concessions to forestry companies over  traditional land managers at a time when the Peruvian government is publicly  committing to reducing deforestation, adds Pizango.

"Large-scale  industrial concessions in Peru are fronts for the laundering of illegal  logging," he said. "At the same time, a major actor in forestry in  Peru—indigenous peoples who have 12 million hectares of titled land, with the  lowest rate of deforestation of any sector, receive no attention or support from  the government—unlike the massive enterprises that are destroying the Amazon."

The new study says the problems will likely continue unless the government  fundamentally reforms its system for documenting the origin of timber.

"These findings lead us to conclude that the regulatory documents designed to  promote sustainable logging are instead enabling illegal logging," write the  authors. "Specifically, logging permits based on falsified annual plans are  widely used to harvest trees in unauthorized areas. As a result, much of the  timber coming out of the Peruvian Amazon is sourced outside of authorized  concession areas. Thus, we argue that the problem is a combination of a lack of  oversight and enforcement prior to OSINFOR inspections, and fundamental  shortcomings of existing law."

Under the current system, authorities  check documents accompanying timber only in transport or upon arrival in port,  rather than at the source of extraction, leaving ample opportunities for fraud.  Additionally, field inspections occur after harvesting. These practices ensure  enforcement comes too late to be effective.

"This means that in practice  the transport permits (GTFs) are not linked to the concession area in question.  Instead, they become a tradable item and enable loggers to launder timber  extracted outside of authorized areas. Once timber in transit has a GTF, it is  very difficult for authorities to identify the original source of the timber,"  the authors write. "Until there is a significantly improved regulatory system in  place, consisting of both improved enforcement and legal reforms, it will remain  difficult to control the Peruvian forestry sector and effectively restrict  logging to authorized areas."

"Until the legal system shifts the focus  away from transit documents and towards verifying extraction of wood at the  source and the subsequent chain of custody, widespread illegal logging will  likely persist."

Source: http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0417-illegal-logging-peru.html#2qVpkVEtIrKv4OIl.99