The Dilemma of Lawless Forests

Peru holds one of the largest forested areas in the world. But the lack of legislation governing their management is standing in the way of sustainable use - and contributing to their destruction.

LIMA - The lack of a strategy for the rational and sustainable utilization of Peru's jungles not only impedes the development of forest industries, but also facilitates their destruction by peasant farmers migrating to the wooded areas from the Andean highlands.

The nation's Executive branch, logging companies, environmentalists and community organizations cannot agree on a model for forestry development that would be appropriate for the Peruvian context.

On March 19, the interim government of President Valentín Paniagua was to enact the regulations of the Forestry Act approved by parliament July 16, 2000, but the decree was postponed for the fourth time. The finalization of Peru's forest strategy will likely be left for the new president, to be elected April 8 and sworn into office July 28.

With nearly 80 million hectares of forests, largely in its Amazon region, Peru is number eight among the 168 countries that hold the 3.5 billion forested hectares covering the Earth. In Latin America, it is second only to Brazil, but is not among the leading exporters of lumber.

Through sustainable exploitation of 15 percent of its jungles - that is, the international average -, Peru could take in more than 3.0 billion dollars in revenues from forest exports, say experts. Currently, its export income from this sector is just 95 million.

Ninety percent of the logging that occurs is performed by 70,000 families, who do so in small operations and sell to intermediaries.

''Exploitation of the wood from Peru's Amazon jungles is relatively insignificant, but in less than 40 years nearly 10 million hectares have disappeared,'' warned forestry expert Jorge Alania.

The apparent paradox of under-exploitation of the forests and their rapid degradation can be explained by the fact that migrant farmers in Peru burn nearly 260,000 hectares of forests annually to clear land for farming.

''The peasant farmers do not remain more than three years on any one parcel because once the protection of the trees and vegetation is gone the rains rapidly erode the soils. Then the migrants move on to another area and once again burn down a section of the forest,'' Alania explained.

The latest postponement of the Forestry Act's implementation is evidence that officials were not able to overcome differences with logging companies or conservationists on how to best exploit the naturally formed forests.

The regulation of the law should have taken effect 60 days after its parliamentary approval but, eight months later, Agriculture Minister Carlos Amat declared that it will be necessary ''to wait a little more''.

The delay does not seem to bother Fernando Razetto, president of the National Chamber of Forestry, which unites the sector's businesses. He and logging entrepreneurs are opposed to the orientation of the legislation as it currently stands.

''The project does not correct the authoritarian tendency of the forestry law enacted under the government of former president Alberto Fujimori, which does not leave space for the leading agents of forestry activities - businesses and representatives of the social sector - to participate in decision-making processes,'' Razetto complained.

''Forest resources should be protected by a balance between three factors: social interests, business profitability and environmental preservation. The predominance of any one of these three factors is inappropriate,'' he added.

''Those who drafted the law wanted to promote a rational exploitation of the forest, but they proved that they have not overcome the prejudice that he who enters the forest does so to destroy it. That bias generates an excess of regulations, some of which are anti-technological - and which elevate costs and eliminate our ability to compete,'' explained Razetto.

''Small logging operations and even the jungle communities could create strategic partnerships with companies to guarantee markets, as they have done in the Ecuadorian area of Esmeraldas, on that country's northern coast,'' he proposed.

The president of the Chamber of Forestry favors selling the forests to private companies. ''In Chile, the state turned over forested areas so that firms would invest in cultivating better species, and now there are 1.7 million hectares planted with excellent quality trees, which produce 2.2 billion dollars a year''.

Jaime Nalvarte, meanwhile, president of the non-governmental Peruvian Environmental Network, stresses that the Forestry Act promotes an important concept: the sustainability of forest resources. And this is ensured by the commitment of concession-holding logging companies to respect previously agreed-to management plans.

That chapter of Peru's law follows the Bolivian model. ''The areas are given in concession and the state maintains ownership of the forests. The other model (Razetto's) exists in Brazil and Chile, where the state gives up ownership of the forests,'' Nalvarte explained.

''The logging entrepreneurs maintain that holding title to the forests increases the guarantee on their investment. But in the concessions, that guarantee can be obtained through irreversible stability contracts insured by law, as is the case for investment in the mining sector,'' pointed out the environmental leader.

* Abraham Lama is an IPS correspondent.