[CTC] E&E: Peruvian timber imports were illegal harvests, panel says

[Fred Heutte]

[so much for the grand advance in "honest trade" championed by Sen. Ron
Wyden and Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon in the anti-illegal timber provisions
added to the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement . . . and supposedly building
confidence in the environmental provisions of the TPP . . .  -- fh]

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Peruvian timber imports were illegal harvests, panel says

Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder, E&E reporter

Published: Thursday, August 18, 2016

The majority of Peruvian timber shipments into the United States in January
2015 was illegally sourced, according to a report released yesterday by an
interagency committee on timber.

The report resulted from a request for Peru to verify the legality of a
timber shipment to a port in Houston under the United States-Peru Trade
Promotion Agreement. The Interagency Committee on Trade in Timber Products
>From Peru made this request in February 2016, acting on public reports that
shipments from the company Inversiones La Oroza SRL contained illegally
harvested timber.

Five Peruvian government agencies participated in the verification process,
which showed that significant portions of the timber shipment were not
compliant with Peru's laws and regulations on timber products.

"The Committee's verification request has highlighted both the progress and
the challenges that remain in Peru's forestry sector," U.S. Trade
Representative Michael Froman said in a statement.

The agencies traced the shipment back to 12 forestland title holders based
in remote regions of Loreto, Peru. One of the agencies, the Supervisory
Agency for Forest and Wildlife Resources (OSINFOR), found through on-site
inspections that some trees were harvested without authorization. OSINFOR
was also unable to locate trees on harvest sites that were listed in the
annual forest management plan, meaning the plans were inaccurate.

According to the report, OSINFOR did not detect these problems prior to
shipment due to post-harvest inspection timing and delayed information from
regional government authorities.

The report details several suggestions for Peru to stop the illegal harvest
of timber, including implementing a new electronic timber tracker system
and better timing of post-harvest inspections.

"I recently traveled to Peru and met with President [Pedro Pablo]
Kuczynski, Prime Minister [Fernando Zavala] Lombardi and other incoming
ministers with responsibilities in this area," Froman said. "I urged the
new Administration to engage quickly with the United States on a focused
set of actions to combat illegal logging, including maximizing the use of
new technologies to address the challenges — including, for example, full
and immediate deployment of the electronic timber tracking system we have
been working together to develop."

According to the Environmental Investigation Agency, three other shipments
in 2015 were made up of mostly illegally harvested timber and transported
on the same vessel as the January shipment.

The Lacey Act bans trafficking of illegal wildlife and plants, including
timber products.

"We hope that the new Peruvian administration responds quickly and
decisively to implement the recommendations in the timber committee report
and stop the pervasive theft of the Peruvian Amazon," said EIA's Peru
Program Director Julia Urrunaga. "It is time for Peru to address this
organized crime with the urgency it requires."