[CTC] Peru forestry official's firing raises more TPP worries

[Arthur Stamoulis]

POLITICO

Peru forestry official's firing raises more TPP worries

By Adam Behsudi
01/27/2016 05:06 AM EDT

Seeing a coffin with his name on it carried by loggers protesting Peru's clampdown on illegal Amazon timber was a clear message of intimidation to Rolando Navarro, the nation's chief forestry enforcement official.

But when Navarro was abruptly fired by the Peruvian government earlier this month, it raised even more significant questions for U.S. lawmakers and environmental groups concerned about that country's commitment to uphold environmental standards it had signed off on in trade deals with the United States, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement headed soon to Congress.

"There is every indication Navarro was actually flexing some oversight," said Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, one of a handful of Democrats counted on to help pass TPP. "There have been threats against him, but he was moving in the right direction."

"I find it extraordinarily troubling that he was removed. I think, given the checkered history [and] the fact that illegal logging continues, that Peru doesn't have this under control," added Blumenauer, who helped author rules against illegal logging in a 2007 bilateral trade deal with Peru.

Peru is one of a dozen nations participating in the giant Pacific trade agreement championed by President Barack Obama. The pact, which has been promoted by the administration as the most progressive trade deal in history, contains binding provisions to combat any illicit trade in timber and wildlife, as well as numerous other measures expected to garner Democratic support.

Advocates, however, express concern that the TPP's many environmental provisions are meaningless if they can't be enforced. The recent sacking of the Peruvian lumber agency official could serve to bolster their fears.

The agency Navarro led, the Supervisory Body for Timber Resources - known more commonly by its Spanish-language acronym OSINFOR - was reestablished under the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement and given more independence to go after illegal logging.

Under the rules of the trade deal, Peru's government was required to strengthen documentation and verification of where wood is harvested. It must have criminal and civil procedures in place to stop intentional falsification of documents and any threats of violence against government employees pursuing illegal activity.

Peru was required to draft an "anti-corruption" plan for officials involved in any aspect of forestry management. The trade deal also gives the U.S. the power to request that Peru verify any shipment to the U.S. has complied with all rules and laws.

The TPP could strengthen OSINFOR's oversight further. It contains a binding rule requiring each country to "take measures to combat, and cooperate to prevent, the trade of wild fauna and flora that, based on credible evidence, were taken or traded in violation of that party's law or another applicable law."

The U.S. and Peru signed a "side letter" <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e8cd092145a2753724af2fb062b3e41fba1754d5267ef9296cbaf42e55fde591> recognizing that Peru has laws already in place to meet the requirement.

Despite all that, many of the current laws and rules Peru is supposed to abide by are ignored with upward of 80 percent of timber production suspected of coming from illegal harvesting, according to a study <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e8cd092145a275373ca8e83a4f015c3d11a0295dbd721547458a93a2dbfe861f> by the Environmental Investigation Agency, a non-profit group with offices in Washington and London that has closely monitored logging in Peru. Lumber is often harvested from such threatened trees as Big-Leaf Mahogany and Spanish Cedar and used for furniture, flooring and other products, the group says.

But OSINFOR had made a difference. Since 2009, Navarro's agency has conducted 3,498 field supervision visits, covering 42,471 square miles, and verified the presence or absence of 321,019 trees. Roughly 72% of OSINFOR's visits have found evidence of false information or illegal activity, meriting sanctions or cancellation of logging permits, according to EIA.

In 2014, OSINFOR launched Operation Amazonas, which put a crimp in exports by helping authorities to seize $120 million worth of processed timber that was to be shipped under false information.

In 2015, evidence gathered by Navarro's agency was shared with U.S. customs officials, who used the Lacey Act - a law that prohibits the import of illegally taken animals and plants - to put a hold on a shipment of wood to Houston that was so large it could've covered three football fields.

Sen. Ron Wyden, another trade-friendly Oregon Democrat, has been keeping an eye on the crackdown. He and Blumenauer led efforts to amend the Lacey Act, in 2008, to include illegally harvested wood.

"I continue to follow the situation in Peru closely. To stop trade in illegal wood that is devastating the rainforest and hurting American workers, Peru must do more to stop illegal logging," Wyden said in a statement.

Operation Amazonas was relaunched last year with close cooperation from Peru's customs authority and the country's special prosecutor for environmental issues. Together the agencies were able to make one of the country's largest seizures. Navarro and his 223-member team were able to verify that at least 71 percent of more than 9,100 cubic meters of wood was harvested illegally.

But the majority of the wood had already been loaded on a Peruvian ship - the Yacu Kallpa - and was able to make its way down the Amazon and out to the open sea.

The vessel is accused of being a primary conduit for illegal timber exports. The ship, which often carries its cargo to Mexican and U.S. ports, was stopped in the Dominican Republic after INTERPOL sent an alert to customs agents there, but as of this week was back on open water and headed for Mexico, according to sources close to the issue.

A 'somewhat discomforted' logging industry

Underfunded and understaffed, OSINFOR is often able to identify illegal shipments only after they are en route to their final destinations. The process often takes multiple steps and the agency has only recently started working more closely with Peru's customs authority to stop illegal shipments from leaving the country.

OSINFOR's 45 inspectors are tasked with fanning out into the Peruvian rainforest, verifying concessions and permits granted by regional or national forestry officials in which the logging company states how many trees it plans to harvest, the species and the volume. The agency checks the permitting process, tries to ensure the local authorities verified the harvest and, in most cases, does its own inspection of the area where the harvest took place. OSINFOR maintains a detailed database <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e8cd092145a27537b857f45f101987ca7b6ca2d12c94e01c9b1052d90b638a84> of the areas it inspects.

In Peru's Amazon regions of Loreto and Ucayali, more than 65 percent of the areas OSINFOR inspected included false information, according to informed sources.

For the shipment that was eventually stopped in the Dominican Republic, the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Environment and regional governments from where the wood originated argued that all the proper paperwork was in place. OSINFOR, under Navarro's leadership, countered those statements by declaring most of the shipment illegal under falsified documentation, sources said.

"The fight against illegal logging has been happening, but not by parts of the government promoting forest trade," said one source close to the case.

In its announcement <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e8cd092145a27537ff423be13852e1320e92b9a563d3cf34ed65e26936427c88> of Navarro's removal, the Peruvian government said his four-year term was coming to an end, something environmental groups contest as an invalid reason for his ouster.

"To pretend that this firing is not in direct response to pressure from exporters trying to get illegal wood into the United States is silly," said Alexander von Bismarck, EIA's executive director. "The four-year-term excuse is a desperate grasp for an explanation and is simply not true. First, he is not subject to a four-year term because he was not appointed. Second, he was hired on March 2012, not January."

The group claims Navarro's firing coincides with the day authorities in the Dominican Republic announced they were taking action against the shipment on the Yacu Kallpa.

OSINFOR and Navarro had been demonstrating that most of the timber exports from Peru were still illegal, despite the commitments the country made in its trade agreement with the U.S.

Observers now worry that Navarro's abrupt removal represents the agency's infiltration by the country's logging interests.

"I think it's clear the logging industry, legal and illegal, was somewhat discomforted," Blumenauer said. "I think there was pushback. People can deal with their own definitions of corruption and where it occurs but the fact is illegal logging continues."

Others hope to see OSINFOR continue its aggressive enforcement no matter who is at the helm.

"We have to see that they're continuing to have the same type of vigilance that OSINFOR was demonstrating under Rolando's leadership and it remains to be seen whether that will be the case," a Senate Finance Committee Democratic aide said in an interview. "We're absolutely expecting them to show the results that they need to show on enforcement."

"We would judge Peru's success or failure on enforcement really on the results," the aide added. "Are they pursuing enforcement vigorously? Are they stopping illegal timber at the ports? Whoever is in charge of OSINFOR, that's what we expect to see."

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, tasked with holding Peru accountable under the rules of the bilateral trade deal, declined to comment directly on Navarro's removal, but indicated it's keeping a close eye on the situation.

"We take the obligations in our agreement, many of which relate to the work of OSINFOR, very seriously and we are monitoring its implementation closely," USTR spokesman Matt McAlvanah said in a statement. "We are engaging with Peru and are committed to using all the tools at our disposal to ensure that Peru follows through on its commitments to combat illegal trade in timber."


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