Paper short abstract:

(Il)licit selective logging contributes to degradation of the Peruvian Amazon; in part because of failures to ensure long-term sustainability of timber species. Enforcing formal logging favors market interests, fails to address violent illegal extraction and excludes informal local populations.

Paper long abstract:

The San Martín region in the Andean Amazon has had the greatest forest loss in Peru. The government and popular narratives attribute most deforestation to the expanding agricultural frontier, however, informal selective logging additionally contributes to forest degradation. Some valuable timber species are now difficult to find. Illegally obtained wood is estimated to make up as much as 60% of all Peruvian timber (a new government methodology places the figure at 37%). Illicit extraction often co-occurs with narco-trafficking, occasionally leading to violent encounters with opposing local populations. Peruvian government agencies - with international support - aim to enforce regulations to formalize and thus legalize logging practices in the country. Unfortunately, most rural landholders do not have formal title to their land and thus they do not qualify to extract timber legally. Many local carpenters rely on informal supplies of timber, despite the associated risks. Furthermore, even with efforts to formalize extraction, few legal concession holders comply with regeneration and reforestation obligations, leading to further degradation. Drawing on ethnographic research and on interviews with forestry officials, rural residents, sawmill owners, and carpenters, this presentation offers a nuanced analysis of the complexities of informal timber in the Peruvian Amazon. How can formalization efforts encourage environmental sustainability without excluding often impoverished local populations? The focus on formalizing extracted timber favors foreign market interests. It does not address the underlying informality of the industry, the sometimes-violent extraction itself, nor the degradation both licit and illicit logging leave behind.