Continuous Improvement in Illegal Practices in the Peruvian Forest Sector

Over the past several years, private and public national and international institutions have carried out research on illegal timber exports from the Peruvian Amazon. The success of the International Operations Amazonas 2014 and 2015 has enabled identification of the different actors in the supply chain and how they use official documents (Forest Transport Permits - GTFs) to accompany wood harvested from unauthorized areas, to endow the appearance of legality. The laundering of illegal timber is associated with a series of negative collateral impacts and activities, including corruption, unjust treatment of indigenous communities, trafficking in persons, and degradation of forests, among others. This research is based on Peruvian timber exports that occurred in 2015, accompanied by GTFs that allowed us to trace the supply chain to the point of origin: the forest. The following findings are based on the reports obtained from the Information Management System (SIGOSFC), of the Forest Resources and Wildlife Monitoring Agency (OSINFOR). SIGOSFC is a transparent online portal for information related to the supervision and control of the Forest Management Plans (FMPs) carried out by OSINFOR. We identified 67 exporting companies and 186 importers, who traded and sold wood from Peru on five continents. Six companies exported timber with more than 50% of the GTFs used for worldwide exports. In descending order these companies are: Maderera Bozovich SAC, Inversiones La Oroza SAC, Peruvian Flooring SAC, Inversiones Técnicas Maderables SAC, Consorcio Maderero SAC, and Maderera Rio Acre SAC