Good News – Maybe?

The REDD+ process might just be making a difference in Peru.  Over half of the territory of Peru is the Amazon rainforest – 10% of the total rainforest that is called the “lungs of the world.”  Conservation there is critical.

Peru is home to around one tenth of the Amazon rainforest, the second largest block after Brazil. It’s also the best carbon mapped nation in the world thanks to the work of the Carnegie Airborne Observatory which found that Peru’s forests’ store more carbon than the United States emitted in 2014.

Sixty percent of Peruvian territory is Amazon rainforest, around 73 million hectares of jungle. It has the ideal conditions to implement programs for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, known as REDD+ and benefit from the carbon market, say scientists. REDD+ creates financial value for the carbon stored in forests and compensates developing countries who meet targets in reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

Yes, deforestation is down, but the pressure to cut down the rainforest persists.

Fabiola Munoz said tougher new laws and enforcement, including fines 700 percent higher and jail time for people who destroy primary forest, are helping Peru rein in deforestation.

"People really used to think there would be no consequences," Munoz told foreign media. "That's changed."

Environmentalists have criticized Peru for not doing enough to keep wood and gold from being torn illegally from its forests for export, and for allowing local authorities to dole out agricultural concessions that include swaths of virgin rainforest.

Munoz said the government has ordered oil palm plantations in Peru owned by United Cacao Limited SEZC to halt activities after finding they had illegally cleared primary forest in previous years.

But efforts to evict workers from the land have been met with threats, Munoz said.

"We're still fighting that battle," Munoz said. "We hope the courts understand the importance of these emblematic cases...of sending the right message."

A large Indonesian palm oil company interested in operating in Peru recently requested a meeting with Munoz and other public officials to discuss possible investments, Munoz said.