Threat

Illegal loggers threaten the life of the last un-contacted Indians and the extremely species-rich rainforest of Madre de Dios, Peru.

3,7M ha of South America’s tropical forests were destroyed between 1999 and 2000. Purely protecting forests has not been successful in slowing down this destruction. A new strategy is required. Managed forestry provides a long-term economic benefit to local people and therewith prevents the conversion of forests into farmland FAO report

The human population of Puerto Maldonado, capital of Madre de Dios, is growing by 10% every year. People who lack employment opportunity elsewhere in the country, settle in the city and invade the surrounding forests in their search for precious mahogany. During our five-month field study in 2002, we recorded 7900 loggers passing our camp with 2,500,000 board feet of illegally extracted mahogany worth more than US$ 5 million in Puerto Maldonado. Hundreds of un-contacted Indians have died during the last decade after encounters with loggers. New reserves were established in 2001 and 2002, however our research proved that still 1000 loggers worked in these protected areas. Every month, more than 690 long-haired spider monkeys were killed by loggers and more than 30,000kg of bushmeat were consumed. We walked in seemingly healthy forests that were unnaturally quiet. They were devoid of wildlife. read our report

In 1999, Peru signed the UN-headed “International Tropical Timber Agreement“, and thereby outlawed the export of tropical timber from unmanaged forests. In 2002, timber concessions were assigned across Peru to local and national logging companies, including more than 30 in Madre de Dios. In this region, police were used to force illegal loggers out of these new concessions and out of protected areas. Many loggers were unprepared for the abrupt change in natural resource policy and did not apply for concessions, which made them criminals over night. They organised a strike in Puerto Maldonado that paralysed all activity for several weeks (detailed info).People were killed and governmental buildings destroyed. Subsequently, the leader of the illegal loggers was elected as President of Madre de Dios, reversing progress made by conservationists and human rights activists. Illegal logging both in timber concessions and protected areas in Madre de Dios is still rife. Read more about the strike from one of Peru's most active anthropologists (in Spanish!).

Managed timber concessions are one of the few realistic alternatives to current devastating uncontrolled timber extraction. The urgent need for change has been realised by the government and Peruvian conservation organisations such as WWF-Peru and ProNaturaleza. These organisations are now collaborating with new timber concession owners, helping them to fulfil their environmental obligations and provide basic training in concession management. More help is urgently required to further understand the mechanisms affecting the wildlife of this region. We want to help.Learn more about our project