Monday 03November 2008, San José, Costa
Rica
PERU:
Free Trade Opens
Environmental Window
By Milagros Salazar*
LIMA (Tierramérica)
- Legislative decree
1090, which modifies
Peru's forest policy, is
worrying U.S. trade
authorities because it
contravenes
environmental clauses of
the Free Trade Agreement
(FTA) that is to enter
force between the two
countries in January
2009.
The decree, which in
June amended the
Forestry and Wildlife
Act, leaves 45 million
hectares -- or 60
percent of Peru’s
jungles -- out of the
Forestry Heritage
protection system -- a
step that runs counter
to the FTA forestry
annex.
That was one of the 10
observations made by the
Office of the U.S Trade
Representative, Susan
Schwab, in a meeting
with delegates of the
Peruvian government
earlier this month in
Washington, according to
Sandro Chávez, president
of the non-governmental
Ecological Forum (Foro
Ecológico).
It was a point of
concern particularly for
U.S. authorities, Chávez
told Tierramérica, as
was the elimination of
the National Forestry
Commission, which
ensured citizen
participation in forest
management and was
stipulated in the
unmodified version of
the law.
At the meeting, the U.S.
delegates stated that in
order to implement the
free trade agreement, a
public consultation
mechanism for forest
issues was essential, he
said.
Decree 1090 is one of
the 99 adopted by the
executive branch under
special legislative
powers granted it by
Congress for the
implementation of the
FTA.
The 10 observations
voiced by the Office of
the U.S. Trade
Representative were
based on challenges from
the Ecological Forum,
which is an umbrella
group of
non-governmental
organisations from the
two countries, Chávez
said.
Sources with the U.S.
Embassy in Peru told
Tierramérica that the
Peruvian government sent
a letter on Oct. 20
responding to the
concerns of the U.S.
Trade Representative.
But the content of the
letter was confidential,
they said.
Peru's Foreign Trade and
Tourism Minister
Mercedes Aráoz, who sent
the missive, assured
Tierramérica that it is
a matter of
"conversations that we
need to polish" as part
of the implementation of
the trade agreement.
"The United States only
sent me comments,
suggestions and
questions about how
such-and-such things are
going to be done. Nobody
has said 'we are
frustrated'; those are
comments by some
non-governmental
organisations that have
their own interests,"
she said. "But if we
have to make changes,
they will be made."
Peru’s new Prime
Minister Yehude Simon
has recognised that some
of the decrees should be
reviewed. The orders for
implementation of decree
1090, which the
executive branch is
drawing up, could be
just the time to do so.
"We hope that not only
are small changes made
in the implementation
orders, but also that
Congress overturns the
decree" and proposes a
new law, environmental
legislation expert
Alberto Barandarián told
Tierramérica.
The ombudsman’s office
stated last week in a
report that the decree
"would debilitate the
mechanisms that ensured
sustainable use of
forest plantations" and
would not guarantee the
protection of virgin
forests.
"The measures adopted in
decree 1090, (in
addition to) the
inexistence of standards
to ensure their
application only in
appropriate forestry
areas that have already
lost their forest cover,
could promote
deforestation of virgin
forest in order to boost
the number of hectares
that qualify for such
use," says the report.
The report was made at
the request of Róger
Nájar, chairman of the
legislative committee on
Andean, Amazon and Afro-
Peruvian Peoples, the
Environment and Ecology,
which is promoting a new
forestry bill.
According to Barandarián,
the decree also runs
counter to the
constitution and the law
on regional governments
because it reduces their
authority in favour of
the forestry concessions
oversight body.
Another aspect that
worries
environmentalists is
that the decree opens
the possibility that
illegally cut timber
that is seized could be
sold and legalised.
The ombudsman’s office
warns that Article 41 of
the decree "would permit
the legalisation of
timber of controversial
origin, which could be
an incentive for illicit
activities."
Chávez said that as of
2009, timber trafficking
will be blocked by the
United States because of
a rule adopted by that
country that will
require certificates of
origin for all imported
lumber products.
Of the 99 decrees
approved for the
implementation of the
FTA, 25 involve
agriculture and most are
aimed at boosting
corporate investment,
activist Laureano del
Castillo, of the
Peruvian Centre for
Social Studies, told
Tierramérica.
"Here they are promoting
corporate interests over
those of local
communities or small
farmers," he said.
Another decree, 1064,
which overturned the
Land Law, fails to
closely regulate zoning
rules that define
agricultural lands and
eliminates the
requirement to obtain
prior agreement from
local communities and
farmers before launching
mining or oil drilling
projects.
"The U.S. observations
are proof that things
have been poorly done,"
sociologist Alejandra
Alayza, coordinator of
the Peruvian Network for
Equitable Globalisation,
told Tierramérica.
But "the mechanism for
implementing the FTA
itself paves the way for
overturning and
modifying those decrees
that affect local
communities and
environmental
management," she said.
(*This story was
originally published by
Latin American
newspapers that are part
of the Tierramérica
network. Tierramérica is
a specialised news
service produced by IPS
with the backing of the
United Nations
Development Programme,
United Nations
Environment Programme
and the World Bank.) |
|
|
|
|
|
