VZCZCXYZ0012
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPE #0707/01 0711222
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 121222Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY LIMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4302
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 4433
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 7238
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 2812
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0210
RUEHGE/AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN 0515
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAR PARAMARIBO 0149
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 1071
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 1161
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS LIMA 000707 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/AND, EPSC AND OES/ETC,ENV 
BRASILIA FOR ESTH HUB - J STORY 
USAID FOR LAC, EGAT, J.Kunen 
USDA FOR /AS/FAA/BAILEY,/FAS/ITP/FSTSD/BREHM,/FS/MAYHE W 
INTERIOR FOR USFWS/GABRIEL,ST.JOHN 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAGR SENV ETRD EAID ECON PE
SUBJECT: PERU LOWERS MAHOGANY EXPORT QUOTA 
 
REF: (A) Lima 658 (B) Lima 4528 (C) Lima 4289 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  The GOP has lowered its mahogany export quota to 
13,476 cubic meters. While significantly lower than last year's 
quota of 23,000m3, NGOs and Peru's scientific authority for CITES 
believe that the quota is still too high.  The quota also does not 
permit (much less give a preference for) much of the certified 
mahogany that USAID and NGOs have been striving to establish as the 
alternative to unregulated mahogany exports.  The recent visit of 
Deputy Assistant USTR for Natural Resources gave post an opportunity 
to press NGO and GOP contacts to suggest reconsideration of the 
quota, as NGO's have threatened to push for a complete trade 
suspension at the next CITES meeting in July.  END SUMMARY. 
 
NEW MAHGONY EXPORT QUOTA: 13,000 CUBIC METERS 
--------------------------------------------- 

¶2. GOP natural resources agency INRENA, which grants forest 
concessions and is the Management Authority for broad leaf mahogany 
under the Appendix II listing in the Convention Against Trafficking 
in Endangered Species (CITES), announced at the end of February that 
the mahogany export quota would be 13,476 cubic meters (m3).  This 
amount is a significant drop from previous years; the 2006 quota was 
26,321m3 and the 2005 quota was 23,239m3.  The downwards trend 
reflects a response to the listing of mahogany as an Appendix II 
threatened species in 2002, and the high amount of illegal logging. 
INRENA states that it sets the quotas using the following criteria: 
available volumes that could, in a representative fashion, be 
verified as originating from legal sources; data on existing 
mahogany per private sector concessions and statistical inference 
from past year volumes.  The 2007 quota has two components: Approved 
and verified (by INRENA) 2007 harvest amounts; and approved and yet 
to be verified 2007 harvest amounts. 
 
¶3. Despite this significant reduction in permitted mahogany trade, 
NGOs remain critical, complaining that the quota should be even 
lower.  More importantly, the quota does not give any preference to 
cut mahogany certified by the independent NGO Forest Stewardship 
Council and administered jointly by USAID, NGOs such as World 
Wildlife Fund and participating private and indigenous community 
concessionaires.  Some mahogany under this program will not complete 
the rigorous certification program until later in 2007, and thus 
cannot be eligible for export. INRENA, under CITES and GOP law, must 
certify that the origin of cut mahogany for export is legal and 
non-detrimental to survival of the species.  NGOs point to INRENA's 
lack of capacity to fully verify both the source as well as when the 
timber was harvested. NGOs contend that timber from illegal sources 
has been stockpiled for the past few years in order to be exported 
as part of the 2007 and future quotas. 
 
SCIENTIFIC AUTHORITY SPEAKS 
--------------------------- 

¶4. During a February visit by Deputy Assistant United States Trade 
Representative Mara Burr, ESTHoff and USAID Forestry Programs 
Director met with Dr. Ignacio Lombardi. Lombardi, a forestry 
professor at the National Agrarian University (UNALM), has been 
designated by the GOP under CITES as the Scientific Authority for 
broad leaf mahogany. (CITES requires also a management authority, 
which the GOP designated as INRENA.) Lombardi indicated that while 
he believes the quota should most appropriately be around 1200 
trees, equivalent to approximately 10,000m3, he realized that it is 
difficult with competing economic and political interests to more 
drastically cut the quota and he was prepared accept 13,000m3 as a 
reasonable compromise, if certified wood was taken into account. 
 
¶5.  Lombardi was firm that the quota should ideally give preference 
to certified wood, meaning that the quota should first be filled 
with certified wood and then filled with non-certified.  Failing 
that, the cutoff date for wood eligible for the 2007 quota should be 
extended to allow for wood that will be certified in the course of 
the year. (Note: the major exporters have tended to oppose 
certification due to the added expense.  It is no secret, however, 
that illegal logging of mahogany and corruption by government 
overseers has been a problem. See Reftels. End Note.) 
 
INVENTORY NEEDED 
E 
---------------- 

¶6. Lombardi and UNALM staff have been conducting an inventory of 
mahogany population.  Lombardi told us that the mahogany inventory 
of Ucayali (central Peru, bordering Brazil) was completed, and 
inventories for several other departments were in process.  (Note: 
Forest Services firm Winrock will conduct a seminar on March 9 on 
aerial imaging inventory methodology and a completed pilot study for 
a comprehensive inventory which, although expensive, would speed and 
possibly better quantify and qualify the UNALM inventory.  End 
Note.)  While in a perfect science-driven world it would be logical 
to suspend all mahogany exports until a systematic and credible 
inventory for the whole country was completed, Dr. Lombardi realized 
that mahogany provides jobs in the jungle and extrapolating the 
Ucayali inventory to the rest of Peruvian mahogany range, coupled 
with a drastically reduced quota, should be enough to maintain the 
species until a full inventory is complete. 
 
¶7. Lombardi agreed that a logical management system would allow for 
a rolling census, much like Peru's innovative human census, with 
yearly or quarterly updates and revisions of the quota according to 
rolling survey findings.  Finally, Lombardi believes a quota should 
include a ban on mahogany taken from Departments such as San Martin 
which are seriously deforested and notorious sources for illegal 
mahogany logging.  (Note: an accurate mahogany inventory is hampered 
by the lack of roads in the mahogany range, as well as lack of 
resources allocated for inventory staff and aerial surveys.  End 
Note.) 
 
NGOs READY TO TAKE TO THE HILL 
------------------------------ 

¶8. USAID also met recently with a coalition of NGO's, led by WWF, 
who follow the mahogany issue and many of whom are involved in 
certification projects.  NGOs and forestry experts also met to 
analyze the new quota, concluding that INRENA needs to develop a 
joint plan with UNALM on setting a quota that will conserve mahogany 
but allow sustainable export.  This group also noted in a written 
statement the need to inventory all concessions before allowing 
export, and failing that permit only certified wood for export. 
NGOs have already written a letter to INRENA urging it to reconsider 
the quota figure as well as the certification policy. These NGOs 
tell us that they are ready to press CITES and the USG (including 
Congress) for a full trade suspension at the Congress of the Parties 
this summer in The Hague. 
 
¶9. COMMENT: Post will continue to meet with all parties to work on 
certification aspects of the quota.  The 13,461m3 figure is on 
balance marginally defensible if it could be combined with 
conservation, research, inventory and reforestation efforts. This 
would also track with President Garcia's recent announcement that he 
will effect reforestation of 500,000 forest hectares (of which some 
will be mahogany, which is naturally dispersed throughout the 
Peruvian jungle). Post will meet with INRENA to discuss quota 
alternatives. 
STRUBLE