rudimentary information pamphlet - los guardianes de la selva

8/13/2019 Rudimentary Information Pamphlet - Los Guardianes de la Selva

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La Selva Guardi

A Network for Indigenous Empowerment

and Deforestaon Determent


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Mahogany: A popular wood used to create high quality furniture. Mahogany is valued for

its ght grain, majesc red undertones, durability, and resistance to decay.1 Mahogany

wood products are considered luxury items, fetching high prices on the furniture market

One of the more desirable and genuine mahogany variees is Big-Leafed Mahogany,

or Swietenia Macrophylla. Historically, Big Leaf was used as a substute for Cuban Ma-

hogany (Swietenia mahagoni), which was overharvested by Spains shipbuilding industry

and became what we now call endangered

In turn, Big Leafed Mahogany itself has now

become ocially listed as threatened. As

a response, some countries like Nicaragua

and Brazil have banned the exportaon of

its wood.2 However, high prices and the

isolaon of Amazonian rainforests have in-

cenvized extensive extra-legal operaons

in places such as the rainforests of eastern

Per. Examining the extralegal logging cul-

ture of Per, we discover that the exncon of Big Leaf Mahogany is only one among a

variety of social and environmental problems that arise from this injusce. What follows

is an outline that, issue by issue, claries the need for acon against extralegal Big Leaf

mahogany logging and fast.

1 Hardwoods (Mahogany - Obeche). Hardwood Pricing Guide: Mahogany to Obeche. West Wind HardWood Incorporated, Web. 14 Apr. 2013. 2 Swietenia Macrophylla. Sustainable Forest Products.

Introducon: Whats Wrong With Big Leaf Mahogany?


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Environmental Concerns

Clear-cung methods of deforestaon are a major contribung factor for global climate

change. In Per, it is also threatening biodiversity. Big Leaf Mahogany is listed as vul-

nerable on the CITIES list of endangered species1, and Peru is the last remaining bulk

exporter of its naturally-growth mber.2 In developing regions of Per, protecon of

this species has come to a pivotal point where even small pockets of protected trees

could help to ensure its ongoing survival. As a result of its high value as an internaonal

commodity, it has been thoroughly removed from nearly every legal logging concession

in Peru, leaving most of the remaining trees in Indigenous or Nature reserves.3 The

removal of these trees has serious implicaons for biodiversity because of impacts on

the habitat of other vulnerable plants and animals like the giant oer (Pteronura brasil-

iensis). Clear-cung deforestaon methods also lead to the running of silt and topsoil,

contaminang watersheds that residents of the area rely on for clean drinking water.4

1 Bigleaf Mahogany. CIIES: Convention on International rade in Endangered Species. .2 Forest Legality Alliance. http://www.forestlegality.org/risk-tool/species/swietenia-macrophylla3 National Geographic. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/mahogany/wallace-text4 Big-leaf Mahogany. WWF. Web. 05 Apr. 2013. .


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Indigenous Abuse

Illegal logging camps are detrimental to the indigenous communies that they invade

Loggers are known to present a major threat to indigenous people: foreign diseases anddestrucon of indispensable natural resources result in widespread deaths, and armed

conict is not unheard of. First contact between a logging group and an tribe with the

ocial designaon of uncontacted can lead to up to 50% of the tribes death at the

hands of inuenza or other common illnesses which are not generally considered life

threatening.1 The loggers destroy the food and water sources of local tribes and have

been know to injure and even kill locals who protest the felling of Mahogany trees withinthe reserve. Such incidents have been on the rise since Mahogany trees became scarce

outside of protected zones.2

The vicms of such aacks are generally villages of small numbers and limited defensive

capacies. One such sad story is of the Murunahua tribe, which made 1st contact with

mahogany loggers in the mid 1990s. Jorge (pictured) told Survival Internaonal the story

of his tribes destrucon:

The disease came when the loggers made

contact with us, although we didnt know

what a cold was then. The disease killed us.

Half of us died. My aunt died, my nephew

died. Half of my people died. His eye was

lost in a bale with loggers.3

1 Survival International. http://www.survivalinternational.org/campaigns/threats2 Indian Country. http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/ictarchives/2006/10/18/illegal-logging-on-the-rise-in-peru-1288813 Ross, Miriam. Uncontacted Indians killed by Loggers 7 July 2008. Survival International. 07 July 2008.Web. .


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Forced Labor & Modern Slavery

There is a shocking degree of forced labor and slavery within these camps. Locals are re-

cruited to the camps with promises of good pay -- which is not what they nd. Men areforced to work grueling hours and are grossly overcharged for basic provisions.1 Women

are tracked for sex with few resources to turn to for escape. There are no medical sup-

plies in the camps: workers who become severely ill are typically le alone and must fend

for themselves.

A bone-chilling account of how these camps operate was given by Maria (not her real

name), a y-year-old unemployed single mother coaxed into a cooking job at a loggingcamp. Maria was oered an up-front payment of 250 Soles (about $90USD). On arrival

she discovered that she was expected to not only cook for the twenty-ve men at the

camp, but to provide them with sexual favors.

The account of her emoonal turmoil at camp is one of harsh fear and desperaon:

A woman is just an object for the men. They

take the girls whenever they want, even

if the girl doesnt want it. On the ground,

in the bush, I dont know. And the girl has

to allow this, because she cant leave [the

camp] just like that.

Even when interviewing with Survival Internaonal aer her escape, Maria concealed her

identy, fearing reprisal from the logging maa.2

1 Anti-Slavery. http://www.antislavery.org/includes/documents/cm_docs/2009/c/contemporary_forms_of_slavery_in_peru.pdf2 Te Laundering Machine. Te Environmental Investigation Agency, Apr. 2012. Web. .


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Soluons in the Works

Trade Regulaons:

The USA imports 80% of Pers mahogany. A heightened awareness of the aforemen-

oned issues led US legislators to create a trade agreement with Per in 2009, which

seeks to document the source ofMahogany mber. However, the proliferaon of forged

mber documentaon has rendered policy decisions regarding Mahogany trade ineec-

tual. Many trees are illegally harvested but marked as coming from legal logging conces-

sions.1

Exisng Instuons:

There are a host of local and internaonal organizaons working to recfy these prob-

lems. On the global scale, organizaons like the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) and Surviva

Internaonal have brought internaonal aenon to the issue. Pervian organizaons

like FEMAMAD (Federacion Nava del Rio Madre de Dios y Auentes) and Defensoria de

Pueblo (Perus Ombudsman organizaon) have been struggling to work with local munici-

pal governments to monitor and report conservaon violaons. The Amazon is vast, how-

ever, and the capacity of these groups has not been able to address the scope of this issue.

1 Environmental Investigation Agency. http://www.eia-international.org/illegal-wood-from-peruvian-am-azon-is-entering-the-usa


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A New Angle - La Selva Guardia

La Selva Guardia is a new grassroots whistleblower iniave designed to protect the Ama-

zonian rainforest from the threat of illegal logging by empowering a network of dedicated

indigenous parcipants. La Selva Guardia will launch with a low-cost, low maintenance,

parcipatory project for monitoring the presence of logging camps in designated high-risk

areas. The project will provide protecon using the following outline as a guideline:

Locate Danger Areas:

Mapping the factors of vulnerability will include, but not be limited to:

Locaon of natural growth Mahogany stands

Regions protected by Perus law 28736; federal indigenous land protecon act

Proximity to roads, paths, waterways, or other mber exportaon outlets

Topographical suitability for base-camp creaon such as elevaon or slope.

Creaon of a grassroots network of the Forest Guard (La Selva Guardia):

Seek out mullingual eld representaves who will serve as intermediaries between

operang eld agents and the main oce. Intermediaries are used for sociological and

linguisc reasons.

Recruit eld agents who are willing to periodically check danger zones within their

reserve for the presence of logging camps.

Develop economic incenves for rainforest preservaon to replace the incenves to

extract Mahogany mber.

Document and promote companies which are legally and sustainably harvesng

Swietenia Macrophylla from concession land.


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Response to Illegal Campsite Discovery:

Contact the appropriate government representave with a full report of the camps

capacity and exact locaon.

Have La Selva Guardia headquarters encourage its I-NGO partners to create severe

media pressure upon the Peruvian government to dismantle the camp.

Send representave journalists to document the governments responsiveness.

If unaddressed in a mely manner; iniate lobbying eorts, parcipate in public

protests, and create peons to pressure government forces into removing the camp.

Once the camp is dismantled or abandoned, send journalists to assess the damages

caused by the deforestaon. Work to create a narrave which illustrates the destrucon

caused by the illegal logging presence.

Closing Statement

We sincerely believe that the eorts of our new social iniave, La Selva Guardia, can

make a substanal dierence, and has the potenal for meaningful impact in the realms

of: Biodiversity, Deforestaon, Global Oxygen Producon, Indigenous rights protecon,

and Human Tracking.

La Selva Guardia

Emma Stamm - Non Prot Management

Jonathan Leonard - Graduate Program of Internaonal Aairs

rudimentary information pamphlet - los guardianes de la selva

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