Governing the Ephemeral: Secondary Forest in Peru

Abstract

Secondary forest is an increasingly prevalent component of forest cover across the globe providing wildlife habitat, ecosystem services and valuable goods. •Secondary forest in Peru mainly occurs on farming landscapes, much of it occuring as agricultural fallows, and comprises up to 45% of total forest cover in some landscapes. •The absence of information on the extent of secondary forests, their locations, ownership, types, and persistence hampers creating relevant policy, supporting local forest governance, and ultimately improving forest condition and rural livelihoods. •Draft normative guidelines on secondary forest management are expected to be released for public comment in early 2022, and we encourage active and informed public comment. •Strengthening local forest governance by smallholders and communities as part of a bundle of rights for their productive mosaic landscapes can be coupled with incentives to increase and maintain forest cover on their landholdings. •We recommend the recognition of resource rights and implementation of mechanisms that strengthen the legality and legitimacy of forest management on farms.