Hiding in Plain Sight: How a Fallow Forestry Supply Chain Remains Illegitimate in the Eyes of the State

Abstract

On-farm timber production is an important subsistence and economic activity of smallholder farmers around the world. Farmer investment in wood production and the degree of formality in the sector depends on access to and conditions of the market, the nature of the regulatory frameworks that govern rights to and movement of timber, and access to financing. We evaluate the process of formalization of a thriving and adaptive existing supply chain for small-dimension lumber originating in the fallows of smallholder farmers in the Peruvian Amazon. Through field research over three years based in semi-structured interviews with diverse actors in the Amazon, we found that the supply chain for fallow timber is driven entirely by informal and some illegal transactions. A key reason for this is the lack of an appropriate regulatory mechanism by which producers can gain authorization to harvest and sell this timber. We identify conditions necessary to formalize this sector, and evaluate the degree to which these are met under several scenarios. We recommend that the state develop mechanisms that recognize property rights of long-term residents and establish a simple fallow forestry registration mechanism; and that local governments or non-governmental organizations adopt adaptive and collaborative approaches to support farmers and provide training, information and networking among actors. State recognition of and support for fallow forestry, coupled with producers organizing for collective action on processing and marketing their timber, could result in the formalization of a significant volume of timber, improvements in income security for rural people, and the development of local entrepreneurial activities.

Quantitative Techniques for Sustainable Decision Making in Forest-to-Lumber Supply Chain: A Systematic Review

“…In the scientific papers that analyzed two dimensions of sustainability in the Forest entities (see Table 3), we observed Ref. that [47] used an ethnographic approach based on semi-structured interviews, community meetings, and participant observation to examine the informal supply chain of wood produced in abandoned agricultural fields in the Peruvian Amazon. They succeeded in providing a detailed understanding of the dynamics of the informal wood supply chain in the region.…”

Gestión y política de los bosques en el Perú

“…Un primer caso, estudiado por Sears et al (2021a), se refiere a la producción forestal en bosques secundarios ubicados en predios, usualmente informales, de pequeños productores. Esto ocurre en zonas de ocupación relativamente reciente en tierra firme, pero también en los bosques inundables.…”

Challenges to smallholder forestry policy reform on a postindustrial logging frontier: lessons from the Amazon estuary

“…Virtually all small-scale timber production and transformation in the region has been informal, governed by wellorganized local institutions (Menzies 2007, Rockwell et al 2007, Zarin et al 2007. A major barrier to legal operation has been the incompatibility of licensing procedures for timber harvest and transformation with the smallholder forestry and mill practices used locally (Menzies 2007, Vieira et al 2014, a common situation world-wide (Holding Anyonge and Roshetko 2002, Mejía et al 2015, Sears et al 2021). Brazil's forest code requires technical management plans developed and supervised by licensed foresters through a highly bureaucratic procedure, all of which necessitates technical assistance and results in dependency on outside institutional and professional support.…”