AUTHORIZED TO STEAL

The report details a systemic failure in Peru's forestry sector where official documents, such as Forest Management Plans and Forest Transport Permits, are used to legitimize illegal logging. Analysis of 1,024 permits from 2017 shows that a significant portion of timber is high-risk, particularly from the Loreto and Ucayali regions. The document identifies specific public officials and regents who approved plans for nonexistent trees and argues that weak enforcement of administrative and criminal penalties creates an environment of impunity for organized crime networks.

• A significant proportion of official timber transport documentation is linked to high-risk or illegal sources. Of the Forest Transport Permits (GTFs) analyzed that included Forest Management Plans supervised by OSINFOR, 58% were on the "red list," indicating a high risk of illegal timber trade.
• Illegal logging is heavily concentrated in specific regions and land types. In the analyzed sample, 98% of contracts in local forests, 94% of permits on private lands, and 76% of permits in indigenous communities were on the SIGO red list. Geographically, 75% of timber from Loreto and 26% from Ucayali were red-listed.
• Public officials and forestry regents systematically facilitate illegal logging by approving Forest Management Plans for trees that do not exist. The report identifies 13 regents who filed plans where over 40% of the trees were nonexistent, and eight professionals who issued reports claiming to have conducted on-site inspections for these same nonexistent trees.
• There is evidence of organized networks involving the same individuals processing multiple fraudulent contracts. One identified group consisted of forestry regent Hugo Paima Ríos, inspector Carlos Eduardo Shapiama del Castillo, and official Kathia Janeth García Ayachi, who collectively processed four high-risk contracts.
• Timber exporters appear to be more selective than domestic buyers to avoid scrutiny. While 62% of supervised timber transported to Lima was on the red list, 68% of supervised timber transported to the Port of Callao for export was on the green list.
• Despite a comprehensive legal framework including the Forestry and Wildlife Law No. 29763 and the Criminal Code, enforcement is weak and slow, providing little deterrent for criminal networks.
• The genus Virola (known as "cumalas") is among the most frequently laundered species. Seven species account for 60% of those declared in GTFs backed by supervised plans, with the Virola genus accounting for 22% of logged species in SIGO reports from 2009-2018.

APA

Gómez, R. N. (2019). AUTHORIZED TO STEAL. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Authorized-to-Steal-August-2019-updated.pdf

Chicago

Gómez, Rolando Navarro. AUTHORIZED TO STEAL. Center for International Environmental Law, 2019. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Authorized-to-Steal-August-2019-updated.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gómez |first1=Rolando Navarro |title=AUTHORIZED TO STEAL |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=2019 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Authorized-to-Steal-August-2019-updated.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gmez2019authorized, author = {Gómez, Rolando Navarro}, title = {{AUTHORIZED TO STEAL}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2019}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Authorized-to-Steal-August-2019-updated.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }