Community forestry and reducing corruption: Perspectives from the Peruvian Amazon

The document examines the intersection of corruption, land tenure, and Community Forest Management (CFM) in the Peruvian Amazon. It argues that systemic corruption in regional governments—manifesting as the prioritization of individual land titles over communal ones and the 'active inaction' of monitoring bodies—facilitates land grabbing and illegal logging. These factors undermine the sustainability of CFM initiatives, expose Indigenous leaders to violence, and leave communities vulnerable to economic scams and legal penalties. The authors recommend prioritizing community land titling, updating land registries with georeferenced maps, and strengthening the autonomy and funding of environmental enforcement agencies.

• Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon face significant barriers to Community Forest Management (CFM), with only 10.4 percent of Amazonian Indigenous communities reporting timber harvesting activities. Most communities provide only the physical territory, while the management, harvesting, transport, and processing of timber are handled by third parties.
• Corruption in regional governments is perceived by Indigenous leaders as a deliberate effort to undermine communal rights by prioritizing individual land titles over community titles. Between 2010 and 2020, only 147 out of 719 Indigenous communities were titled across 14 projects.
• The Peruvian state exhibits a 'weak penetration capacity' and 'active inaction' in the Amazon, which facilitates the illegal transport of timber. This is compounded by a lack of basic information; for example, a management office in Ucayali lacked maps or identified territories for approximately 450 communities.
• Insecure land tenure and corruption are linked to severe violence against Indigenous leaders who defend their territories. The document cites the murders of Apu Arbildo Meléndez and Mario Marcos López Huanca as consequences of struggles against land grabbing and illegal logging.
• Corruption in the timber value chain leads to 'timber laundering' through Indigenous territories, which can result in heavy financial penalties for the communities. In 2021, fines incurred by Indigenous communities for the extraction of protected species or overuse of concessions totaled approximately USD 12.5 million.
• Administrative and technical failures in land registration contribute to conflict. In 2017, the National Superintendency of Public Registries (SUNARP) in Ucayali reported that 247 out of 276 maps of Indigenous communities lacked geographic coordinates.

APA

Gianella, C., & Cárdenas, C. (2022). Community forestry and reducing corruption: Perspectives from the Peruvian Amazon. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/189/1gnnsl06jk_Community_Forestry_Peru.pdf

Chicago

Gianella, Camila, and Cynthia Cárdenas. Community forestry and reducing corruption: Perspectives from the Peruvian Amazon. WWF International, 2022. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/189/1gnnsl06jk_Community_Forestry_Peru.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gianella |first1=Camila |last2=Cárdenas |first2=Cynthia |title=Community forestry and reducing corruption: Perspectives from the Peruvian Amazon |publisher=WWF International |date=May 2022 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/189/1gnnsl06jk_Community_Forestry_Peru.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gianella2022community, author = {Gianella, Camila and Cárdenas, Cynthia}, title = {{Community forestry and reducing corruption: Perspectives from the Peruvian Amazon}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2022}, month = may, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/189/1gnnsl06jk_Community_Forestry_Peru.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }