- Amendment removes state approval requirements for forest land conversion
- Retroactively legalizes past illegal deforestation activities
- Indigenous groups excluded from mandatory consultation process
- EU deforestation-free regulations potentially undermined
- Parallels drawn to Brazil's Bolsonaro-era environmental policies
Peru's amended Forestry and Wildlife Law has ignited international controversy by stripping environmental safeguards from 70 million hectares of Amazon rainforest. The legislation, passed in March 2023, eliminates mandatory government authorization for converting protected forest areas to agricultural use—a move critics argue effectively rewards decades of illegal land clearing.
Environmental lawyer César Ipenza warns the law creates dangerous loopholes: By validating past deforestation, we're incentivizing future destruction. This isn't agricultural reform—it's environmental amnesty.The Constitutional Court's partial approval of the law despite recognizing indigenous consultation violations has raised concerns about judicial independence in environmental matters.
Three critical industry insights emerge from this crisis:
- Agribusiness alliances now include illegal mining and drug trafficking networks
- Small farmers risk becoming pawns in large-scale land speculation schemes
- EU traceability systems face challenges from retroactively legalizedsupply chains
The Brazilian comparison proves instructive. Like Bolsonaro's 2019 Amazon policies, Peru's reforms combine economic populism with corporate interests. However, Peru's fragmented political landscape enables more diffuse corruption—narcotics traffickers and illegal miners now influence environmental policy through proxy legislators.
Indigenous communities managing 25% of Peru's Amazon territory face existential threats. Julio Cusurichi of AIDESEP notes: We've protected these lands for generations. Now speculators can simply erase our stewardship from legal records.The law undermines Peru's climate commitments, potentially releasing 5 billion metric tons of stored carbon if fully exploited.
EU officials maintain their deforestation regulations (effective 2025) don't require such legal changes. Olivier Coupleux of the EU Delegation clarifies: Traceability systems should prevent illegal sourcing, not retroactively justify it.Environmental groups counter that the law creates enforcement blind spots, allowing laundered agricultural products into European markets.
With domestic legal options exhausted, NGOs are preparing Inter-American human rights cases. The outcome could set precedent for environmental protections across Latin America—a region where 40% of remaining Amazon rainforest faces similar legislative threats.