The Governments of the United States and Peru convened the fourth meeting of the Sub-Committee on Forest Sector Governance (Sub-Committee) on July 14, 2011 in Lima, Peru. The meeting focused on progress implementing provisions of the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA) Annex on Forest Sector Governance (Annex).
The meeting was chaired by Amy Karpel, Director for Environment and Natural Resources, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and Alvaro Diaz, from Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism.
U.S. Government participants in the meeting included officials from the Department of State, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Embassy in Lima Peru. Peruvian Government participants included officials from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, among others.
The Sub-Committee discussed progress implementing the Annex. Peru and the United States discussed passage of Peru’s new Forestry and Wildlife Law as well as regulations Peru is developing to implement the new law. The Parties also discussed other efforts Peru is undertaking to ensure implementation of the Annex, including mechanisms to conduct forest inventories in permanent production forests and procedures to audit timber producers. The United States and Peru stressed the importance of continuing to make progress on these areas, and reaffirmed the commitment to do so including by working expeditiously to adopt implementing regulations. The Parties reaffirmed the importance of undertaking a participatory process with the public to develop those regulations and other measures to further implementation of the Annex.
The Parties also reviewed activities being undertaken in cooperation with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Forest Service under the Peru Forest Sector Initiative. These activities related to the design, development and implementation of forest inventory and information systems, yield calculations, sustainable community forest management, and law enforcement.
The Governments also held a public session for all interested stakeholders. This session provided an opportunity for the public to participate in a discussion with government officials about implementation of the Annex.
