Project/activity information

The project’s overall objective was to promote sustainable tropical forest management practices in the Peruvian Amazon. Specifically, the project aimed at establishing a Sustainable Forest Management Information System for the Peruvian Amazon region in order to provide current relevant information and specialised computer tools and facilitate the exchange of information among key forest sector stakeholders in the region, and strengthen capacities and train leaders in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of sustainable forest management plans.

The Project was completed in February 2005. In accordance with the project document, all planned activities, plus others not originally contemplated, were successfully carried out and achievements can be summarized as follows:
* The Peruvian Amazon Forest Information System (SIFORESTAL) was developed and currently provides a vast amount of information grouped under 3 main themes: Forest Ecology, Forest Management and Timber and Non-Timber Markets. All information has been uploaded in digital format to the internet and is freely available at the website: www.siforestal.org.pe. The website also includes links to other forestry institutions worldwide and provides support for downloading several forestry-related software packages like CO2FIX and others;
*A user-friendly software tool denominated AMAZON FOREST was developed in order to assist forest concessionaires in the elaboration and implementation of forest management plans and annual operating plans, including the statistical processing of raw forest inventory data. The software is freely available on CD-Rom from the Executing Agency or downloadable from their website;
*The SIFORESTAL website also created a virtual network that linked forestry-related professionals and institutions in the remote Departments of Loreto, San Martin, Ucayali, Madre de Dios, with their counterparts in the capital, Lima;
*Two 3-day workshop-courses on management of forest concessions and reduced impact logging were organized and held at IIAP’s Jenaro Herrera Field Station to the benefit of the concessionaires in the Peruvian Amazon. A Total of 36 professionals and 167 concessionaires benefited from this training in sustainable forest management practices, based on the several technical manuals produced by the project;
*Inter-institutional coordination and collaboration was established and currently continues, in particular with institutions like INRENA, the Regional Government of Loreto, the Peruvian Council for Voluntary Forest Certification, and other forestry projects being implemented in the region; and
*A 15-member technical mission composed by forest concessionaires and public sector professionals from the Peruvian Amazon visited Bolivia for 5 days in order to exchange experiences with successful forest management operations there.

Among the many lessons learnt, the following can be highlighted:
*Even though the SIFORESTAL website provides much useful information to many forest concession managers and others, its access is still restricted to the major cities and towns of the Peruvian Amazon. Satellites and retransmission towers need to be put in place for it to reach those located in the remote forest concessions;
*Links to other nodes, particularly websites set up by local public institutions, are difficult due to the fact that most websites in Peru are still in their infancy and need upgrading; and
*While the training component was a success and extremely useful to those that participated in formulating their management plans and annual operating plans, it was clear that the demand for this type of training exceeded by far what could be offered by the project. Taking into consideration that the forest concession process in the Peruvian Amazon has just begun, the Executing Agency is considering setting up a long-term training centre at its field station in Jenaro Herrera.