st CENTURY FIGHT FOR THE AMAZON Environmental Enforcement in the World’s Biggest Rainforest Edited by Mark Ungar The 21st Century Fight for the Amazon Mark Ungar Editor The 21st Century Fight for the Amazon Environmental Enforcement in the World’s Biggest Rainforest Editor Mark Ungar Brooklyn College and Graduate Center City University of New York New York, NY USA ISBN 978-3-319-56551-4 ISBN 978-3-319-56552-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56552-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017947809 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: Pattern adapted from an Indian cotton print produced in the 19th century Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland A cknowledgements When I first told people about this project on the Amazon, many thought it was about the online shopping giant. Even amid growing alarm at climate change, it was a reminder of how disconnected we have become from its root causes. So I am indebted to all the organizations and people contributing to this book’s effort to understand those causes. For its initial funding and confidence, I would like to thank the Inter- American Development Bank. During fieldwork in the Amazon Basin, many organizations unhesitatingly lent their deep expertise and scarce time. They include INPA (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas de Amazônia) and the Center of Integration and Improvement in Environmental Policing (CIAPA: Centro de Integração E Aperfeiçoamento em Policía Ambiental) in Brazil; Ecuador’s Green Vigilance Unit (Vigilancia Verde), the Bolivian Forest and Land Authority (Autoridad de Bosques y Tierra); and most of all the environmental courts, prosecutor’s offices, and police units in every country. This project would also have been impossible without the dozens of non-governmental organizations who shared their wealth of knowledge. They include groups affiliated with the book’s authors, such as the Federal Police of Brazil, the Amazon Conservation Team, OEFA, Peru’s Proyecto Amazonas, and Janette Ulloa of Pro- Ideas. During meetings and on patrols, I guiltily heard logged trees crashing through windows of opportunity opened by their distracted attention toward this book. Their courage, hard work, and sheer stamina are why the fight for the Amazon has a chance. Chasing an AWOL llama down a highway in La Paz with the SPCA or crossing a washed-out v vi ACkNOWLEDGEMENTS bridge with investigators in Venezuela were adventures for a privileged North American but a fraction of the innumerable hardships faced every day by Latin American environmentalists. For their meticulous translations, I would like to thank Judith Filc, Alix Shand, and Maria Antonieta Merino de Taboada. Most of all, I would like to thank my husband, Bob, for the values and love that keep me on track, and our son, Dylan, whose enthusiasm on one trip to the Amazon let me see the forest through the eyes of the future. c ontents 1 Introduction: The Evolution of Environmental Enforcement 1 Mark Ungar 2 Amazonia, Organized Crime and Illegal Deforestation: Best Practices for the Protection of the Brazilian Amazon 21 Franco Perazzoni 3 Deforestation in the Bolivian Amazon: The Case of the El Choré Forest Reserve in Santa Cruz Department 57 Manlio Alberto Roca Zamora 4 Peru: A Legal Enforcement Model for the Amazon 71 Hugo R. Gómez Apac, María Antonieta Merino de Taboada and Milagros Granados Mandujano 5 Ecuador: Rainforest Under Siege 93 Víctor López Acevedo 6 Colombia: Bridging the Gaps Between What Is Needed and What Actually Exists Regarding the Protection of Its Amazon 115 Ana María Hernández Salgar and Luz Marina Mantilla Cárdenas vii viii CONTENTS 7 Environmental Penal Control in Venezuela: Amazonia and the Orinoco Mining Arc 131 Manuel Joel Díaz Capdevilla 8 Suriname: An Exposed Interior 149 katia Delvoye, Minu Parahoe and Hermes Libretto Index 171 c ontributors Manuel Joel Díaz Capdevilla is President and Editor of the first Ecological Channel of Venezuela (Primer Canal Ecológico de Venezuela, ECOVISION); Secretary General, Ecological Movement of Venezuela; and Coordinator, National Congress of Green Citizenry (Congreso Mundial de Ciudadanía Verde). Luz Marina Mantilla Cárdenas is Director General of the Amazon Institute of Scientific Research, SINCHI (Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas). María Antonieta Merino de Taboada is Former Head of the Oversight Body of the Agency for Environmental Assessment and Enforcement (OEFA) of Peru. Katia Delvoye works with the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), Suriname’s leading Amazon protection organization. Hugo R. Gómez Apac is Former Chairman of the Board of the Agency for Environmental Assessment and Enforcement (OEFA), Peru’s top national environmental enforcement body. Hermes Libretto works with the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), Suriname’s leading Amazon protection organization. ix x CONTRIBUTORS Víctor López Acevedo is a professor and co-founder of Corporación Pro-Ideas, an Ecuadorian socio-environmental studies institute that conducts collaborative studies with local producers and officials of the Amazon. Milagros Granados Mandujano is Former Technical Secretary of the Environmental Court in Peru. Minu Parahoe is the Program Director of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), Suriname’s leading Amazon protection organization. Franco Perazzoni is the Regional Chief Officer for Investigations and Organized Crime (DRCOR) of the State of Amazonas of Brazil, where he directs all environment and organized crime investigations. He was former head of environmental crimes unit, State of Mato Grosso (2005–10) and Director, Central Federal Unit, Environmental crimes (2010–14). Ana María Hernández Salgar is Director of International Affairs, Politics, and Cooperation of the Alexander von Humboldt Institute of Biological Reseach (Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos) of Colombia. Manlio Alberto Roca Zamora is former Minister of Sustainable Development and the Environment, Department of Santa Cruz, Republic of Bolivia. Mark Ungar is Professor of Political Science and Criminal Justice, City University of New York.