Visit of a Peruvian forest delegation in June 2018
From June 9 to 17, 2018, seven high-ranking foresters of the Peruvian forest and environmental administration and employees working with the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH learned about the system of forest management in Germany. The main topics were the organization of public forest management, forest management in state, local and private forests, vocational training in the forest sector, rooms for citizen participation as well as political dialogue and communication between the Federal Ministry and state forest administrations.
This expert dialogue had Bavaria as a regional focus and ended up in the German capital Berlin. The Peruvians, accompanied by the German Forest Association and GIZ, visited the Bavarian State Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forests in Munich, the Bavarian State Forests (BaySF) in Regensburg, the BaySF forestry management unit Schliersee, and Frhrl. from Niethammer’s private forest in Mengkofen, the Bavarian Forest School in Buchenbühl and finally the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) in Berlin.
Peru has about 70 million hectares of forest. So far, only 20% of these have been managed sustainably. About 1 million hectares are FSC or FSC Controlled Wood certified. Public institutions in the forest sector have made great efforts in recent years to promote comprehensive planning and establish modern management systems that guarantee the legal origin of forest products.
After a week of encounters and visits outside and inside the forest, the Peruvian experts see that, apart from the differences in culture and political systems, there are generally many similarities in the challenges for efficient forest management and a competitive sector. What was striking for them was the following: While 1,500 hectares of public workers in Bavaria manage 2.5 million hectares, the Ucayali forest administration has to manage 10 million hectares with fewer than 200 people.
This exchange experience has strengthened the relationship between managers from the public forest sector in Peru and Germany. Last but not least, the Peruvian government is supported by the commitment of German development cooperation.
The plan is to repeat this dialogue in the Amazon basin with experts from Germany.
This exchange of experts took place within the framework of the German development cooperation program "ProAmbiente II" carried out by GIZ on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in coordination with the Forest Expert, which is run by the German Forest Association (DFV) and funded by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture (BMEL) Program instead. The German Forest Association and the Peruvian delegation would like to thank all those people from Bavaria and Berlin who contributed to the great success and the high level of information!
Christine Blohm (DFV) und Hannes Hotz (GIZ)