Brazil nut-rich forests in Peru

FTA work has helped maintain the standing value of Brazil nut-rich forest in Peru for livelihood outcomes, while contributing to not less than 120 million tons of avoided carbon emissions.

FTA research has generated novel biophysical evidence to optimize multiple forest use in Brazil nut concessions showing that the harvest of up to two timber trees will not compromise Brazil nut production. In Peru, 1 million hectares of Brazil nut-rich forests are managed on a 40-year concession system granted to local harvesters. Logging is theoretically forbidden but rampant and uncontrolled. By setting empirically based timber-harvesting limits, FTA research contributed to optimizing timber and non-timber forest product uses in highly biodiverse Western Amazonian forests.

These findings, which have been included in the current technical norms governing timber extraction in Brazil nut concessions, generated a forest policy change in early 2016. Brazil nut concessions store the largest aboveground carbon in the country (about 120 tons of carbon per hectare). This research covered 2 million hectares of Brazil’s nut-rich forests, among which 100,000 hectares of “conflict lands” were at a very high risk of being cleared for agriculture.