IRI Peru advocacy with interim government

In December, IRI Peru has made connections with interim Ministers of Justice, Agrarian Development, Environment to discuss the protection and restoration of the country’s forests.  IRI Peru has requested working meetings with each Ministry. For the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights (MINJUSDH), IRI Peru will call for a the government to implement protocols and measures to defend environmental defenders and request that IRI Peru be incorporated into the Ministry’s Working Group on Human Rights and Business.  For the  Ministry of Agrarian Development (MIDAGRI), IRI Peru will: request the exclusion of articles harmful to forests in Peru’s forest regulations, which were approved in the previous administration but which are now being debated at the Executive level; express concern about the situation of the SERFOR management, the central government agency responsible for forests which has not had a Director for the past 6 months; and propose the modification of a regulation in the forest law that allows timber concessions that are not in use to qualify as conservation initiatives. For the Ministry of the Environment (MINAM), IRI Peru will advocate for updating the NDCs to include greater emphasis on forests as a solution to climate change; discuss the position of the ministry on highway and waterway projects, as there are several projects in the portfolio that would be very harmful to forests; and propose to develop an agreement to cooperate in the discussion of issues such as the Environmental Climate Platform, on illegal mining and the dissemination of educational materials.