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5. Application of trade related instruments to the trade in NWFP

5.1 Trade-related instruments affecting Brazil nuts

5.1.1 Legal framework

Except for Brazil nuts, Palm heart and wild cocoa, trade of NWFP are not significant for the Bolivian exports. This holds also true when comparing local trading of NWFP, compared to wood commerce. The domestic market is small and the consumption is mainly in household, therefore there is no policy guiding their development.

Even though Forest Law 1700 and its regulatory Supreme Decree 24453 (both enacted in 1996) set the rules for production and extractive activities in the forests, little is mentioned about NWFP. This legal framework is based on two basic management tools: a Forest Management Plan (PMF) and a Forest Certificate of Origin (CEFOR). The first document allows extraction of forest products, and the second one is a permit for transportation and commercialisation within national territory.

Bojanic (2002) summarises the specific regulation regarding NWFP:

• Article 27 of the Forest Law 1700 points out the necessity of the management plan and a raw material supply plan that includes regulations on quantity and source of NWFP coming from the managed forest concessions that are already approved for wood extraction or from concessions exclusively defined for NWFPs. Only products listed in this plan can be commercialised. A detailed description of contents and information for filling out the plan, to be presented by extraction and trading companies of NWFP is defined in the Forest Technical Norm 134/97, (forms 5, 7 and 9) as well as the dispositions of the Forest Superintendence (SF) relative to the payment of patents for use of Brazil Nuts (Bertholletia excelsa).

• Article 83 of the forest law defines the Forest Management Plan (PMF) as essential for the commercial use of the NWFP in order to guarantee the sustainable production in terms of volume and harvesting method. The PMF includes the obligation of presenting the annual operative plans to the Forest Superintendence (SF). The SF is also in charge of monitoring the application of the PM and of sanctioning in case of non fulfilment.

• Article 69 of the regulation indicates that for local use of NWFP a PMF is not required, use and transport require SF or municipal special authorisations only.

• Article 31 of the Law indicates that forest concessions are to be granted to Local Social Groups (ASL) and indigenous communities (TCO) above other users.

One important element of the Bolivian legal framework for natural resources is that all the activities, from harvesting to commercialization, are required to have documentary support proving they have been extracted under sustainable management principles. Other than an important benefit for the environment and natural resources, companies and the other players have a good base for any international certification.

One of the disadvantages of the concession system is that companies are not interested in improving the production areas where they work, since all the product is already for harvesting. They hire non permanent personnel with daily payment, and not per volume harvested. This leaves an important volume left in the ground since no ownership feeling exists and consequently, productivity decreases.

With the inclusion of new players (i.e. indigenous communities and local social groups), a monopoly type of system was broken. Control of the production can also be carried out by communities independently and communities in association with concession holders. This enables a fair price negotiation with communities, though employment conditions remain the same.

Despite the improvements introduced by the new forest regime, living and employment conditions for harvesters have not improved.

Brazil nut is a product harvested from natural forest. Therefore, deforestation influences directly the quality and quantity of the Brazil nut production.

The harvester, who might be a native peasant or an immigrant from the Bolivian highlands, carries out his work with the help of his family. He does not have social security or a formal full time job with all the benefits. The product is sold by the individual farmer to intermediaries who fix the prices, with no chance to any negotiation. They have no access to information about local, regional, national or international prices.

The lack of commercial options for Brazil nuts forces the harvesters to give their products to the intermediaries (transporters and concession holders) for low prices or exchange them with food, medicines or other goods of first necessity.

5.1.2 National Standards for quality of products and processes

Bolivian Standards for Brazil nuts have been developed by The Bolivian Institute for Standardisation and Quality IBNORCA by the Supreme Decree 24498 of February 1997. This regulation defines the necessity of improving the certification process for Brazil nut exports under the Bolivian System of standardisation, certification, accreditation and metrology.

With the purpose of maintaining the country’s status of first world producer and exporter of Brazil nuts, a National Brazil Nut Council was created by a Supreme Decree (DS) 25200, dated

October 1998, and certification of these products became mandatory. So far this strategy supported the maintenance of Bolivia’s first place in Brazil nuts exports, both in terms of volume and value. The DS is based on international market requirements, especially regarding aflatoxins as mentioned in 4.1.3. The amount of this toxic biochemical compound determines whether or not the product can enter the international market. Furthermore, there are other characteristics not included in the DS, such as size and packaging, which will affect the price (Paz Soldan, 2003). Later that year a new Decree 26081 was promulgated to improve the conditions of competitiveness of this product with special emphasis towards aflatoxins.

This last Supreme Decree demands that exported Brazil Nuts will have the certificates of quality emitted in accordance with the dispositions of this Supreme Ordinance conform the applicable national and international technical standards.

It is also required that certificates of quality for exports will be granted by legal bodies accredited by the Bolivian Organisation for Accreditation (OBA). To this moment, only SENASAG is acreditted, thus being the only institution granting phyto-sanitary certificates to exporters. The main restriction in granting more certificates to exporters is the lack of capacity of potential accreditation institutions in fulfilling the requirements of the OBA.

The following standards were approved by special committees:

• NB 1015 dry Fruits – Almond, Amazon nuts and Brazil nuts - Classification and requirements, approved in May 2000 based on the Regulation CE 1525 / 98 indicating the maximum content of certain pollutants and toxins in nutritious products.

• NB 1016 dry Fruits - Code of good practices of hygiene for Almond (Amazon nuts - Brazil nuts), sent in May 2000. Among other documents, this standard was based on the Code of practical of hygiene for trees nuts.

• NB 1017 dry Fruits - Almond (Amazon nuts - Brazil nuts) - Sampling for the control of the aflatoxins content, May 2000. The bibliography of these standards are based on Annex I of the Directive 98 / 53 / CE.

• NB 1018 dry Fruits - Almond (Amazon nuts - Brazil nuts) - Preparation of samples and general requirements that should complete the analysis methods for the control of the aflatoxins content, May 2000 The bibliography of this standard is Annex II of the Directive 98 / 53 / CE; and the Directive 85 / 591 / EEC and 93 / 99 / EEC.

The following are the European Product Specifications for Brazil Nuts (Paz Soldan, 2003), used by the Bolivian Standardisation Institute, IBNORCA, for the above mentioned standards:

a) Forms traded

b) Grading

c) Packaging

d) Specimen product specification

e) Count / sizes

f) Quality specification

g) Chemical specification

h) Microbiological specification

i) Organoleptic specification

In March 2000, Law 2061 concerning the specific Regime of Agricultural Sanity and Alimentary Safety was approved, creating the National Service of Agricultural Sanity and alimentary safety, SENASAG. The specific regulation for Brazil nuts was approved in February 2001, following the national Standards previously mentioned. By these regulations, SENASAG elaborated a certification and sampling procedure for Brazil nuts, in accordance with European Union regulations, and put into function LABCAR, a specialised laboratory in Riberalta.

SENASAG is the official certification body in charge of formulating relevant phyto and zoo-sanitary standards for the WTO. However, it is not recognised by the EU authorities, thus sampling and analysing of the Brazil nuts produced in Bolivia destined for European markets is still required.

SENASAG is a new institution facing different problems including budget restrictions and lack of professional staff. Procedures for certification on aflatoxins content in Brazil nut take a long time (several weeks) and the biochemical analysis is carried out at a private laboratory belonging to the Chamber of exporters of Northern Bolivia (CADEXNOR). Large companies foresee these bureaucratic delays and can cope with the costs. The small production units and harvesters are more affected though by the increased costs and time.

In terms of the mandatory quality of certification granted by SENASAG all the players, including companies and local communities, can have access to international markets, especially the access to the EU market is facilitated in this way since their requirements on aflatoxins contents are much higher.

As for non-mandatory standards compliance for Brazil nuts, only large companies are working on quality systems and have the resources to make improvements of their production systems on their own. This is enabling them to reach a premium market that is paying a premium price for organic products. On the long run, both quality standards and organic products may not bring forth significantly higher revenues but they will be a condition to access the European market. An example is given by Bolivian producers that could sell their organic Brazil nuts on the Italian fair trade market at Ferrara (Paz Soldan, 2003).

Results from a study conducted by Paz Soldan (2003) reveal that farmers who exported their products through the fair trade market have been able to increase their profits up to 2.5 times in 2001 and 4.4 times in 2002. The study took place in five rural communities during 2001 and ten communities throughout 2002.

Another important example of the positive impact of organic certification to local livelihoods is given by the cooperative production schemes for production and trade of Brazil nuts. The extra money received for the organic brazil nuts exported is shared equally amongst all members (Paz Soldan, 2003).

The demand on the international market motivates Brazil nut producers to adapt their production systems to the requirements of the Hazard Analysis Control Point (HACCP) and ISO 9000 standards.

At this moment, only the largest company is realising the ISO 9000 and HACCP certification process and is also looking for an international accreditation for its laboratory.

In Bolivia, 23 Brazil nut processing companies are registered at the forest superintendence, 4 of which have implemented HACCP standards: Tahuamanu CORP., MANUTATA CORP. and Beneficiadora de Almendras Urkupiña S.R.L. These companies have the largest capacity and productive infrastructure, while the others continue with handmade operations. The latter are in disadvantage concerning productivity and market access, and are forced to make improvements and carry out investments in infrastructure in order to adjust their production systems to international standards.

Some important remarks concerning the benefits of an effective quality assurance system for the Brazil nuts are presented by Paz Soldan (2003), where in an interview, Mr. Nelkenbaum, President of Tahuamanu, the largest Brazil nut company in Bolivia, stated: “In Brazil, pasture grounds are burnt surrounding the brazil nut tree in order to clearly see where nuts fall during the harvest period. This is not allowed in ecological agriculture.” Nelkenbaum affirms that he desires everybody to understand that the brazil nut is the only fruit which allows sustainability and prevents the evident deforestation happening in Brazil. Besides, it is worth clarifying that wherever the land has been transformed in cattle ground, the brazil nut trees stop producing their fruit.

5.1.3 Procedures for the export of NWFP

The following documents are to be presented by a company’s representative to Bolivian Customs authority to carry out the export of NWFP:

• Commercial invoice of the merchandise

• Registration of the company in the Departmental Forest Superintendence

• photocopies of RUE or DUE (Register of exporters or Declaration of export)

• Packing list

• Declaration of Export

• Conformity declaration

• Document of Transport

• Sanitary certificates issued by SENASAG

• Certificate of Origin

Among these steps, those affecting directly trade of Brazil nuts, both in positive and negative ways are:

In order to be able to process the refund of export tariffs, national taxes are paid for the exported product or a verification of origin is granted by the Exporters Bureau System, SIVEX, when the country of destination requires this, at the cost of the exporter. SIVEX then provides a declaration of Conformity after having checked the quantity, quality and value of the merchandise to be exported.

This document emitted by SENASAG certifies that the merchandises are conform sanitary standards, implying their consumption has no negetaive effect on human health and the product does not transmit phyto or zoo-sanitary related illnesses. It can be one or more of the following:

• Phyto or zoosanitary Certificate: Emitted by the Director of vegetable and animal health, of the Ministry of Agriculture, in case of exported vegetable or animal products.

• Certificate of alimentary Inocuity. Emitted by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MSSS), for food products containing animal or organic vector components

• Chemical certificate: Emitted by MSSS when the exported goods are extracts of tannery, pigments, resins and perfumery preparations or cosmetics.

These documentations assure the goods to be exported are of Bolivian origin. They are emitted by the Exporters Bureau System (SIVEX) with the purpose of getting specific tariff preferences granted to Bolivia by diverse agreements with different countries. The different certificates for different destination countries are:

• The “TO”-form (Generalized System of Preferences, Certifies the Origin), if the export is to the United States, some country of the European Union or to any other country that applies to the tariff preferences system.

• Certificate of Origin “Treaty of Free Trade among the Republic of Bolivia and the Mexican States” if the export has as destination Mexico.

• Certificate of Origin “Latin American Association of Integration - ALADI” for exports to any country of South America, except to those forming part of MERCOSUR

• Certificate of Origin “Agreement of Economic Complementation Bolivia - Mercosur” if the export goes to some of the countries members of this agreement.

• “Certificate of Origin for third countries” if the export is to any other country with which Bolivia didn’t sign any agreement or treaty of tariff preferences.

The documentations for Brazil nut exports required by the Bolivian government allows to verify whether the nuts are collected under a sustainable forest management scheme which is in accordance with the criteria for SFM as defined in international conferences. This allows the local communities to benefit from the commercialisation of the accredited Brazil nuts since with the documentation they can sell them to large exporting companies or export them direcly themselves.

Even though Brazil nut is a major export product, sanitary certifications are still a problem. Mr. Alfredo Oilo, President of the Chamber of exporters of Riberalta (CADEXNOR), stated that SENASAG certificates take to long and exports procedures are delayed for days. “We had to put in service our own Laboratory, and work for the Government, since SENASAG has no budget to implement their own”, he stated. As a Chamber, CADEXNOR is playing a third party role. Medium and large companies are solving their problems, while small co-operatives, thus local communities, have more difficulties.

5.1.4 International Agreements Influencing NWFP and Brazil nuts

a) Green certification

The Bolivian Council for the Voluntary Forest Certification (CFV) affiliated to the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), has prepared the Bolivian standards for the certification of Brazil nuts and other NWFP. So far only Brazil nuts have been approved and are subject to a FSC green certificate upon compliance. Meeting these standards, based on social, economic and environmental criteria, is a key factor for accessing preferential markets.

b) Other international agreements

Bolivia is also signatory part of several international agreements related with NWFP, such as the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO), the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Treaty of Amazonian Co-operation (TCA).

In the first case, the international agreement signed with ITTO was supported by a specific Law passed in Congress, however no noticeable influence from this agreement is yet experienced.

The Treaty of Amazon Co-operation (TCA), was signed in Brasilia, Brazil, July 3 1978 by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Surinam and Venezuela. The main objective of this treaty is to carry out efforts and co-ordinated actions to promote the harmonic development of the Amazon territory, promoting the rational use of the natural resources of the region, assuring the equal division of benefits over the stakeholders involved while preserving the environment. This objective is in accordance with the objectives set in the declarations of the World Summit on Environment (River of Janeiro, 1992) and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, South Africa, 2002).

With the purpose of making the TCA work, the parties signed the Protocol of Amendment to the Treaty of Amazon Co-operation in December 1998, after which a new Organisation of the Treaty of Amazon Co-operation (OTCA) was created.

The TCA created a co-ordination and consultation environment for the participant countries from which gradually shared strategies emerged to tackle regional problems on multiple aspects. Thanks to the Treaty and their political-diplomatic and technical meetings, the Amazon countries have shared information and knowledge that allowed the elaboration of a collective work plan, forming a starting point for the realisation of the objectives of the TCA.

Although Bolivia is part of the TCA and participated in a summit of Amazon Chancellors on the Treaty in March 2005, programs and projects have not yet been implemented. It is expected that this treaty will become an economic instrument able to generate benefits for its members for the rational use of natural resources.

The Biological Diversity Agreement (CDB), signed in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, was endorsed by the Bolivian Law 1580 of 1994. This International Treaty was the first environmental agreement including a strong social component, where the value and contribution of the traditional knowledge is recognised, as is the necessity to equally distribute the benefits gained from natural resources and the sovereign right of the States to manage its resources. The CDB recognises the economic value of the components of biodiversity and promotes the idea that Less Developed Countries (LDC), owners of the biggest biological wealth of the planet, can benefit from this economic value trading it in the international market to improve the quality of LDC inhabitants livelihoods (FUNDES, 2003).

In this context, Bolivia launched a National Strategy of Biodiversity in 2001 whose 10 year lasting Plan of Action includes the design of local strategies and management plans for Conservation and Sustainable Use of the Biodiversity. Agricultural and forestry projects are designed combining traditional knowledge and new technologies to come to the sustainable use of natural resources.

The realisation of the above-mentioned agreements and strategies requires the consolidation of the Municipal Forest Units and empowerment of local governments, including the promotion of both wood and non-wood forest product commercialisation. In the case of Brazil nut, but also applicable for other NWFPs, this requires:

• To have a clear land tenure situation for the forest concessions from which Brazil nuts are extracted.

• To train local organisations, rural and indigenous communities in conservation programs and improving the production and quality levels of Brazil nut.including, administrative and negotiation capacities.

• To assure the equal distribution of benefits to all stakeholders in the Brazil nut supply chain

5.2 Trade-related instruments affecting Caiman

5.2.1 A change in the Bolivian legislation from total prohibition to sustainable use

Commerce of wild fauna in Bolivia is a traditional practice, though no species was exploited under a sustainable management program. This resulted in endangering and even causing the extinction of certain species such as: Caimán overo (Caiman latirostris), Caimán negro (Caiman melanosochus níger) and peta (Podocnemis expansa). International demand for skins caused an intense hunting of the caiman in the Central region of South America, including Bolivia, beginning the early 20th century (Medem. 1983).

In Bolivia, the commercial hunting has intensified as of 1942 (King & Videz Rock 1989). It is estimated that until 1950, an average of 781 leathers of caiman (yacare) were extracted per day of the Beni provinces (Pacheco 1992). This hunting, which was legal at the time, reduced the caiman population dramatically. Similar harm afflicted other species of the Bolivian fauna, which motivated the Government to declare an indefinite General Prohibition in 1990 (SD 22641), both for harvesting and exporting.

In 1995, the National Direction of Conservation of the Biodiversity (today DGB), began a process of management through the Plan of Action for the Management of Wild Life, in which one of the priorities was to promote sustainable use of the Caiman yacare, as a result of the apparent recovery of the wild population of this species in the country. The process of implementation of this Plan of Action started with population evaluation in the departments of Beni and Santa Cruz during 1995 and 1996. Based on this information, the first National Regulation of Handling (D.S.24774 of 1997) was passed, allowing the commercial use of caiman skins, with annual hunting quotas based on an evaluation of the state of the populations. In that same year, an experimental phase started with Plans of Management and use in five properties of Beni, where the population was estimated to have an average of 72,22 caimans/km2 (Aparicio 1997).

However, the low number of specimens harvested, the difficulties of the system of hunting with harpoons and the low economic benefits for the farmers who participated in the process, caused a discontinuation of this experimental phase. After this, social pressures induced the Ministry of Sustainable Development to approve a Provisional Regulation Decree with an exception character, that allowed the harvesting of 36,500 leathers of caiman during 1999; 30,000 in Beni; 3,500 in Santa Cruz and 3,000 in La Paz, for hunting and only in Beni for commercialisation, for tannery purposes, permits in La Paz and Santa Cruz were granted only for use of the skins for communities’ purposes.

In March 2000, the new Regulation for the Conservation and Use of caiman (Caiman yacare) (R.M. Nº 049 /00) was approved. This regulation concerned the management of the ecological regions where the caiman is found in the Department of Beni and where skins can be harvested according to sustainable quotas (Aparicio 2001). In 2000, the first evaluation under the new regulation took place to determine the state of the population of caiman in four of the eleven ecological regions of Beni and allowed to harvest 43,683 skins in the year 2001.

The National program was expanded for the regions of Pando and Santa Cruz in 2001, with the population evaluations in some of the eco-regions defined for this purpose and the quotas settled down to harvest 5,000 leathers in Santa Cruz and 1,556 in Pando, and none for La Paz. This program has been constituted in a very important economic alternative for the different local livelihoods depending on the forest, as well as for the departments that are, at the moment, taking advantage of the resource.

The leather export of caiman is the most important economical section within the list of controlled and registered wild animals of Bolivia. In 2001, the leather export has generated approximately between US$ 300 thousand to US$ 400 thousand by the supply of unrefined skins to the tanneries. At the moment, the process of allocation, control and certification of the quotas for the rational use of caiman requires a more transparent administration to avoid the confusion about the jurisdiction between the central and decentralised Government bodies, the local communities, native hunters and tanneries. In that way, a sustainable business was developed, being transparent and controlled, with productive chains from which also the local communities benefited.

5.2.2 Legal Framework for the use of Caiman (Caiman yacare)

A number of legal regulations regarding the hunting of Caiman for commercial purposes are developed and adopted in the Bolivian legal framework as part of the Government’s attempt to promote sustainable bio-commerce. The regulations, being continuously improved are as follows:

• On July 31, 1997, Supreme Decree (DS) 24774 was approved, comprising of an experimental management plan which should regulate the conservation and sustainable use of Caiman in the Departments of Beni and Santa Cruz. This decree, indicating sustainable hunting levels, was based on different studies conducted on the Caiman population dynamics. This decree had a 2-years term. All existing, unauthorised skins were to be burnt resulting in public disapproval on the order to burn 17,609 caiman skins.

• In 1998 a Commission for the Revision of DS 24774 was ordered by the Presidency of the Republic, as a result of protests from several regional institutions of Beni to the skin burning. Later, by means of another Supreme Decree, commercialisation of the 17,609 leathers was authorised by the Department of Beni, which had fulfilled the CITES requirements for exports.

• On July 21, 1999, DS 25458 was approved accepted by means of the creation of an Express Ministerial Resolution. The decree created a new legal framework for the use of wild fauna, lifting the ban on hunting of endangered species under the condition of respecting sustainable harvest levels.

• On October 22, 1999, DS 25555 was approved, authorising the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Planning (MDSP) to emit a Ministerial Resolution that approves the Provisional Regulation allowing the use of caiman during year 1999.

• On November 30, 1999, the Ministerial Resolution 307/99 is approved, endorsing the regulation on conservation and use of caiman and allowing the controlled hunting in the months of October to December of 1999. The hunting ban was reinstalled in the year 2000 until a new ministerial resolution would again be submitted and approved

• On December 17, 1999, the Ministerial Resolution 333/99 is approved, authorising the hunt and storage of caiman skins with a quota of 36,500 leathers, being 60,8 % of the quota recommended by a group of experts of the Bolivian IUCN.

The latter authorization was carried out based on the following facts:

• An increase of the population of caiman yacare was registered after the acceptance of SD22641 in 1990 that had declared the General and Indefinite prohibition of its hunting.

• Studies made by Bolivian experts of the IUCN who recommend a maximum quota of 60.000 caimans, which according to the population dynamics studies would not expose the population to a structural diminution.

Following these regulations the use of caiman started in the department of Beni, benefiting the Indigenous Communities of Beni (CPIB) who harvested 30,000 skins in 1999. In the mean time, in Santa Cruz and La Paz no caimans were hunted, though the Ministerial Resolution 330 had granted quotas of 3,500 and 3,000 respectively for these departments.

In 2000, Main directorate of Biodiversity with the support of CESO/SACO, designed the Natural eco-regions Plan, which was elaborated with a geo-referenced information (GIS) basis, with the General Directorate of Sustainable Forest Development (DGDFS) of the Viceministry of Medio.ambiente (VMA), of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Planning.

During that same year, no authorisations for hunting for skins were emitted because of lack of necessary technical information. However, inventories of caiman population sizes were conducted, and the results were used to draft the document "Analysis and Evaluations of the State of Conservation of the population of the Cayman yacare in Beni; use and conservation ". Based on the information in this document, quotas of 40,000 leathers for Beni, 5,000 for Santa Cruz and 1,500 for Pando were authorised. The impact of the extraction following these quotas was evaluated and based on this evaluation, the new legal framework was adapted and complementary studies for the new quotas for 2002 were realised.

It is important to mention that Bolivia maintains a CITES commitment to limit the exports of skins to 50,000 annually since 1987. During 2003 and 2004, 48,000 caiman skins were authorised annually. Nevertheless, it is not clear whether or not the quota is being fully respected, though a brief evaluation indicated that the recent numbers of caiman skins have not yet reached the annual quota set by CITES.

When article 49 of the SD regulation is granted to a private property or to Communitarian territories of Origin (TCO’s), it authorizes them to sell their Brazil nuts directly to storage centres without loosing income to the intermediaries.

Although, the use of caiman seems to be successful regarding the conservation and the sustainable use, is evident that it becomes necessary to evaluate the program of utilization of the caiman at a national level.

All these legal steps gave local communities for the possibility to participate in the commercialisation of Caiman skins, selling them to tanneries and using the meet for their alimentation In the last 6 years, over 190.000 Caiman units for the use of skins have been harvested in Bolivia as can be seen in Table 4.

Table 3. Total number of Caiman harvested

 

1999

2001

2002

2003

Beni

30.000

40.000

39.132

40.000

La Paz

0

0

0

0

Santa Cruz

0

5.000

5.000

19.344

Pando

0

1500

0

0

TOTAL

30.000

46.500

44.132

59.344

Source: CITES-Bolivia; Made by: HIB Latinoamerica

The major challenge of changing the Government policy from a total prohibition to sustainable use of Caiman is to maintain a strong caiman population size while at the same time ensuring the local people are benefiting from the caiman commercialisation. So far, this challenge seems to have been realised.

5.2.3 Commercialization platform

At this moment, 14 of the 260 reptile species reported in Bolivia are on the list of threatened reptile species (included in the Red book of the Vertebrates of Bolivia). These species are included in Appendix II of CITES, which implies that its commercialisation must be strongly controlled. Caiman is one of the species listed on Appendix II.

The Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Forest Development (VMARNDF) grants the hunting licenses for wild animals, authorising the hunt of 25 % of the adult animals of at least

180 cm in overall length for populations in a good state. The main share of hunted animals is exported, for which market it is required to present a national certificate for export (according to CITES regulations) for the species. The CITES export permit can be directly obtained by the skin traders from the authorised storing centres, under the supervision of competent Departmental and national authorities.

The framework of the National Program of Sustainable Bio-trade (PNBC) promotes projects which utilize biodiversity resources under the condition they fulfil the regulations of CITES. The reasoning behind this attitude is that bio-trade can stimulate national enterprises and attract foreign investment which can boost the Bolivian economy and thus alleviate poverty of the populations habiting the Amazonian Forests.

The license for the use of this NWFP is given to indigenous communities or cattle farmers, who thereafter perceive a legal payment when trading the caiman skins of US$ 7 to 12, depending on the skin’s size. Assuming a price average of US$ 9.5, the income generated for these actors in the year 2001 can be estimated to have been between US$ 285,000, based on the granted quota of 30,000 skins, and US$ 441,750, based on the national use of 46,500 skins. For the years 2002 and 2003, an increase of 20 to 30 % is seen in relation to 2001.

A comparison of the above mentioned information with the World Conservation Monitoring Centre data, shown in table below, illustrates that quotas for the use of Caiman are not exceeded by the permits granted by the Bolivian Government and, harvesting of this animal is under limit of these permits.

Table 4. Gross export trade report for Caiman yacare from Bolivia

Term

Unit

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

Bodies

 

0

0

0

0

1

2

Meat

kg

0

0

0

0

0

10

Skin pieces

kg

0

0

0

0

13

0

Skin pieces

 

0

0

0

0

3525

500

Skins

sides

3514

35000

0

56339

67435

80124

Skins

 

0

0

4116

0

0

1056

Tails

 

0

14000

0

11141

17674

39641

Source: World Conservation Monitoring Centre at www.unep-wcmc.org/species
Made by HIB Latinoamerica

Between 2003 and 2004, the export of caiman skins was authorised from the Departments of Beni and Santa Cruz going to the markets of Italy, Panama, and the United States. According to export statistics of the Department of Santa Cruz until October of 2004, 6269 kg of caiman leathers were exported with a total value of US$ 468,847, representing the 0,04% of the departmental exports. Furthermore, in 2004, 70 ton of “yacare meat” was exported to the markets of Japan and the United States.

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