This research aims to demonstrate the historical laundering of timber in Ucayali, the heart of illegal timber in the Amazon, through the development of an algorithm that identifies red flags.
The algorithm will analyze the data in two ways: a linear regression, to understand the anomalous behavior of the data, and also an analysis that combines information on forest interventions, fiscal investigations, forms of timber transport, concession holders, among other documented data. The aim of this work is not to identify any loggers, but something more ambitious, such as the washing mechanism (where there are more red flags).
The methodology, which could later be replicated by other Rainforest Investigations Network Fellows or OjoPúblico-allied media covering Amazonian issues in South America, is based on a spreadsheet with data linked to almost 80,000 records of timber transportation to Ucayali, between 2010 and 2020.
The updating of this dataset is in progress, through an access request, pending response from the Regional Government of Ucayali. For further analysis and to optimize the algorithm development, other requests for access to data on the details of forest management plans in Ucayali are also pending. These documents show the amount of timber that concessionaires have approved for extraction per year.
