Countries › Peru › Guide › 12. Sectors › Forestry in Peru: plantations without permits, timber concessions of up to 40 years, land use change limits, the 30 percent forest reserve and the 2024 zoning changes

Forestry in Peru: plantations without permits, timber concessions of up to 40 years, land use change limits, the 30 percent forest reserve and the 2024 zoning changes

Last verified: 2026-10-28 · Status: Changing

Forest plantations on private or community land in Peru need no authorisation, pay no harvesting fee and need no management plan; they are only registered, free and automatically, in SERFOR's national plantation register. Natural forests are State heritage used through enabling titles: timber concessions in permanent production forests are awarded by public tender in units of 5,000 to 40,000 hectares for up to 40 renewable years, and other concessions cover non timber products, ecotourism and conservation. Converting forest or protection land to farming is prohibited, and where clearing for agriculture is allowed at least 30 percent of the forest must be kept. Ley 31973 of January 2024 moved approval of forest zoning to MIDAGRI and suspended, for two to three years, the requirement of approved zoning before granting most enabling titles, while carving out existing farms on titled land.

USD figures use S/ 3.452 per US dollar, the banking system selling rate published by the Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP for 27 October 2026, from the Banco Central de Reserva del Perú statistics series PD04640PD. UIT based amounts use the 2026 UIT of S/ 5,500 set by Decreto Supremo Nº 301-2025-EF, as cited in SUNAT Resolución de Superintendencia Nº 000016-2026/SUNAT. Conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

Maximum term of timber and other forest concessions (renewable)	40 yearsLey 29763 art. 56 to 59, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Maximum timber concession harvesting unit	40000 hectaresLey 29763 art. 56 b, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Minimum share of existing forest to keep on farm land	30 %Ley 29763 art. 38, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Harvesting fee on plantations on private or community land	0 PENLey 29763 art. 113, as of 2026-10-28 · in force

The rule

1. Forest plantations on private or community land need no authorisation from any authority. Their fruits, products and by products, timber or otherwise, belong to the plantation owners, are not subject to any harvesting fee and need no management plan. Plantations are recorded in the Registro Nacional de Plantaciones kept by SERFOR through its decentralised forest management units, stating location, area, species and number of trees and proving the right over the land, in a simple, free and automatic procedure. Owners and communities may not clear forest on forest or protection land to install plantations.
Cost to do it: No fee: registration is free and harvests pay no harvesting fee.
Example: A pine and eucalyptus plantation on a privately owned 500 hectare farm in Cajamarca registers with SERFOR and harvests without a management plan or fee. / A US$20 million plantation fund buying degraded private land avoids concession fees entirely, as long as no native forest is cleared to plant.Ley Nº 29763, Ley Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre (promulgated 21 July 2011), SPIJ text on gob.pe, Art. 113, 2011-07-21 official text · verified 2026-10-28 · changed: Under DL 1283 (29 December 2016) the same rule applies to plantations on public land on the coast and in the highlands.

2. Timber concessions are granted by public tender in permanent production forests (category I and II under forest zoning) on public land: in harvesting units of 5,000 to 10,000 hectares, or of more than 10,000 to 40,000 hectares, in both cases for up to 40 years, renewable on the conditions in the regulation. Unit sizes for each forest are set by SERFOR technical studies approved by ministerial resolution. Harvesting under forest concessions must be backed by a performance guarantee for the whole term.
Cost to do it: Performance guarantee required for the term; harvesting fees and tender terms are set by regulation and each tender.
Example: A Peruvian timber company bids for a 30,000 hectare unit in Ucayali and, if it wins, holds the concession for up to 40 years. / Up to 40 years of tenure suits long cycle tropical forestry, but the guarantee must be kept for the whole term.Ley Nº 29763, Ley Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre (promulgated 21 July 2011), SPIJ text on gob.pe, Art. 55 and 56, 2011-07-21 official text · verified 2026-10-28

3. Other concessions: for non timber products (fruits, latex, resins, medicinal plants, fibres and similar) in any zoning category, up to 40 renewable years and at most 10,000 hectares; for ecotourism, up to 40 renewable years and at most 10,000 hectares, without commercial timber harvesting and subject to a harvesting fee; and for conservation, with no area limit and up to 40 renewable years, no timber harvesting and no harvesting fee except for tourism, commercial collection or ecosystem service schemes under the management plan.
Cost to do it: Ecotourism concessions pay a harvesting fee; conservation concessions do not, save the listed exceptions.
Example: A lodge operator in Madre de Dios can hold an ecotourism concession of up to 10,000 hectares; a carbon project developer can seek a conservation concession with no area cap. / Conservation concessions suit carbon and biodiversity finance because they carry no harvesting fee for pure conservation.Ley Nº 29763, Ley Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre (promulgated 21 July 2011), SPIJ text on gob.pe, Art. 57 to 59, 2011-07-21 official text · verified 2026-10-28

4. On land whose best use is forestry or protection, with or without tree cover, changing current use to farming is prohibited, as is granting title or possession certificates over such public land. Where public land classified as suitable for crops still has forest, SERFOR may authorise its change of use with medium or higher ecological economic zoning and a binding opinion of the Ministry of Environment; on private land with forest cover, change of use needs authorisation from the regional forest authority based on a micro zoning study. In every case at least 30 percent of the existing forest on agricultural land must be kept as a reserve. Clearing (desbosque) for infrastructure, roads, energy, oil, gas or mining needs prior authorisation with the environmental assessment.
Cost to do it: Micro zoning and environmental studies are private consulting costs; no fee verified.
Example: A 1,000 hectare forested private farm in San Martín approved for crops must keep at least 300 hectares of forest. / A US$100 million oil palm project must check land classification first: forest capability land cannot be converted at all.Ley Nº 29763, Ley Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre (promulgated 21 July 2011), SPIJ text on gob.pe, Art. 36 to 38, 2011-07-21 official text · verified 2026-10-28

5. Ley 31973 rewrote articles 29 and 33: permanent production forests are set by MIDAGRI ministerial resolution proposed by SERFOR, after environmental assessment and consultation, and forest zoning is approved by MIDAGRI ministerial resolution on a regional technical file with prior opinion of the Ministry of Environment. It suspended the requirement of forest zoning before granting enabling titles for up to two years from publication where the regional government has set up its technical committee, plus up to one more year where its zoning file is ready; the suspension does not apply to timber concessions, and no titles may be granted meanwhile over areas being titled or extended for peasant and native communities or proposed territorial reserves. Private farms titled or with possession certificates before the law, without forest mass and in farming use, are treated as exclusion areas for farming and exempted from land classification and art. 38, but must still keep or progressively offset the 30 percent forest reserve.
Cost to do it: No fee; offsets of missing forest reserve follow SERFOR mechanisms.
Example: A regional government with its zoning technical committee installed could grant non timber titles without approved zoning until January 2026, or until January 2027 if its zoning file was ready. / Investors in farms carved out of former forest should document title or possession dated before 11 January 2024 to rely on the exclusion.Ley Nº 31973, amending Ley 29763 (El Peruano 11 January 2024), Art. 2; first and second complementary transitory provisions; sole final provision, 2024-01-11 official text · verified 2026-10-28 · changed: Ley 31973 moved forest zoning approval to MIDAGRI ministerial resolution and created the temporary zoning waiver and farm exclusion.

Title	Where	Maximum area	Maximum term	Harvesting fee
Plantation (private or community land)	Owner's land	No limit	No title needed	None
Timber concession	Permanent production forests, by tender	5,000 to 40,000 ha units	40 years, renewable	Per regulation
Non timber concession	Any zoning category	10,000 ha	40 years, renewable	Per regulation
Ecotourism concession	Natural areas	10,000 ha	40 years, renewable	Yes
Conservation concession	Any category except production forests	No limit	40 years, renewable	None, with exceptions

Forest enabling titles under Ley 29763

Worked example

A foreign plantation investor buys 3,000 hectares of degraded private pasture in Huánuco, registers the plantation with SERFOR for free, and later harvests and exports the timber without a management plan or harvesting fee. Had it wanted natural forest instead, it would need a timber concession won by tender, a performance guarantee and an approved management plan.

Step by step

Check land classification and forest zoning first; forest capability land cannot be converted to farming (art. 37).
For plantations, prove the right over the land and register with SERFOR (art. 113).
For natural forest, watch for SERFOR or regional tenders and prepare the guarantee (art. 55 and 56).
For clearing linked to infrastructure, energy or mining, obtain the desbosque authorisation with the environmental assessment (art. 36).
On farms with forest, plan to keep at least 30 percent forest reserve or offset it (art. 38; Ley 31973 final provision).

Common traps

Clearing native forest to plant is prohibited on forest and protection land, even for plantations (art. 113).
The Ley 31973 zoning waiver never applied to timber concessions and was time limited to two or three years from 11 January 2024.
The gob.pe SPIJ copy of Ley 29763 shows amendment notes only to about 2016; check later changes, including Ley 31973.

Sources

← Agriculture and agribusiness in Peru: the Ley 32434 regime, the 15 percent income tax rate, small producer rules, irrigation depreciation and land ownershipShipping and aviation in Peru: cabotage open to foreign carriers since 2024, and the 51 percent Peruvian ownership rule for domestic airlines →

Get rule changes weekly

Free. One email a week from The LatAm Thread.

One more step after you press the button: we take you to Substack, where your email is already filled in. Confirm there to start. No spam, unsubscribe anytime, we never share your address. By subscribing you agree to the privacy policy.