More Logging in Guyana
12/2/97
OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE
Guyana's government has announced that logging is to increase by 400%
in the next 3-5 years as one of the last remaining largely intact
forest bioregions is to be dismantled and shipped away. The World
Rainforest Movement provides an excellent update on the scourge of
industrial predatory logging. Details are provided on bad corporate
timber industry actors moving into Guyana.
g.b.
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: More Logging in Guyana
Source: World Rainforest Movement
Status: Distribute freely with accreditation to source
Date: November 28, 1997
/* Written 6:43 PM Dec 2, 1997 by gn:wrm in igc:rainfor.genera */
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FOREST PEOPLES PROGRAMME
Guyana Information Update
28 November 1997
More Logging in Guyana
Logging in Guyana's forests is about to dramatically increase. The
Minister of Forestry stated on November 9, 1997, that Guyana's present
production of 240,000 cubic metres per annum is expected to increase
to 1 million cubic metres within the next 3-5 years. State Forests
were also recently expanded by 11.3 million acres and new legislation
was passed this Summer to permit the granting of Exploratory logging
concessions. On November 4, it was announced that applications had
been sent out to 5 companies concerning Exploratory leases. The
Minister's November 9 announcement also stated that four major timber
companies have agreed to invest in Guyana in the near future. Three
are Indonesian companies, one of which is the giant PT Barito Pacific
Timber. Barito also recently acquired a large concession in
neighbouring Suriname near the border with Guyana.
In 1993, Guyana negotiated a five year moratorium on new logging
concessions with international donor agencies. The rationale being
that additional logging would be unsustainable and uncontrollable
given the state of official institutions responsible for forestry,
especially the Guyana Forestry Commission. Since that time, Guyana
has enacted environmental legislation, installed an Environmental
Assessment Board and an Environmental Appeals Tribunal and has
taken other measures to strengthen its capacity to monitor logging
operations. The Government is also looking into establishing a
National Biodiversity Committee. Nevertheless, even with these
measures, monitoring capacity is still extremely weak and virtually
impossible in the newly declared State Forests of the South.
Furthermore, most of the companies involved have poor environmental
records and Indigenous land rights issues have yet to be fully
addressed.
Guyana recently sent applications for Exploratory Leases to Malaysian
companies, Berjaya Berhad, Solid Timbers Berhad and Kwitaro
Investments (owned by the Mafira Group) as well as to Canadian,
Buchanan Forest Products Ltd., and Guyanese-Malaysian company, Case
Timbers (80% owned by Villupillai Kanagalingan). An Exploratory Lease
permits each company to make an inventory of commercial timber,
develop necessary infrastructure and write a management plan to be
submitted to the Government. The Government had previously signed a
Memoranda of Understanding with Berjaya, Kwitaro and Solid Timber, but
had to enact legislation legalising the Exploratory Leases before
proceeding further. This legislation was passed in July of this year
over the objections of opposition parties who urged that the law be
withdrawn. They accused the Government of moving with undue haste, of
not consulting with Indigenous peoples and said that the law "reeked
of collusion, conflict of interest and corruption."
The law requires that applications for Exploratory Leases be evaluated
by the Guyana Forestry Commission. In doing so, tax records,
financial status and details of other operations must be submitted.
If the GFC approves the application, the Exploratory Lease may then be
issued. However, the press in Guyana is citing official sources
stating that the Government has already investigated the companies
involved and sees no problem with approving the applications. They go
on to say that it is expected that the Leases will be operational by
January 1998. This casual disregard for the law is taking place even
before the applications have been approved: what will happen when full
exploitation licenses are granted?
Berjaya, Solid Timbers and Kwitaro each will get concessions of 80,000
acres in the newly extended State Forests of the South. Buchanan will
get 600,000 acres on the Middle Mazaruni River. This is part of the
territory of the Akawaio Indigenous people, many of whom don't have
titles to their land in this area. Case Timbers will get a concession
of 500,000 acres contiguous with its existing concession of 154,000
acres and another under the name of UNAMCO, which is 237,000 acres.
Case and its Malaysian partner own UNAMCO. On July 21, 1997, Case
signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government for the
construction of a US$40 million plywood plant. The plant, which is
estimated to produce 7000 cubic metres of plywood per month is
expected to be operational by the end of 1998.
In other news, on November 2, 1997, Demerara Timbers Ltd. (DTL) and
the Guyana Government broke ground on a new US$20 million saw mill and
plywood plant. DTL has also invested US$6 million in new logging
equipment. DTL is working a concession of approximately one half
million hectares between the Essequibo and Upper Demerara rivers. DTL
is owned by the Prime Group of Singapore, which is a conglomerate of
companies from South east Asia, including Turama Forest Industries of
Papua New Guinea, Indonesian, BP Batu Ampar Wood Industries and SK
Timber Corp. of Malaysia. Turama had its logging permit suspended in
PNG for breach of contract and violation of environmental regulations.
It was also accused of transfer pricing to escape paying taxes and
other duties in PNG. The Prime Group also shares two directors with
the notorious Malaysian company, Ribunan Hijau, responsible for
massive destruction of forests in Sarawak and PNG.
According to Guyanese newspaper, the Stabroek News, Ribunan Hijau is
rumored to be in the process of acquiring the Prime Group. The paper
reports that after a management shake up 3 months ago, log felling by
DTL doubled from 5,000 cubic metres to 10,000 cubic metres a month.
Seventy percent of the logs are exported as round wood. The
management shake up was directed by Ribunan Hijau fueling speculation
that it has already acquired the Prime Group or at least is
controlling a substantial part of its operations. Ribunan Hijau
recently extended its operations to the Brazilian Amazon near Manaus.
It also has connections with Berjaya Berhad of Malaysia, one of the
companies that received an application for an Exploratory Lease.
Berjaya is already working in Guyana through Case and UNAMCO. It also
has a number of recently granted concessions in Suriname. Ribunan
Hijau is also suspected of having ties to other companies operating
in Guyana. Just how much of Guyana's forests are controlled by
Ribunan may never be known. Nonetheless, Ribunan's record elsewhere,
where it demonstrates a total disregard for environmental laws most
likely will be repeated in Guyana. Both Berjaya and Ribunan Hijau have
also been involved in serious conflicts with Indigenous peoples in the
areas of their operations.
Indigenous peoples, whose ancestral lands cover large areas of
Guyana's forests have stated their opposition to logging and mining on
or near their lands on numerous occasions. For instance, David James,
the President of the Amerindian Peoples Association of Guyana stated
that "to allow uncontrolled logging and mining in our lands will
ultimately benefit neither Guyana, nor the World, and worst of all it
threatens the survival of the Amerindian peoples and the environment."
Indigenous peoples especially point to the fact that outstanding land
issues have yet to be satisfactorily resolved and that the Government
routinely ignores them when granting logging and mining concessions.
International human rights standards provide that Indigenous peoples
have rights to lands occupied and used by them as well as to
participate in decisions concerning the use of those lands. Guyana
falls short on both counts. Approximately half of the Indigenous
communities in Guyana have title to land, although the vast majority
of these state that their titled areas are inadequate, both in
comparison to their ancestral lands and for their basic subsistence
needs.
The other half have no title to any land and live a precarious
existence especially when confronted with logging and mining
operations. Some communities complain that they are exploited as
cheap labour by logging and mining companies while others have entered
into agreements to sell timber on their lands, in most cases severely
damaging their forest resources. As logging increases the problems
experienced by Indigenous peoples in Guyana
will also increase.
The recognition of Indigenous land rights was a condition of Guyana's
independence from the United Kingdom in 1966. In order to implement
this decision, an Amerindian Lands Commission was established. Its
report, issued in 1969, recommended that titled be granted to 24,000
square miles of a total 43,000 square miles identified as theirs by
Indigenous peoples. In 1976, the Government granted title to 4,500
square miles little more than one tenth of that identified by
Indigenous peoples and less than 20% of that recommended by the Lands
Commission. Additional titles were issued in 1991 to a few
communities, but the total area titled is still a fraction of that
recommended by the Lands Commission, let alone that identified by
Indigenous peoples themselves. Large areas of these lands are now
being used for logging and mining despite the fact the Indigenous
peoples continue to assert their rights to them. The concession
granted to Malaysian company, Barama, for instance, is larger than all
titled Indigenous land in Guyana combined. The Government has only
recently began to demarcate Indigenous lands in Guyana. However, the
money allocated is insufficient for more than a few communities.
Moreover, Indigenous communities all over the country have rejected
Government offers of demarcation until all other lands issues are
resolved.
In conclusion, Prime Minister and likely next President, Janet Jagan
has vowed to fight poverty by fostering expansion of the timber and
mining industries. One has to wonder how exactly Guyana will be able
to expand logging and mining operations when the vast majority of the
country is already under concession. The only major area left is the
ancestral land of the Wai Wai Indigenous people of the deep South.
The Wai Wai leader recently demanded that full title to Wai Wai land
be granted and rejected logging operations on those lands. Also,
logging and mining may provide jobs for some, but experience has shown
that with few exceptions these operations have contributed to
increased poverty for Indigenous peoples. Finally, given the emphasis
that the Government is putting on extractive industries like logging
and mining, serious questions have to be raised about the inclination
of the Government to enforce environmental and human rights
protections.
For further information please contact,
Forest Peoples Programme
1c, Fosseway Business Centre, Stratford Road, Moreton-in-Marsh, GL56
9NQ, UK
Tel. 44. 1608. 652. 893, Fax. 44. 1608. 652. 878, Email :
wrm@gn.apc.org
Forest Peoples Programme / World Rainforest Movement (UK Office)
1c Fosseway Business Center, Stratford Road, Moreton in Marsh, GL56
9NQ, UK
Tel: 44 (0)i608 652893 Fax: 44 (0) 1608 652878 Email:
wrm@gn.apc.org
The World Rainforest Movement's International Secretariat is at:
Casilla de Correo 1539, Montevideo, Uruguay
Tel: 598 2 496192 Fax: 598 2 419222 Email: rcarrere@chasque.apc.org