Loggers Zero in on Guyana's Rain Forests
10/22/97
OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE
CNN reports Guyana, one of the few nations on the Earth with still
nearly entirely intact forests, has entered the realm of commercial
forestry. A vast new concession has commenced, with Malaysian and
Korean loggers bringing their forest management expertise (?!) to this
vast wilderness. Statements of intent to follow strict and careful
management regimes aside, the company involved has a horrendous track
record. It is a tragedy that known forest industry bad actors are
being allowed to take on management of the last great rainforests of
the World. Barama and Malaysian loggers: the World is watching you--
and you _will_ be held accountable!
g.b.
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Title: Loggers Zero in on Guyana's Rain Forest
Source: Cable News Network
Status: Copyright 1997, CNN, contact source to reprint
Date: October 21, 1997
Byline: Correspondent Gary Strieker
PORT KAITUMA, Guyana (CNN) -- It's happening in the Central African
rain forest, it's happening in the Amazon rain forest and now it's
happening in Guyana's virgin rain forest: logging.
Conservationists said it would happen, and it has. Logging companies
from Asia, having devastated their own tropical forests, are now
searching for new sources of timber.
A company called Barama, a joint venture between Malaysians and
Koreans, has won a vast logging concession in Guyana that is half the
size of Belgium.
Barama's operations have tripled the volume of logging in Guyana, and
there are plans to expand production even more.
"It's a low-value forest," says Mark Lawrence of the Edinburgh Center
for Tropical Forests. "The trees are small. Barama has to take out a
high volume."
Barama needs the logs to feed a huge plywood mill, but the company
says it is practicing sustainable forestry and has no interest in
devastating the forest.
"We want production, we want to get logs, but at the same time we want
to do it in a more skillful way," says Deonarine Ramautar of Barama.
Company says it cuts only 2 trees an acre
The company says it is cutting an average of only two trees an acre
and doing what it can to minimize the damage that occurs when the logs
are taken out of the forest. The latter is a skill, the company
admits, that its workers are having some difficulty mastering.
If the company sticks to its plan, then in theory the forest would
regenerate itself, and Barama could harvest each area again in 25
years.
The problem is, no one knows how much time is needed for the trees to
grow.
"Who knows how quickly you can really get back in there to harvest
again?" says former logger Frank Alphonso. "It's a guess."
Barama says it plans to stay in Guyana for at least 50 years, the
length of its concession, and that it has invested millions in a plant
and equipment.
"Barama is trying to pick out the best way to make the forestry
operations here sustainable for a long-term future," says Lawrence of
the forestry center.
As part of its deal with Guyana's government, Barama's operations are
monitored by an independent research center that carries out studies
to assess growth rates and logging damage.
Government puts new concessions on hold
Government officials say Barama has made Guyana a major player in the
timber business, taking notice of the country when no one else did.
"Barama came here at a time when nobody wanted to invest in Guyana,
and they took risks," says Clayton Hall, the commissioner of forests.
But now more Asian companies are trying to negotiate timber deals, and
the government has decided to put new concessions on hold until they
have the resources to enforce the laws on sustainable logging.
"We certainly would not allow what was done in other areas that was
not sustainable to be repeated here in Guyana," says Sam Hinds, the
president of Guyana.
But doubters say that timber companies came to Guyana only because
they are interested in exploiting its resources and see the country as
an easy victim. They question whether the timber companies will
actually practice sustainable forestry, or ransack the forest for the
best trees and then leave.
One thing is certain: In one of the few nations left on the planet
with a forest cover still largely undisturbed, the age of innocence is
over. The age of commercial logging has begun.