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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Guyanas:
Update on Mining and Logging
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
December
17, 1995
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE
The
World Rainforest Movement reports on continuing threats to
Guyana
and Suriname from large industrial forestry and mining
operations. There is a large campaign to protect the
still intact
forest
ecosystems found in these countries while working to bring
meaningful
development to its inhabitants. This
item was posted
in
econet's rainfor.general conference.
g.b.
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/**
rainfor.genera: 141.0 **/
**
Topic: GUYANAS: UPDATES ON MINING AND LOGG **
**
Written 3:03 PM Dec 14, 1995 by gn:wrm in cdp:rainfor.genera
**
From:
Forest Peoples Programme <wrm>
Subject:
GUYANAS: UPDATES ON MINING AND LOGGING
______________________________________________________________
WORLD RAINFOREST MOVEMENT
_____________________________________________________________
8
DECEMBER 1995
NEWS REPORTS FROM THE GUYANAS
GUYANA : TIMBER CONCESSION FREEZE
HOLDS, JUST.
Environmentalists
received a scare last month, when President
Cheddi
Jagan of Guyana announced to the local press that the
multilateral
development banks had given him the green light to
hand
out more logging concessions to foreign companies. Aid
agency
officials panicked - Guyana already has some 8.7 million
hectares
under concession, far more than the over-stretched
forestry
commission can handle - and new concessions would be
against
agreements that the Government has signed with them.
Telephone
lines from Washington and London hummed with anxiety
while
the truth was disentangled. Was it coincidence that the
announcement
was made while the head of the national forestry
commission
- a known supporter of the concession freeze - was out
of the
country, attending the International
Tropical Timber
Council
meetings?
The
reality is somewhat more reassuring. Malaysia's sixth largest
conglomerate,
the Berjaya Group, has through partnership with a
local
company called Case Timbers, gained rights to an existing
217,000
acre concession, between the Upper Berbice and the
Essequibo,
previously held but not exploited by the local firm
UNAMCO.
Berjaya has promised to inject some US$15 million into
extracting
and processing the timber. Just to the north, the
Singapore-based
Prime Group, masterminded by Alex Ling Lee Soon
of
Forest Resources Management, has taken over Demerara Timbers
Ltd
which has the neighbouring 800,000 hectare concession. In
exchange
the Prime group has been persuaded to relinquish its
rights
to some 600,000 hectares on the Middle Mazaruni, to which
it had
an anomalous 'exploratory' timber permit (no such permit
exists
in Guyanese law!). The Prime Group has accepted the
continuing
presence of the Dutch forestry research programme,
Tropenbos,
within its concession.
The
question remains - why was Jagan's press announcement so
inaccurate?
Environmentalists and aid agency officials believe he
was
testing world reaction to see whether anyone really cares
what
happens in the interior. He can rest assured: the world is
watching
and the aid agencies seem serious about getting control
of the
run-away timber industry.
Meanwhile,
some gains have been made by the Amerindians. Case
Timbers
has had its concession in the Upper Baramita revoked - it
overlapped
half the Carib Indians' reserve, created in 1977. The
Barama
Company Limited has also agreed to excise the other half
of the
Carib reserve from its concession. The Caribs only problem
is that
their reserve is still covered by a gold prospecting
licence
issued by the Geology and Mines Commission to the
Canadian
transnational CANARC, which also has prospects and mines
in
Venezuela, on the Upper Cuyuni, and on the Sara Creek, in
Suriname.
In Guyana, CANARC is using the local consultancy firm
SEMCO
to broker a deal with the local Caribs, whose own gold
mines
are thus threatened with closure.
GUYANA: ROAD GOES AHEAD
The
controversial Boa Vista to Georgetown road is under
construction
again. With minor funds from the Guyana government,
a
laterite trail is about to be constructed by the Guyana Defence
Force
to link the road system of Demerara Timbers Limited, which
connects
to Georgetown through Mabura Hill, to the existing road
up from
Brazil which terminates on the Essequibo at Kurupukari.
NGOs
have long called for an environmental impact study on the
road,
to be published and subject to national debate, before the
road be
completed - a demand heeded by the World Bank, which last
year
financed the assessment. However, although the study was
completed
in April 1995, by the British company Environmental
Resource
Management (ERM), the document has never been made
public
- is this because the mitigation measures advised by the
ERM,
which included titling Amerindian lands, are viewed as
inconvenient?
Brazil has now offered to build a bridge across the
Takutu
river on the border. An all-weather road for four wheel-
drive
vehicles will thus be open by the end of next year if
Government
plans succeed.
GUYANA: IWOKRAMA RAINFOREST PROJECT MAKING
SLOW PROGRESS ?
A legal
bill is soon to be set before the National Assembly
formalising
the establishment of the 360,000 hectare experimental
tropical
forestry project in southern Guyana. The officially
named
'Iwokrama International Rain Forest Programme' was
announced
by previous President Desmond Hoyte in 1989 and
received
preliminary support from the Commonwealth Secretariat,
UNDP,
the Global Environment Facility and Britain's ODA. But
delays
in formalising the project and establishing its research
programme
have led to donor fatigue.
When it
was first announced the project was criticised as a
diversion
from the main environmental concerns in the country,
which
were runaway mining and logging, unplanned road
construction
and lack of recognition of Amerindian rights. The
project
was also criticised for having been developed without any
kind of
consultation with the Amerindian communities and no
provisions
to secure their 'intellectual property rights' - their
herb
lore was to be the subject of a much-touted bio-prospecting
operation.
The project has responded to some of these criticisms,
while
nationally some progress has now been made in getting
logging
and road-building under control. Under the new Bill
establishing
the programme, existing Amerindian legal and
traditional
rights are fully protected and the programme is
obligated
to adopt procedures for recognizing and rewarding local
communities'
contributions and intellectual knowledge.
However,
other critics in Guyana have complained that the draft
Bill,
which is interpreted as giving the land to the programme in
perpetuity,
establishes a 'State within a State', to be run by
international
civil servants on tax-free salaries and a board of
trustees
who have absolute authority within the programme area.
Clear
mechanisms to ensure that Guyanese citizens benefit from
the
programme and that it is accountable to parliament are thus
being
advocated, while the term of the lease may now be
restricted
to 50 years. Other Guyanese have welcomed the presence
of the
programme as it may help control traffic along the near-
completed
Boa Vista-Georgetown road. Although the Bill excises
the
road itself from the authority of the programme, some kind of
collaborative
regime between the government and the programme is
envisaged
for regulating traffic. To this end, the Government has
already
announced that it will establish a 35-man customs, army
and
police post at Kurupukari.
The
project site overlaps the territories of a number of
Amerindian
communities who use the area to hunt, fish and gather
forest
products, as well as for small-scale mining. One community
of some
20 houses, Fairview, across the river from Kurupukari,
falls
right within the reserve and presently lacks title to its
lands.
The challenge for the staff is now to find an effective
way of
recognising these peoples' rights and ensuring they
benefit
from, and have a say in, the running of the progamme.
SURINAME: MINING DISPUTE STILL
UNRESOLVED
The
conflict between Golden Star Resources Ltd (GSRL) and the
Saramaka
Maroons who live near the Gros Rosebel gold-mining
prospect
remains tense. After the small-scale mines near
Koolhoven
were closed in January, when the Maroons were
threatened
with air-strikes if they refused to leave, attention
has
shifted to the Nieuw Koffiekamp area. A heavy military
presence
has been put in place to patrol the prospecting zones
and the
local people complain of being shot at and prevented
having
access to both their forests and small-scale mines.
The
community of Nieuw Koffiekamp has already experienced forced
relocation
to make way for SURALCO's dam at Brokopondo in the
1970s.
They fear they will now be evicted again to make way for
'Suriname's
Omai'; a joint venture between GSRL and Cambior Inc.
is
being negotiated.
Under
pressure from the Saramaka, therefore, the Government has
set up
a commission brokered by the Organisation of American
States
to listen to their complaints and try to find an amicable
solution
to the land conflict. In the course of these discussions
the
Government has offered alternative land - in the form of an
'economical
zone' some 20 kilometres away - to the people of
Nieuw
Koffiekamp, if they will agree to move.
Granman
(Saramaka chief) Sengo Aboikoni notes that the problem
that
the Saramaka face at Nieuw Koffiekamp is the same as that
faced
by all the interior peoples of Suriname: they have no
legally
recognised land rights and the government is seeking to
impose
logging and mining concessions without their consent. 'We
need
title to our lands and our 'economical zones' first before
the Government
invites in foreign companies' he said, noting that
his
people wanted the support of foreign governments in their
struggle
and that they fear a repeat of their experience with the
Brokopondo
dam. 'The Government doesn't pay attention to these
things'
he noted 'that's why we held the Gran Krutu (the first
General
Assembly in Suriname bringing together all the Maroon and
Indigenous
peoples of the interior held in August this year) to
seek a
solution to these problems. But the Government just got
angry
with us as a result of the Gran Krutu, they see us as the
cause
of a lot of trouble. The Government needs to understand
that
now that we have schools and education in the interior we
are
able to express ourselves to them. The Government should not
be
angry now that the people of the interior can speak up for
themselves.'
Local
GSRL head Peter Donald refused to meet with a World
Rainforest
Movement representative visiting Paramaribo, referring
him to
GSRL's head office in Denver. On the telephone, Mr
Ardjomandi
of GSRL noted that the company has not yet decided
whether
the mine should go ahead or not. The negotiations with
the
Saramaka had been demanded by the people he noted and had the
aim of
ensuring that whatever happens the people will not suffer.
GSRL
has pointed out previously that it is the Government of
Suriname
which has legal responsibility for the welfare of the
Saramaka
and issues such as land rights and compensation.
However,
legal controls on mining in Suriname are very weak.
Under
the 1986 Mining Decree companies are required to use
'appropriate
technologies' having 'due regard to...the need to
protect
eco-systems' and to clean up or restore mined areas 'to
the
satisfaction of the Minister' when they finish. Under the
act, a
working plan to restore mined lands should be filed with a
mining
application. Going beyond the legal requirements, the two
bauxite
companies, SURALCO and Billiton (GENCOR) do now carry out
Environmental
Impact Assessments (EIA) of new developments but
these
are not made public. More seriously, the Government
entirely
lacks the capacity to monitor compliance with mining
agreements
independently.
Despite
the weakness of the law, the Government has required some
new
investors to carry out EIAs, an obligation they imposed on
GSRL,
which last year contracted RESCAN of Canada to carry out a
baseline
study. GSRL says that a further EIA will be carried out
once
they have decided that the prospect is worth developing.
SURINAME: SURALCO TO MINE WANE CREEK
NATURE RESERVE
Two
beautiful low hills in eastern Suriname near the MUNGO mining
area
were declared a nature reserve a few years ago after mining
giant
SURALCO, which had rights to the area, decided mining the
hills
on either side of the Wane Creek would be uneconomic.
Changing
ore supplies have now forced SURALCO to revise its
position
and the reserve now faces obliteration through SURALCO's
ceaseless
quest for bauxite. Such is SURALCO's haste that it is
now
driving roads through the area without even waiting for the
results
of the EIA that it has commissioned.
SURINAME: NEW BAKHUIS BAUXITE MINE
UNDER STUDY
Plans
to develop the bauxite deposit at Bakhuis in western
Suriname
are again under study. The mines were to have been the
centre-piece
for a 'development pole', commenced by the Dutch in
1974,
the goal being to create a new town and major port at Apura
on the
Courentyne, connected by railway to the Bakhuis deposit.
The
plan was dropped after independence as a result of which the
railroad
has fallen into disrepair, being occasionally used to
ship
gravel down to the port at Apura.
A team
from international consultants MacKay and Schellman is now
carrying
out a feasibility study to look into the possibilities
of
reviving the programme, while Knight Piesold is carrying out a
preliminary
environmental impact survey. The mine, if it goes
ahead,
seems certain to affect some indigenous communities and
will
require the clearance of substantial areas of rainforest.
SURINAME: LOGGING CONCESSIONS STILL
IMMINENT?
Uncertainty
surrounds the three one-million hectare concessions
promised
to Asian companies by the Venetiaan government. Faced
with
dissent from the interior peoples, who have demanded that
their
own land rights be recognised first before foreigners get
logging
rights, and under heavy presure from environmentalists
and aid
agencies, the government is hesitating. President Enrique
Iglesias
of the Inter-American Development Bank has offered a
US$25
million package to reform the timber industry and inject
desperately
needed foreign exchange on condition that the
Government
freezes the hand-out of concessions - but President
Venetiaan
of Suriname has reacted dismissively : the offer, he
said,
was 'eco-colonialism' and 'meddling' in Suriname's internal
affairs.
What kind of colonialism and meddling he thinks foreign
logging
companies carry out is not so clear. According to local
newspaper
reports Suri-Atlantic, a front company for Indonesia's
shadowy
Antang group, has grown impatient of delays and may have
faded
from the running as backers look elsewhere to place their
investments.
Meanwhile MUSA is said to be unpopular with the
government
for employing opposition leader Desi Bouterse in its
timber
poaching operations in Central Suriname. Berjaya remains
the
most likely to get a concession, according to local
environmentalists,
but its concession is also the most contested
as it
overlaps the most territories of Maroon and Indigenous
peoples.
Local observers speculate that the government is
delaying
the concession handout because it cannot afford to
forfeit
the vote of the interior peoples in the up-coming
elections,
scheduled for May 1996. Ten seats in the National
Assembly
are decided by the interior communities : the government
needs
them if it is to maintain a majority.
However,
in a gesture of reconciliation to Maroon and Indigenous
demands,
President Venetiaan has also been reported as saying
that he
will not give away forests to outsiders if the local
people
are opposed. He warned the communities, however, that if
they
reject the foreign companies they would have to fend for
themselves.
Any development they wanted would have to funded from
their
own resources. Local Berjaya representative Paul Yeong has,
according
to local press, also said that the company will avoid
logging
areas claimed by local communities. If the communities do
not
want us we will log elsewhere, he is reported to have said.
Although
the Venetiaan Government initially snubbed the Inter-
American
Development Bank it has accepted a
technical support
project
from the FAO. Working under a programme titled
'Strengthening
National Capacity for Sustainable Development of
Forests
on Public Lands', the four man team from the FAO is
looking
to develop a series of projects for donor funding to
reform
the government's capacity to regulate the timber industry.
The FAO
is looking seriously at the possibility of developing a
legally
authorised and autonomous 'Forest Management and
Development
Authority' (previously refered to as a 'Timber
Institute')
which would have the task of collecting revenue from
logging
companies and overseeing adherence to their management
plans.
The European Commission has already expressed an interest
in
supporting such a body. Unlike the IDB, the FAO has set no
conditions
to its support, and indeed seems to be working on the
assumption
that the Berjaya company will eventually get its
concession.
How they expect the new authority to have the
political
strength to control the company's operations, if the
government
couldn't even prevent it getting access to over 1
million
hectares of forests, remains far from clear.
The
proposed deal with the InterAmercan Development Bank may not
be
dead, moreover. Recently, President Venetiaan wrote a belated
reply
to the IDB offer. It remains to be seen whether he will
accept
the IDB's conditions of a freeze in the hand out of
concessions.
For
further information contact: Forest Peoples Programme, World
Rainforest
Movement, 8 Chapel Row, Chadlington, OX7 3NA, England
Tel:
01608 676 691 Fax: + 44 1608 676 743 Email: wrm@gn.apc.org
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