The Fight to Save Guyana's Forests

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

10/27/97

OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE

Guyana state forest boundaries have been altered to incorporate more

than 4.5 million hectares of virtually untouched tropical forest.

Within the past decade nearly the entire rainforest expanse of Guyana,

one of the World's last remaining tropical wildernesses, have been

allocated for commercial timber and mining purposes. Ecological

collapse is the natural progression for countries that fail to

stabilize and regenerate their forest and other ecosystems. The

following item comes from econet's reg.carib conference.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: GUYANA: The Fight to Save the Country's Forests

Source: InterPress Service, via econet

Date: October 21, 1997

Byline: Bert Wilkinson

/** reg.carib: 199.0 **/

** Topic: IPS: GUYANA: The Fight to Save The Country's Forests **

** Written 4:09 PM Oct 21, 1997 by newsdesk in cdp:reg.carib **

Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.

*** 18-Oct-97 ***

Title: GUYANA: The Fight to Save The Country's Forests

By Bert Wilkinson

GEORGETOWN, Oct 13 (IPS) - For as long as many Guyanese can

remember, Mike McCormack has been a tireless human rights

activist, clashing with police and other officials in the country

on issues of principle, be it police abuse or overcrowding in the

prisons.

In recent times, he has added the environment to the list of

issues he champions, as Guyana, considered one of the few

remaining countries with its rainforest resources still intact,

is rolling out the red carpet to international timber investors.

For McCormack and his band of associates in the Guyana Human

Rights Association (GHRA) and the Green Movement, the moves by

government approximates sacrilege, since in their view state

institutions charged with overseeing activities in the rainforest

are far from capable of doing even a reasonable job.

''We don't trust the capacity of the Commission (Forestry

Commission) to monitor what's happening and to resist the

pressures these big companies can bring to bear on us,'' he told

IPS.

''When one looks at what is happening in Asia with the smog and

all that, it does not lessen our perception that we don't have

the capacity to monitor the environment and to resist the

pressures of big companies and what they can bring to bear.''

McCormack's concern stems from a recent announcement that the

Sam Hinds administration has extended the state forest boundaries

to incorporate more than 4.5 million hectares of virtually

untouched tropical forest. The idea is to bring the area under the

control of the Forestry Commission which will eventually parcel

out portions to companies which meet set criteria.

In fact, the opening of the additional concessions now means

that most of this 215,000 square kilometre South American Republic

has been parcelled out to foreign timber or mining companies, most

of them coming here in the last decade.

The new state boundaries also mean that all areas down to the

southern border with Brazil are open to possible exploration and

exploitation by prospective investors and indications are that

companies are lining up.

Assurances that firms will first be given exploratory permits

rather than harvesting licences have not done much to ease the

fears and concerns of environmentalists. They are insisting that

money and the power of incoming multinational companies will

eventually overrun the system here.

The GHRA further contends that the granting of exploratory

licences is a ruse to circumvent resistance to the opening up of

Guyana to timber arvesting.

Already three Malaysian firms, Kwitaro Investments, Berjaya

Berhad and Solid Timbers Berhad have been invited to submit plans

for working concession areas, totalling about 303,000 hectares.

The invitation allows them to do a forest inventory to determine

if there are enough commercially usable species, compile

environmental impact studies, prove their bona fides submit

documents of authenticity, including bank accounts and letters of

credit and generally indicate to authorities they have proper

track records.

Once these criteria are met, companies could then move on to

the second stage by applying for an actual harvesting licence to

engage in selected tree felling, set up plywood or furniture

factories or simply export round logs to international markets.

But the GHRA and officials remain at loggerheads over several

issues of principle. For one, some of the new areas take in lands

set aside for Protected Area Systems in collaboration with several

international agencies, including the Washington-based

Conservation International.

McCormack cites the Kanuku Mountain areas near Brazil as one

example. One of the richest on the contnent in terms of the

density of the flora and fauna, the area has been farmed out to a

Canadian mining company. The second relates to the New River

Triangle near Suriname, a region both claimed by Guyana and its

eastern neighbour.

The GHRA points to a recent study done by Conservation

International showing the area contains probably the highest

concentration of biodiversity in the country, inclusive of 250

species of birds and up to 80 percent mammal fauna.

Earlier plans had set this aside for protection, but no one is

sure what will happen now that it is on the list of exploitable

territories. (end/ips/en/bw/cb/97)

Origin: Amsterdam/GUYANA/

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