Loggers Zero in on Guyana's Rain Forests

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

10/22/97

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

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.

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