Timber harvesting in the Iwokrama forest is likely to begin within 18 months, the Iwokrama International Centre announced yesterday.

This timber business will focus its products on green and socially responsible niche markets, a release from the Centre said. Iwokrama is developing a sustainable timber harvesting operation in the Iwokrama forest prior to obtaining Guyana Forestry Commission approval of its Forest Management Plan. And the environmental impact assessment (EIA) as required by the Environmental Protection Agency has begun.

"The objective of the Iwokrama timber programme will be to produce high value products branded with the Iwokrama name indicating social, cultural, ecological and economic sustainability," the Centre stated.

The timber business will be based on detailed research on the forest resource including strategic and forest inventories, marketing and feasibility studies, and a series of consultations with possible business partners and local communities.

Iwokrama's Acting Director-General, Dr Graham Watkins, commenting on the business venture, said: "It is difficult to find ways to manage tropical forests to meet commercial, local community, and the forest's needs, but the major lesson learned is that success rests on the ownership and commitment of local people and the development of partnerships that combine the skills of specialists and local communities."

"In this context," he added, "the Centre has fully engaged with local communities and national agencies to enhance our collective capacity to manage the Iwokrama Forest."

Watkins also noted that the Centre has been building such partnerships since the "quick money approach is an illusion of success that will not serve local people, the country or the forests of the world in the long term."