World Wildlife Fund, Iwokrama sign certification deal
Guyana Chronicle
March 31, 2004
THE World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Guiana Shield and Iwokrama yesterday signed a one-year agreement under which the WWF will provide US$50,000 in support to Iwokrama to enable that body to achieve certification of timber operations in the Iwokrama Forest.
Signing the agreement on behalf of Iwokrama was Dr. David Singh. Dr. Patrick Williams signed on behalf of the World Wildlife Fund.
Iwokrama, in keeping with its mission to show how to sustainably use and conserve tropical rainforest, is developing a sustainable timber harvesting operation that adheres to national and international standards. This WWF-Iwokrama project will ensure that Iwokrama will produce certified timber for Guyana, the United States, Europe, the Caribbean and other markets.
Iwokrama's Director General, Dr. Graham Watkins, Observed that tropical rain forests continue to be degraded and lost as a result of poorly managed business development for timber, agriculture and mining. He said that while forests in developing countries continue to bring in hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue from forest products each year, experience has shown that the majority of these products are extracted without consideration of ecological, social and cultural consequences.
The Forest Stewardship Council and other initiatives such as the Guyana National Initiative for Forest Certification were cited as entities working to ensure the certification of products for those markets.
Dr. Graham said that the future of tropical rainforests will depend on the actions of governments, private sector, local communities and organizations like Iwokrama, to ensure the effective institutional frameworks are established for sustainability.
Alluding to the benefits of Certification, Commissioner of the Forests, Mr. James Singh, who was also present at the signing of the agreement, said that it would help the harvesters secure more markets. This is because they will have to rigidly conform to rules of the process, which sets very high standards.
Meanwhile, WWF Executive Director, Dr. Patrick Williams added that, certification promises to give some of the companies access to high prices markets, primarily in North America and Europe, since it is mandatory for a company to have certified timber before being allowed to access those markets.
An important pre-requirement for being accorded 'certification' status is that the company should be practicing Reduced Impact Logging - using the best practices possible to carry out forest operation, the Commissioner said. To this end, a three-day training programme, in the form of a demonstration of Reduced Impact Logging techniques began yesterday at Charabaro, Upper Berbice River. In support of the initiative, the World Wildlife Fund presented a cheque to the Guyana Forest Commission to assist in funding the training exercise.