State-of-the-art forestry centre likely by next month
Guyana Chronicle
April 12, 2004
A STATE-of-the-art training centre to boost forest conservation in Guyana will be ready for operation by next month.
The initiative, which will launch full-scale training for all stakeholders in that sector, will be managed by the Forestry Training Centre (FTC) at the urging of international forestry community for better systems to be put in place and for an upgrading of standards towards certification.
Coordinator of FTC, Mr. Goedfrey Marshall, informed the Guyana Chronicle that FTC is committed to teaching individuals the appropriate techniques to harvest timber and in the process reducing the negative impact on the forest.
Mr. Marshall stated that the construction of an access road into the site is ongoing.
The FTC recently received a significant boost when one of its partners Tropical Forest Foundation donated the core machines, namely a skidder, bulldozer and a log loader.
The Centre will have dorms, a small workshop, kitchen, an office, computer centre, classrooms fully equipped with training facilities, and demonstration plots in the field.
The Centre will be located at Manaka, a concession owned by Toolsie Persaud Limited, which has some 6,000 hectares of virgin forest.
He however noted that this operation will not compete with the Guyana School of Agriculture or the University of Guyana but will do training at a very practical level.
He added that the forest enterprises are sort of lagging behind, and while the University of Guyana and the Guyana School of Agriculture produce graduates, most of whom lack the practical experience to contribute to a rapid change in the capacity, of forest enterprise.
"So basically FTC is offering vocational training in reduced impact logging, and we start from the point of view that like having a cricket or football team, we have good players but there is need for a bit more coaching, to produce better results" he explained.
The team of competent persons numbering some twenty, include drivers and camp attendants, and the others are listed as technical staff. These include instructors, an Admin Manager, Project Coordinator, Coordinator, Foresters and technicians.
He pointed out that the Foresters are all graduates of UG and while they are responsible for the technical aspect, the specialists are skilled in tree spotting, chain saw operations, machinery operations.
The FTC presently has another training centre in Demerara at Charabaru on a concession of Variety Woods and Greenheart Limited.
"It’s all about taking timber from the forest and causing as little damage as possible" he explained.
The training will also correct the bad handling of expensive machinery, bad forestry roads, the production of poor quality timber, trees badly felled and accidents, he noted.
According to the Coordinator of FTC the field facility which will facilitate a logging operation will offer training in a different way, practical hands-on fashion, allowing trainees from Forestry Sector to participate in every detail of the operations, including how to build the bridges, the roads, how to do invention and mapping, operating the machinery, how to prepare a tree and area before felling and the actual felling of trees.
He pointed out that they have already received requests from Variety Woods and Greenheart Limited and Barama for training for their staff and anticipates that other companies will approach the Centre when the field facility is in place.
The Management of Variety Woods and Greenheart and Barama "recognize the value of training for their operatives, and of course they are working towards certification" Mr. Marshall said.
Several training sessions were already held, at Charabaru including a regional one that had stakeholders from French Guiana, Suriname, Belize and Guyana with support from World Wildlife Fund (Guianas) and hosted by the Guyana Forestry Commission and FTC.
The FTC team benefited from an extensive training of trainers course in Brazil and had the expertise of some consultants from Australia, so they are fully equipped, he pointed out.
FTC is a partnership between the Forest Association Products of Guyana, Tropical Forest Foundation and the Guyana Forestry Commission and funded by ITT International Tropical Timber Organisation and DFID.
Giving a background of the FTC he explained, "Our policy makers have been concerned that the Forestry Sector does not contribute to national development as well as they expect given their resources, one of the reasons being a shortage of skilled labour, in the sector".
He added that over the past ten years the government has tried to address all institutional issues that can help the forestry sector and at this stage what they are working on is to help forest enterprises do a better job as far as forest management is concerned.
"So on the Government side they formed the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), and there is a new forest policy statement, draft legislation, there is a code of practice, training of forest officers in special skills," he continued.
One national requirement is that companies should implement the Code of Practice but most do not have the 'know how', hence the need for FTC.
Dr. Peter Van Der Hout, the Project Coordinator of the Forestry Training Centre (FTC) evaluated the past workshops as very good yielding positive results.
He said all participants are able to observe the entire system, and hailed it as an eye opener, with very good feedback.
He added that large companies involved in RIL will receive economic benefits from embracing such a policy.
"Personally, large companies have economic benefits, it brings whole structure of the operations where people use their minds more than their hands and machines" he pointed out.
From a long term perspective it would be more cost effective on machinery, he explained, noting that the programme is not only focused on RIL but also teaching people how to use machines properly.