WWF support for Guyana forestry project
-- `giant leap’ for local industry
By Chamanlall Naipaul
Guyana Chronicle
July 17, 2004
GUYANA’S capacity to engage in sustainable forestry which meets international standards and regulations would receive a boost with a 450,000-500,000 Euros grant from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Commissioner of Forests, Mr. James Singh announced yesterday
The grant is from the WWF Guianas Sustainable Resources Management Project, he told a news conference hosted by acting Agriculture Minister, Mr. Satyadeow Sawh who said this marked a “giant leap” for local forestry.
Singh was at the recent third meeting of the WWF Steering Committee in French Guiana and said the sum earmarked for Guyana is part of the budgetary allocation of 1.5M Euros for the Guianas (Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana) for the financial year July 2004-June 2005.
A major plank of the plan for the implementation of sustainable forestry practices here will be certification, he said.
He projected that by the end of this year more than 500,000 hectares of forests would be certified as being exploited in a sustainable manner.
This would be a significant impetus for exporting local forestry and timber products to international markets and bring benefits to the Gross Domestic Product and the national economy, he said.
As part of gearing the local forest industry for competition on the international market under the Guyana National Forestry Initiative on Certification (GNIFC), the Guyana Forest Products Association should by the end of the month arrive at a strategic plan for implementing a standard for the sector, Singh reported.
He said WWF will also help enhance several other critical areas of the industry, including establishing a Timber Marketing Council intended to help local operators gain greater access to markets; intensifying research, particularly in the area of utilising and disposing waste from the industry in an environment-friendly manner, and training.
Singh said WWF has sponsored four persons who are doing post-graduate degrees in Forestry Biology at the University of Guyana while three others have received similar support to begin studies this year. He recalled, too, the establishment of a Forestry Training Centre.
A community approach to forestry is also being adopted under which communities are given access to forestry lands for their management, Singh pointed out.
Several other local agencies such as the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST) and the Environmental Protection Agency EPA) are also to benefit from WWF assistance, he told reporters.
He said an environment-friendly gold mining model is to be developed here which will also be used in Suriname and French Guiana.
Sawh, who also attended the WWF meeting, said the certification initiative was a “giant leap” for the local industry and will “send a message quickly that Guyana is complying with world requisites for sustainable forestry”.
This will also signal that Guyana’s “national patrimony is being used wisely”, he offered.
Hailing the collaborative approach of the three Guianas in forestry, Sawh noted, “You can choose your friends, but you cannot choose your neighbour.”
He also commended the WWF for its support in practising sustainable forestry, observing that in the past three-and-a-half years, it has provided a total of 5.2M Euros for promoting the thrust.