WWF to push sustainable forestry, cleaner mining
Stabroek News
July 17, 2004
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has budgeted 1.5M Euros to be spent over the next fiscal year on promoting the sustainable management of local resources.
Up to 500,000 Euros will go to several initiatives in the forestry sector including certification, development of a national standard and facilitation of research projects to enhance sustainable use of these resources.
Among other benefits to be derived from the funding mechanism are the creation of a timber marketing council, the training of forestry personnel and programmes to arrest gold pollution.
Commissioner of the Guyana Forestry Commis-sion, James Singh, who along with Minister of Agriculture, Satyadeow Sawh attended the WWF meeting recently in French Guiana, said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would benefit from funding by way of assistance for the establishment of sustainable areas at Mount Roraima and Shell Beach.
Singh indicated that a part of the funds is earmarked for the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and will be used in seeking to arrest pollutants in gold mining by unveiling a new technique for extracting the mineral.
According to Singh, similar techniques are likely to be used in the sector in Suriname and French Guiana once the local prototype is deemed to be successful.
With respect to the formation of the timber marketing council, the WWF is providing funding for the project proposals which will be used in the creation of the body sometime early next year, Singh said. In the local programme the team was also able to secure funding via the WWF facility to sponsor studies for four persons at the University of Guyana in the discipline of forestry biology, which Singh hopes would be an ongoing programme.