Dear Editor,
Twice in the last few days the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) has re-asserted in the government-owned or related press that the Chinese transnational logger Bai Shanlin has legal access to a much smaller area than was claimed by CEO Chu WenZe in November 2012 (see http://www.redd-monitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/cwz-en.pdf). CEO Chu claimed that his China Forest Industry Group (Hong Kong), comprised of Bai Shanlin companies and related entities, controlled 960,000 ha. In contrast, Commissioner James Singh of the GFC said that “The undisputed and well publicized fact is that BSL has legal access to 627,072 hectares (ha)” (GT letter to the editor, January 15). In my letter to Stabroek News of September 18, 2014 (‘Concessions controlled by Bai Shan Lin show GFC’s fragile understanding of forest legislation’) I referred to the previous estimates and noted that with the recent addition of two Timber Sales Agreements held in the name of Willems Timber & Trading, rented to Harry Rambarran and now apparently controlled by Bai Shan Lin (‘Roger Khan company, Harry Rambarran in court battle over Willems Timber’ SN, September 14, 2014), the total under BSL control exceeds 1.4 million ha.
Tabulating the concessions, the estimates are –
Bai Shan Lin – concessions operationally controlled in Guyana, 2014
(including information from the GFC Commissioner James Singh, Aug 7, 2014 and Aug 18, 2014. * before the concession number means that the licence was copied to the GMSA. JV means that the GFC approved a joint venture (= legal renting) during the year indicated. Note that illegal renting may have taken place before approval of a JV).
The Commissioner of the GFC has had months to respond about these specific areas, but has chosen instead to make generalizations about GFC’s procedures. The GFC has provided to the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association copies of the concession licences only for those indicated with an asterisk.
In a previous article (‘How Bai Shan Lin acquired the several areas of State Forest which are now in its 1.3+ million hectares empire’, SN, August 28, 2014), I indicated how some of the renting or private sales of forest concessions – ‘joint ventures’ – were probably illegal (pending contradiction by formal publication of such prior approvals, with date-stamping of signatures before the dates of any joint venture contracts). I noted that the total area of these probably illegal rentings or joint ventures was over half of BSL’s forest empire in Guyana.
The Commissioner of the GFC has had months to respond about these specific areas, but has chosen instead to make generalizations about GFC’s procedures. The GFC has provided to the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association copies of the concession licences only for those indicated with an asterisk.
In a previous article (‘How Bai Shan Lin acquired the several areas of State Forest which are now in its 1.3+ million hectares empire’, SN, August 28, 2014), I indicated how some of the renting or private sales of forest concessions – ‘joint ventures’ – were probably illegal (pending contradiction by formal publication of such prior approvals, with date-stamping of signatures before the dates of any joint venture contracts). I noted that the total area of these probably illegal rentings or joint ventures was over half of BSL’s forest empire in Guyana.
I reference citizens’ rights under Articles 13 and 146 of the Guyana Constitution and I reference the REDD+ Governance Development Plan agreed with Norway with its commitment to greater transparency in the forest sector. If Commissioner Singh of the GFC is so sure of the legality of these holdings, would he now place in the public domain – such as the GFC and LCDS websites – the full details of the approvals. The documents should include cross reference to the exact sections of the law and the regulations operative at the time of the approvals, and should include the date-stamped signatures and the entries from the Deeds Register to show who were the company directors on both sides of the joint venture at the times of each approval. Can we also see in the public domain the details of the joint venture agreements in each case? Will the GFC Commissioner also place copies of all these documents, duly notarised as true copies, in the National Assembly for the scrutiny of the Natural Resources sectoral committee which has responsibility for overseeing the forest sector’s administration by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment and the Guyana Forestry Commission.
Later on, we can call on the GFC to explain how Bai Shan Lin’s focus on the production and purchase of logs of the timbers itikiboraballi and wamara (as shown in the KN overflight of the Bissaruni log sorting yard in August 2014 and as seen at BSL riverside location at Coverden) for export to processing factories in China matches the investment promises made by BSL for the last seven years. The GFC could also explain how this massive over-harvesting of preferred commercial species matches the GFC’s claims to sustainable forest management.
Yours faithfully,
Janette Bulkan
