The monetary penalties imposed on a number of delinquent loggers by the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) are permissible under existing forestry legislation and fall within the regulations of the Commission and operators in the country’s forestry sector are well aware of those regulations, according to GFC Commissioner James Singh.
Singh was at the time responding to queries raised by a Forest Producers Asso-ciation (FPA) source and reported in the February 15 issue of the Stabroek Business regarding the authority of the GFC to impose the monetary penalties. The source told Stabroek Business that there was nothing in the current legislation that guided the specific monetary penalty imposed by the GFC.
However, Singh drew attention to existing forestry legislation which allows “the Minister or forest officers authorised by the Minister” to accept compensation for transgression of forestry regulations.
Last week Stabroek Business was informed by the FPA source that loggers might move to the courts to challenge the imposition of the penalties on the grounds that existing legislation made no provision for such penalties. However, Singh explained that the penalties should not be regarded as fines in the legal sense of the term but as compensatory payments to the GFC under regulations that had previously been discussed with the FPA and which had been approved by the Office of the Auditor General.
According to Singh the regulations allowed the GFC to extract – in the case of a first offence – compensation equivalent to one sixth of the value of logs harvested under conditions that transgressed GFC regulations. In the case of the second offence delinquent loggers were liable for compensation equivalent to 35 per cent of the harvested timber while the third offence carried a penalty of seizure of all harvested timber.
Singh said that the imposition of compensatory payments, even at the 35 per cent, second offence rate, still allowed the delinquent loggers to make a profit after the sale of the harvested timber.
Singh told Stabroek Business that the Commission had previously overlooked transgressions by some logging companies and that the current compensation demand of one sixth of the value of harvested timber had taken no account of transgressions committed prior to 2007.
Under GFC regulations which have been in place since 2005 loggers are required to submit to the Commission five-year forestry management plans as well as annual operational plans for their concessions. Singh explained that the twofold purpose of these plans was first, to ensure the availability of harvested timber to meet market demands and, secondly, to monitor industry adherence to the Commission’s sustainability forestry programme. Singh said that even in cases where such plans were submitted the Commission was, in some instances, unhappy with the submissions.
According to Singh vetting exercises carried out by the GFC last year have revealed that some loggers were harvesting logs in excess of the amounts stated on their annual operational plans as well as in blocks of forest from which they had not received permission to harvest logs by the GFC.
He said that the Commission had previously acceded to requests from the industry for “more time” to comply with the regulations. According to Singh in 2006 the Commission had “called in” loggers and had made available technical officers to assist with the preparation and submission of these plans. He added that information regarding the submission of the documentation was also available on the Commission’s website and that at this stage there was “absolutely no justification” for failure to comply with the requirements.
“We believe that we have made more than enough concessions and granted the industry sufficient time to comply with the regulations and a point had been reached where we felt that action had to be taken to demonstrate that the Commission was serious about enforcing its regulations.”
Meanwhile Singh disclosed that a number of loggers are yet to submit their 2008 annual forestry plans which were due since November last year. He said that the Commission had once again decided to demonstrate a degree of flexibility with the sector by extending the submission period to May this year but had also decided that delinquent loggers would not be allowed to harvest timber until their operating plans for the current year were submitted.
GFC officials have previously told Stabroek Business that the industry is constrained by financial problems that militate against enhancing the efficiency of the sector. However, Singh told this newspaper that modern forestry practices demanded that operators in the industry “retool” their operations.
And according to Singh the GFC has moved to ensure even tighter scrutiny of logging operations to monitor compliance with its regulations by recruiting 50 additional staff to keep track of logging procedures.
Guyana boasts 13.8 million hectares of forested area of which around 50 per cent has been allocated for timber harvesting.
