Advisor to UNAMCO Hamley Case says that while the government refuses to renew the company’s timber lease, illegal loggers have begun to harvest in its 237,000 acre concession, which is located along the Berbice River about 50 miles south of Kwakwani.
However, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud has said the reports have been investigated and action has been taken in some instances.
In a recent interview with Stabroek News, Case explained that the illegal logging started since late last year. He said that it was detected when a team of the company’s officials travelled to the concession to examine the damage done by bandits who had ransacked some of its equipment.
According to Case, company officials observed vast areas of forest clearance, junked Greenheart piles and freshly cut tree stumps. Case said that his concern was not just about the
illegal harvesting, but also about the damage being done to the environment. He opined that this sort of harvesting can potentially have an adverse impact on the environment, since issues like creation of canopy gaps, damage to canopy trees, loss of tree species, destruction of seedlings and erosion can result.
Case said that despite letters of complaints that were sent to the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) and forwarded to the Ministry of Agriculture no action has been taken.
When Stabroek News contacted Persaud, he said that “reports of illegal harvesting in the area that UNAMCO had permission to operate [in] have been investigated and there were instances when action was taken.”
He said that the GFC views illegal harvesting as a serious offence based on the Forests Act. According to the Minister, the GFC has a clear policy which says that no illegal harvesting will be allowed.
The Minister explained that when the concession is active, the company has the first responsibility to secure its forests but can call on GFC and the police to assist in enforcement. He said that there have been several examples of such collaboration in the past. He added that it was the GFC that looked into matters of illegal harvesting and said that the agency has noted a marked decrease in this activity in recent times.
The Malaysian-Guyanese company of UNAMCO began its operations locally in 1994 after buying over majority shares in a local timber company. The Malaysian company Tenaga Khemas and Case Timbers bought over the main shares of UNAMCO from a local businessman, who had been granted a 15-year Timber Sales Agreement by the government in 1992. However, since the expiration of its lease, the government has not renewed it.
The Guyana Forestry Commission has since said that the company has not made a convincing case to government for the renewal of its Timber Sales Agreement (TSA) after it consistently fell short in production while racking up debts in royalties and acreages fees owed to the state during its previous tenure.
In a statement, the GFC said that the government told UNAMCO during its engagement that a prerequisite for renewal was productive utilization of its concession and compliance with terms and conditions of their agreement. It added that UNAMCO failed to satisfy the government that it has the ability to utilize the concession to its fullest potential.
Case, however, has since refuted these statements, calling the majority of these claims baseless. He said that whatever minor infringements committed by UNAMCO would not have been unique to that company.
