-traders say law is working
A call has come for increased restrictions on the conduct of the wildlife trade in the wake of claims that the rainforest is experiencing “rampant rape” for commercial purposes – a charge denied by a representative for the traders.
Private Sector Commission Chairman Gerry Gouveia publicised his call recently and he told Stabroek News that since the country does so much to preserve the physical infrastructure, the conservation of its biodiversity is an extremely important part of that development process. “We must not only respect our individual diversities in terms of religions and peoples but also respect and conserve our wildlife – this must be as paramount in importance as we do everything else,” he declared.
Gouveia said he has observed persons doing mass fishing in the creeks and rivers of many outlying communities, and trappers catching different species of animals for commercial export and in his opinion this has since resulted in a depletion of wildlife. He claimed too that there are persons shipping Guyana’s wildlife in extremely large quantities to Brazil and are also guilty of using Amerindians as trappers for the animals.
While there are regulations that already restrict the trade, Gouveia said he felt much more must be done, including the implementation of a strong national policy, which will mandate the conservation of the country’s biodiversity. “I’m very concerned about this but I am not necessarily saying it should be stopped; I am saying it should be highly restricted,” he insisted.
Gouveia said he felt strongly about his position since for some time now he had articulated that Guyana was unknown in the world. Another point which he had stressed for some time too, he said, was the fact that government needed to make more investments in tourism here.
He pointed out that the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) was putting Guyana on the map in a respectful way and as a result the focus on the country’s tourism is beginning to sharpen. “So people would want to come here and want to see our rainforest… And so we must have our wildlife… Our birds must not be captured and exported … People must be able to go into the jungle and see the wildlife,” he argued.
Moreover, Gouveia said that in Amerindian lands, maximum respect should remain for the people’s right to use the lands for personal and domestic subsistence “but that should never give them the right to destroy it for commercial reasons.” He suggested that Toshaos be encouraged and urged to provide leadership in the communities and not allow persons to be used by outsiders to exploit the resources in a destructive manner for commercial purposes. “We must never restrict the Amerindians from hunting for their livelihood and using their own forest for houses, that is their right. But the minute they start to allow themselves to be used by outsiders to utilize the resources on the reservations for commercial purposes, as agents of outsiders, then I believe we need more vigilance and this is where heavy restriction is necessary,” Gouveia maintained.
Cross-border trade
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Guyana Fauna Exporters Association Inc, Clayton Hall said he believes it would be irresponsible and unfortunate for anyone to say that the wildlife exporters are not being responsible in the use of the country’s resources. He noted too that it was by and large not possible for any excesses to occur in the wake of the regulations which are in place and which are functioning properly.
Hall pointed to the objectives of the company, which include the promotion of biodiversity, care for the natural environment, the trade, export and the sustainable management of wildlife, including threatened and endangered faunal species of Guyana. The association also aims to support national policies, programmes and projects that address the provisions of related conventions and protocols which focus on minimizing the adverse impacts on the environment and biodiversity. It promotes also the conservation and the sustainable management of faunal diversity, especially as they relate to the promotion of eco-tourism development in Guyana.
Maintaining that there could not be any excesses in the legitimate trade, Hall nevertheless conceded that there was enough information available to support the contention that undocumented cross-border trade was occurring. The association, he said, has since brought this to the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). However, the legitimate trader could not be held responsible for that cross-border trade, he said.
He explained that the trade was managed by a number of international conventions, including the UN Convention of the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Moreover, there are local regulations which speak directly to quotas which all in the industry are obligated to observe. Explaining the procedure, Hall said any person wishing to import wildlife had to do so by application to CITES for permission and make a declaration before they could purchase. He added that the process was also relevant to the seller. The trappers, he added, also have to be approved.
The local seller must also receive a favourable response from the Wildlife Management Authority of the EPA, which also approves quotas and then prices are submitted to the buyer. He pointed out that there were certain species which could not be exported outside certain areas but only to zoos.
In this regard Hall pointed out that only the EPA could determine whether the rainforests were depleted and if there was evidence to suggest any excesses in the trade. According to Hall, wildlife exporters have been working responsibly in collaboration with the regulatory agencies to ensure strict compliance by all and where deficiencies lie, they are alerted so action could be taken.
He again challenged the assertion that the trade was responsible for the depletion of wildlife and emphasized that the pursuit of development and the fact that the communities were being opened up to mining, forestry, development and human settlement would certainly disturb the quietness of the environment and subsequently the ecosystem to which a specific species had grown accustomed, forcing them to retreat.
Hall stressed that wildlife depended on the availability of food within the forest resource base and its occurrence is determined by specific indicator species.
He cited the example of the Harpy Eagle whose very presence would indicate that there is a healthy resource base of small animals to feed on. Put simply, Hall said if forest operators for instance went into the forest and utilized certain main trees which provided fruit to certain animals the wildlife would have to move on.