Dear Editor,
In the ‘Public Notice’ issued under the signature of James Singh, Commissioner of Forests (Guyana Chronicle, Kaieteur News, Stabroek News, January 3, 2010), bulletwood (botanical name Manilkara bidentata) is listed among the timber species that can be exported in log form.
Bulletwood is listed among the commercial species on page 19 of the GFC Pre-Harvest Inventory Procedure (undated, http:// www.forestry.gov.gy/Downloads/Pre-Harvest %20Procedure.pdf ). Through your columns, I wish to ask the Commissioner of Forests to provide public information on when Article 20 (1) of the Forest Regulations 1953 which confers protection of this keystone species was withdrawn, and the reasons for so doing.
Bulletwood is specifically mentioned in Article 20 (1) of the Forest Regulations 1953 – “No bullet-wood tree shall be felled without the permission in writing of a divisional forest officer first had and obtained.” Because of its previous importance as the principal source of balata latex, the felling of bulletwood has been prohibited since 1895. Protection is also given through sections 2.2 and 2.3 (mention of keystone species) on page 7 of the GFC Code of Practice for Timber Harvesting (second edition, November 2002, http://www. forestry.gov.gy/Downloads/CoP%20Timber%20Harvesting.pdf ).
Keystone species are those which are important for the ecological functioning of the forest, especially because they provide food for pollinating and seed dispersing animals. The seed of bulletwood is covered by an edible pulp. The bulletwood tree is shade-tolerant and long-lived (300-400 years according to estimates in Puerto Rico) but slow-growing.
There is provision in the 2004 draft revision of the Forest Regulations (Article 5) for stronger protection of individual tree species by notification in the Government Gazette, but that draft was coherent with the 2004 draft of the revised Forests Act. The Forest Bill 2007, passed by the National Assembly in January 2009 but not having received presidential assent, is incompatible with those draft Forest Regulations of 2004.
Export figures for logs in January-June 2009 in the GFC’s Forest Sector Information Report show that the small increase in export commission on unprocessed logs in 2009, from 2 to 7 per cent, had no perceptible effect on log exports compared with the equivalent half-year in 2008. Although there was a small decrease in total log volume, this was not balanced by any increase in plywood or sawnwood exports. Anyway, the Barama Company Limited, a major exporter of
unprocessed logs contrary to its secret Foreign Direct Investment arrangement with cabinet, is exempt from such export commission except 2 per cent on greenheart. As pointed out at the time of the discussion on the export commission in 2007, such small increases in tiny taxes
are impotent as a policy directive because of the huge profits from exporting unprocessed logs to India and China.
Thanks to the failure to implement the National Forest Policy of 1997, this ecologically and commercially valuable timber – bulletwood is a superb flooring and furniture timber – is almost being given away instead of processed in-country for its full value. This is absolutely contrary to the promises on value-addition in the 2006 election manifesto of the PPP.
Yours faithfully,
Janette Bulkan
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Commissioner of Forests James Singh for any comments he might wish to make.
