Dear Editor,
I refer to the letter by J. Bulkan in the January 7, 2010 edition of Stabroek News, captioned ‘When was the protection for bulletwood under the forest regulations withdrawn and why?’
Paragraph 1:
The National Log Export Policy was developed as a result of a consultative process involving both the Forest Products Association and the Guyana Manufacturers and Services Association. Noteworthy is the fact that Dr Bulkan attended the national consultation held on the Log Export Policy in February 2007. This policy came into effect on January 1, 2009. It is surprising that Dr Bulkan is now trying to making an issue of this and attempts to give the public the impression that something is amiss.
Paragraph 2:
Bulletwood (Manilkara bidentata) is a commercial species that has a controlled harvesting restriction. There is no restriction on the export of this species. Dr Bulkan is attempting to confuse the public into thinking that there is a restriction on the export of bulletwood.
Further, private property holders (mainly Amerindian village title holders) can harvest bulletwood from their privately titled lands, without seeking permission from the GFC and can export if desired or sell to others who wish to export same. Concession holders have to first seek permission from the GFC prior to the harvesting of bulletwood, and this is considered for every application and includes an assessment of the environmental social and economic implications prior to making a final decision.
Paragraphs 6-7:
Dr Bulkan clearly does not understand the distinctive percentages in the GFC Forest Sector Information Report where it shows that log exports declined by 49.1% in volume when compared to the corresponding period of 2008, whilst the production of logs only declined by 2.48%. There can be no clearer indicator of the success of the National Log Export Policy (at the percentages that prevail), on discouraging the export of logs, and this has been identified as one of the reasons for this noted trend, which is also seen for the whole of 2009.
Dr Bulkan continues to peddle her misrepresentation in saying that the Barama Company Ltd only pays export commission on greenheart logs.
Had she wanted to get the facts correct, she could have simply contacted the commission and she would have been educated that BCL, under the National Log Export Policy, pays export commission on all species of logs.
Yours faithfully,
James Singh
Commissioner of Forests
Guyana Forestry Commission