Guyana has signalled its readiness to enter into a forestry partnership with the European Union that could see stricter monitoring of forest operations here.
The government on Thursday formally expressed to the European Union Delegation to Guyana and the Government of Norway its intention to formally commence the process of negotiation with the EU with the aim of joining a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA). Guyana will be engaging with the EU on next steps in the process, a press release from the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment yesterday said.
In an effort to combat illegal logging, the EU has set up the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan. This plan sets out a range of measures available to the EU and its Member States to tackle illegal logging in the world’s forests, exclude illegal timber from markets, improve the supply of legal timber and to increase the demand for responsible wood products.
Under Guyana’s forests partnership with Norway, the government has agreed to show evidence of entering a formal dialogue with the EU with the intent of joining FLEGT and moving towards a VPA. Georgetown and Norway in November 2009 inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreeing that Oslo would pay potentially up to a total of US$250 million ($51.7 billion) by 2015 for this country to protect its forests. It has already paid US$70M into an account overseen by the World Bank.
VPAs are a central element of the EU’s strategy to combat illegal logging and ensure legal timber trade as well as support good forest governance in the partner countries. Once agreed, the VPAs will include commitments and action from both parties to halt trade in illegal timber, notably with a licence scheme to verify the legality of timber exported to the EU. Although voluntary, VPAs are legally-binding on the two parties, once agreed. The agreements also promote better enforcement of forest law and promote an inclusive approach involving civil society and the private sector.
The statement yesterday said that over the past years, Guyana was engaged, at several levels, in stakeholder consultations, and forest monitoring and legality assessment, on EU FLEGT. “These activities all had as the main objective, to better understand, and analyse the Programme as a whole, in the context of its application in Guyana; and to allow for an effective and complete stakeholder participatory engagement prior to the arrival of any decision on the EU FLEGT,” the statement said.
It outlined the activities done since 2009 and noted that in January 2012 a report summarising all of the engagements, the results of the sessions, feedback received, lists of participants, etc. was submitted for official Government of Guyana policy direction. The government has since decided that it will formally commence the process of negotiation with the EU with the aim of joining a VPA.
