Concerns are being ex-pressed over reports that a road is being built in one of Guyana’s most pristine and biodiversity rich areas in Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) and the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment has dispatched a team to investigate.
The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) on Friday publicly expressed fear of the consequences of a road in that area of southern Guyana. “Guyana’s last frontier is being breached by Brazilian mining interests who are constructing a road intended to drive deep into the heart of South Rupununi, eventually reaching the New River Triangle. This development will generate a cascade of economic, social, security, political and environmental problems in an area of Guyana which currently has token governmental infrastructure,” said the organisation in a statement.
Minister of Natural Re-sources and the Environ-ment Robert Persaud did not respond to emailed questions from Stabroek News but the ministry’s Permanent Secretary Joslyn McKenzie in a brief emailed statement said: “We received information in this regard and a team has been deployed to conduct a detailed investigation into this matter.” A subsequent note added that “no permission was issued for the construction of the road referred to and [the ministry is] working with the local community to ascertain further details.” Over recent weeks, reports have surfaced that a road was being built in the area. Reports indicated that it was being built beyond Parabara, which is 247 kilometres away from the regional capital, Lethem. The relatively pristine area contains the headwaters of several rivers that eventually join the Essequibo. While it is relatively understudied, assessments have found the biodiversity of the area to be rich, with some of the species endemic to that area.
A World Wildlife Fund official who participated in a scientific expedition to Parabara earlier this month told Stabroek News that villagers had informed about a road being built. But, the official said, they were not able to see any evidence of this during the trip.
Mining has been occurring in the area over the past few years and this is a threat to the biodiversity of the area, according to officials. While the number of miners in the area has decreased following an initial gold rush, it appears that miners have penetrated further into the jungle without gaining permission, Stabroek News was told.
According to an official, during processing of images for last year’s report on deforestation under the Guyana-Norway forest protection partnership, forest degradation which appeared to be as a result of mining activities in southern Guyana “surprised” officials as they did not expect this to be occurring there. The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), when informed, professed to not have knowledge of the mining, Stabroek News was told. “GGMC gave no mining leases for that area meaning it was illegal mining,” the source said. Among the areas identified where it appeared mining was taking place was the New River Triangle, Stabroek News was told.
Former toshao of Karaudarnawa Arnold Stephens told Stabroek News yesterday that the community had heard of reports of the road. “They say that is Brazilian people supposed to be building that road,” he said. However, he noted, the community was never officially informed of this development and the current toshao has said that nothing has started. Karaudarnawa is linked to Parabara by a trail. “According to information, is the [Brazilians] who supposed to be building it cos they want to go to New River,” he said.
The GHRA said that if government is aware of “this reckless initiative,” the nation deserves an explanation. However, whether legal or illegal, the venture must be stopped immediately, and those responsible condignly punished to deter like-minded attempts, the GHRA asserted.
It noted that villagers of Parabara were recently informed that a road connecting Lumidpau (which is part of Karaudarnawa) to the Kuyuwini River to the South-East would pass through their village. “A mechanized pontoon will then ferry vehicles across the Kuyuwini and the road will continue to the Essequibo River. The road will by-pass immigration and customs located in Lethem, providing more direct access to and from Boa Vista, Brazil,” according to the GHRA. The statement pointed out that for the first time, this ecologically pristine area will be exposed to similar irreparable environmental damage caused by mining in Regions 1, 7 and 8.
The human rights organisation said the new road will become yet another corridor, to add to those already in the Pakaraimas, “for the continued colonising of the Deep South and West Rupununi by hundreds of thousands of itinerant Brazilians, forced north out of Yanomami tribal lands in Brazil over the past decade.” It expressed concern at the silence of government and called for a parliamentary initiative to engage the Brazilian authorities with respect to preventing unauthorized ventures such as this new road.
The GHRA further outlined consequences should such a venture go ahead. It asserted that contributions of gold mining to the national treasury, together with the personal enrichment of a significant slice of the political and economic elite, have rendered gold-mining above the law in Guyana in recent years. “The problems generated by gold mining include illegal exports of gold, tax avoidance, social upheaval in indigenous communities, heavy metal pollution of fresh-water sources, uncontrolled de-forestation, bio-diversity devastation, illegal immigration, bribery of police, mining officials and forestry monitors and corruption of indigenous elected leaders,” it said.
The organisation noted that the Guyana Shield – the ancient mountainous formation straddling Guyana, Venezuela and Brazil – contains close to one-quarter of the world’s fresh-water resources of which a significant amount is to be found in Guyana. Fresh water, in 20 to 30 years’ time is calculated to be as valuable as oil is today. The mining facilitated by the proposed road exposes the upper reaches of the Essequibo to mercury and heavy metal pollution on a scale that will wipe out this asset, the body said.
“Ecological considerations apart, the notion that such an asset can be squandered at the whim of illegal foreign miners in league with corrupt and compliant officials is shocking. Reports that meetings have been held in indigenous communities by those building the road will be ritually denied. Mining interests will always seek to win over indigenous communities by obtaining a ‘social licence’ for their activities, under the guise of free, prior and informed consent,” the GHRA charged.
While not a legal requirement, such ‘licences’ aim to off-set conflicts with communities in the future, it added.
The GHRA said government, which should be regulating contacts of this nature, is frequently unable to play such a role effectively, because it is captive to private business interests. “Subordination of government to mining interests encourages mining companies to enter into arrangements with local communities which appear advantageous to them in the short-term, but store-up a host of problems down the road,” the statement said. In particular, it said, “as communities perceive the profits accruing to companies, their demands for compensation will increase; the influx of miners will re-ignite land disputes and the traffic in prostitution and associated social distress will accelerate. Despite the myth of good fortune surrounding gold, the dominant sentiment in mining districts is largely one of discontent.”
The GHRA said entrusting responsibility for the environment to the ministry in charge of mining generates severe conflicts of interest. The job of the minister of mining is to promote mining investments and to grant mining licences and at the same time to protect the environment from the ravages of mining by approving Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), it noted.
The organisation said the question of which interest will dominate in this arrangement is a ‘no brainer’ – environmental concerns will always lose out. There is no countervailing power in the Cabinet to restrain mining interests, it noted.
“The extent to which dominance of Guyanese commerce and industry by Chinese immigrants is being promoted by the Government of Guyana is of concern to a growing number of Guyanese. The evidence is visible and obvious. A similar process, less visible and therefore less obvious, is also taking place with respect to forestry and mining assets. Immense forestry and mining concessions, including miles of permits for river mining are already in the hands of little known Asian conglomerates from China and India,” the GHRA asserted.
It expressed concern at the complete silence on the part of government with respect to justifying these trends which, it said, will transform Guyana economically, electorally and ethnically in the long-term and the xenophobic violence that could be fostered in the short-term.
