The Iwokrama Inter-national Centre for Rain Forest Conserva-tion and Development announced yesterday that Farfan and Mendes Limited (FML) was selected as the private sector partner for the second phase of its model sustainable timber operation in the Iwokrama Forest.
Iwokrama had advertised in November last year for “Request for Proposals for Sawmilling Opera-tions” and received proposals from four companies. FML will conduct the sawmilling operations while the centre will maintain control of harvesting operations.
A press release from Iwokrama said that under Section 9 of the Iwokrama Act (1996), a complex and extensive zoning exercise was conducted on the Iwokrama Forest dividing it into a Wilderness Preserve (WP) and a Sustainable Utilization Area (SUA). The SUA was identified as the area where development work for the centre’s experimental timber model and all of its other business models, including tourism and training services, are undertaken. All of Iwokrama’s models are designed to follow international economic, social and environmental best practices and use innovative governance systems involving various stakeholders.
It said that as with its other businesses, the centre will replicate its overarching management and sustainability protocols in the timber operations by building local and regional capacity in sustainable forest management including but not limited to models of benefit sharing amongst multiple stakeholders, Reduced Impact Logging (RIL), and the use of non-traditional species.
According to the release, techniques for improving logging and processing efficiencies and the production of value-added products will be the main tools of the second phase. The centre will employ a 60-year cutting cycle, harvesting a maximum of 1,800 ha per year (which is less than 0.5% of the Iwokrama Forest) under a very selective harvesting regime which will result in only a few trees per ha being removed and not creating any large gaps in the forest canopy.
The timber operations will also be the subject of important research such as harvesting impacts on natural forests including the effect on flora and fauna and impacts on local communities. The centre will continue to involve local communities, through the North Rupununi District Development Board, at both the strategic and operational levels of the business.
Iwokrama looks forward to the expertise and professionalism that Farfan and Mendes, a reputable long-standing Guy-anese company, will bring to sustainable forest management practices of the Iwokrama Forest. The centre will ensure all its operations continue to comply with the regulations of the Guyana Forestry Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency and other local regulatory agencies.
In addition, in 2014, Iwokrama intends to once again achieve international accreditation of its forest management practices and operations by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
The Iwokrama Inter-national Centre will continue to employ protocols and practices that demonstrate how a tropical forest can be conserved and used sustainably for ecological, social and economic benefits to local, national and international communities.
The Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development (IIC) is a non-profit institution established by Guyana and the Commonwealth in 1996. The centre manages the nearly one million acre (371,000 hectare) Iwokrama Forest in central Guyana to develop new approaches to show how tropical forests can be conserved and sustainably used for ecological, social and economic benefits to local, national and international communities.
Farfan and Mendes Ltd (FML) has been in business in Guyana for 50 years. Originally, FML was set up as a joint venture company with FT Farfan and Sons Ltd of Trinidad and Tobago, a company that had its start in sawmilling in the Twin Island Republic and grew into the sawmill supply business there. FML was intended and has continued to support the local timber industry, bringing many new technologies and practices to the local industry, including but not limited to, the introduction of chainsaws and chainsaw milling to Guyana in 1967 and band-mill technology in the early 1970’s.
The company is the agent for Woodmizer mills and Stihl chainsaws and equipment amongst other products. The company also has two sister companies involved in supplying the mining and industrial sectors both in Guyana and Suriname.
