Forestry Training Centre Incorporated yesterday signed an agreement with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to enhance compliance with forest laws among small loggers’ associations which will be funded by the European Union (EU) to the tune of US$122,000.
The project, ‘Develop a pilot timber harvesting and forest monitoring model for small logger associations to improve compliance with the forest laws and agreed forest management prescriptions in Guyana,’ will benefit six small loggers’ associations. They will be able to better manage their concessions, establish monitoring protocols and harness information transfer between them and the Guyana Forestry Commission.
Head of the European Delegation in Guyana, Ambassador Robert Kopecky, at the launch of the project yesterday, stated that the EU and Guyana share a joint interest in ensuring that compliance with forest laws can be improved.
He said this interest led to the EU and FAO providing support to timber producing countries to start projects that target aspects of the EU Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) programme Action Plan.
“I am pleased to see that the project we are launching today is part of this larger programme and has specifically a compliance aspect in focus,” he said.
The FLEGT action plan was adopted by the EU in 2003 as a response to illegal logging activities and to cover both supply and demand side measures.
Moreover, Kopecky noted that the FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement between Guyana and the EU also provides an opportunity for Guyana to further strengthen its consultation and engagement process in order to improve forest governance, legal compliance and build in-country capacity for community involvement in forest policy development and implementation.
“The EU and Guyana share the assessment that climate change is a real threat for our dear planet at large and in the Caribbean and Guyana in particular and that sustainable forestry can and has to play a major role as part of the solution for both climate change mitigation and adaptation,” he said.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Robert Persaud encouraged the members of the association to take advantage of the opportunities that the project will bring while implementing logging best practices.
He stated that the Guyana Government was happy that its international partners were responding to its vision to better manage and sustain forest resources. Persaud also stated that Guyana’s practices and regulations are always open to international scrutiny.
He also addressed the concern that the government was more favourable to foreign logging investors over local loggers.
“I want to refute any perception that there is preferential treatment of non-Guyanese companies because our laws are even and in fact if we discriminate we discriminate in favour of Guyanese communities…. We don’t want Guyanese operators within the community to be left behind,” he said.
Meanwhile, Manager of Forestry Training Centre Inc Quancy Bremmer said that one of the benefits of the project would see communities being able to manage their resources through the creation of databases using computer software. He also stated that the associations would benefit from computers and GPS units.
FAO Representative Reuben Robertson indicated that the organization will be looking forward to a well-developed model which will help the commission better monitor concessions granted to members of the associations. He also pressed for small loggers to be transparent and accountable.
