Introduction
Today’s column concludes my discussion of Guyana’s extractive forest sub-sector. I shall return later to the issue of its governance, when I attempt a more general assessment of governance in Guyana’s extractive industries sector, as a whole. The focus of today’s attention is on the recently released (May 2016), Guyana: National Logging Export Policy, (NLEP), 2016-2020.
Previous columns had pointed to several concerns arising from the underperformance of the extractive forest sub-sector. These include its low levels of forest conversion efficiency, as reflected in an overall conversion ratio of 40 per cent; its continued capacity underutilization, both of forest lands and milling capacity; its persistent lack of training and skills among the workforce; its poor investment rates, which have contributed to the prevalence of old and decrepit machinery and equipment; its unbalanced utilization of available plant species; and, the uncatered for impacts of weather events on its operations. Generally, these defects come together under a weak policy