Four hundred thousand hectares from the surrendered Barama forest concessions will be placed in conservation, Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman has said.
Speaking at the inaugural stakeholder engagement session on Thursday at the University of Guyana, Trotman said, “When Barama surrendered its concessions it was 1.6 million hectares at the time. It represented one of the largest concessions in the world….”
Minister of State Joseph Harmon had announced last year that Trotman had presented a number of options for the alternative use for the land. Additionally, a cabinet subcommittee comprising Trotman, Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan, Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin, Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs Sydney Allicock and the then Minister of Social Protection Volda Lawrence was set up since to discuss the matter.
Trotman highlighted that his ministry is currently reviewing some 17 applications from persons to operate in the concessions. He explained that a decision had been made to divide the entire concession into four parts, rather than blocks which was initially touted; each quarter will be approximately 400,000 hectares.
He announced that an entire quarter would be set aside for conservation, since President David Granger had earlier expressed his interest of having some 2 million hectares conserved. The other three parts are expected to be allocated to small and international loggers.
In terms of the forest policy, Trotman related that it is currently being reviewed by expert consultants along with the regulations, which he said are expected to be completed soon.
In terms of the European Union-Forest Law and Enforcement Governance and Trade, he pointed out that the negotiations are also expected to be finished soon along with the forest carbon partnership.
Barama had announced last year that it was not interested in renewing its 25-year agreement with the government and as such 500 workers have since been retrenched.
The Ministry of Natural Resources had said that in 2015, following Barama request for a renewal of its contract, Cabinet gave its no objection to the continuation of the arrangement but recommended the convening of a Task Force to examine the request.
This Task Force was seen as necessary given the “rapacious activities” of some foreign companies operating in the forests of Guyana, and “some not so positive observations that had been expressed about Barama in particular,” the ministry had said in a statement.
The statement said the Task Force met on several occasions and visited Barama’s operations at Buck Hall, Essequibo, following which the legal consultant began reviewing the existing contract, forest concessions, and tax incentives previously granted to the company, while other members evaluated workers’ rights, value-added operations and environmental management practices, among other things.
However, the company subsequently opted to decline the renewal of the contract.
