A Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) delegation led by its minister Raphael Trotman and including Guyana Forestry Commission Chairman of the Board, Jocelyn Dow is to journey to the United Kingdom for talks on the complete lifting of the ban on greenheart imports from this country.
A release from MNR said that the team will also include EU-FLEGT Secretariat Head, Kenny David and GFC Deputy Commissioner, Gavin Agard among others. The team will be travelling from Guyana to the United Kingdom from 19th-21st November 2018.
The release said that the ban which was introduced by the Environmental Agency (EA) in the UK in 2015, contended that proof of sustainable sourcing of the forest product was inadequate. This has since resulted in a drastic decline in export of the product to the UK.
The release said that it has also seen several concerns being raised by members of the Forest Products Association.
The release said that greenheart represents over 18 percent of Guyana’s logging industry production.
The release added that Guyana’s systems of monitoring and verification to ensure logging is done in a sustainable and legal manner and has been tested and proven overtime; particularly, through the agreement with the Kingdom of Norway.
With this being said, in December 2016, after being advised that a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification was awarded to Iwokrama the EA relaxed the ban on greenheart. The release said that this meant that the UK began to accept Category A FSC 100% Greenheart only from Iwokrama but continued to refuse Category B timber.
In 2017, the release said that the UK agreed to reopen dialogue.
“Guyana sees this opening as an opportunity to fully ventilate the issue and Guyana’s position with regards to the UK and make a case for completely lifting the ban on greenheart imports.
“Guyana will therefore take advantage of the opportunity for dialogue toward the resolution of the matter to restart the smooth export of Greenheart to the UK and strengthen the relationship between Guyana and the UK”, the release said.
Guyana, the release added, believes that it has met and maintained all international standards and criteria for the product and export of timber products of all species.
While in the UK, the delegation will deliver a presentation on Guyana’s case for lifting of the ban. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is providing support for the delegation.
