Despite there being a large increase in forest fires here over the last year, a source from the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) said that they do not pose much of a risk of going out of control since the majority of them are caused by persons clearing small sections.
In a letter that was published in yesterday’s edition of Stabroek News by Foreign Secretary, Carl Greenidge, it was noted that Guyana had seen an increase of 144 percent in forest fires, for the period from January 1 of this year to August 31 compared to last year.
This data was provided from a study that was done by the National Institute for Space Research. With Brazil leading the table with 87,300 fires, the number only represented a 76 percent increase. Guyana had the greatest increase with Suriname, pegged at a 121 percent increase, which translates to 160 fires.
For Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and French Guiana, the figures were pegged at 26,600 fires representing an 18 percent increase; 19,400 fires, representing a 79 percent increase; 14,400 fires, representing a 13 percent reduction; 6,700 fires representing a 92 percent increase; 360 fires, representing a 50 percent decrease; and 11 fires, representing a 57 percent increase, respectively.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, an official from the GFC, who preferred to remain anonymous, explained that the majority of fires that are happening in Guyana are small and are anthropogenic in nature.
The official explained that most of the fires are set by the indigenous peoples in the hinterland and other areas for the clearing of agricultural lands and other purposes.
“We don’t really have the kind of forest fires you have going on in the (Brazilian) Amazon right now. What we have here is not nearly as large as there. Along the Linden-Soesdyke corridor and Mabura and so on there’s a prevalence of Tacuma forest where you would have frequent burns and that is a natural phenomenon and nothing major. It had to do with the nutrient cycle; the leaf falls, burns, fertilizes the earth and there is new growth,” the official explained.
When questioned about whether the figures presented in the report were normal, the official explained that the number of fires is not important, but its impact on the ecosystem where they are caused.
“We have a very strong programme where we collaborate with the fire service and the regions throughout the country and we have a very good protocol and we track it through satellite imagery,” the official pointed out, while noting that their information is updated every couple months.
There have also been varying opinions on whether the raging fires in the distant Amazon forest in Brazil is going to affect Guyana’s ecosystem. The official said that he can only foresee there being a slight migration of species, and other than that, he said the distance is too great for there to be any real impact, especially as it relates to smoke pollution.
“Here persons would usually burn half an acre, or quarter or more. The deforestation rate for last year was at 0.05 percent and fires would’ve contributed about 600 hectares of that for the entire country. That is the amount of land that was cleared by fire last year. For Brazil, the fire has damaged millions of hectares,” the official added, while noting that they usually have about 200 persons around the country monitoring the areas.
Also questioned about mechanisms in place to battle such a phenomenon, the official pointed out that if a country like Brazil does not have the mechanisms in place to fight the fires then Guyana wouldn’t either.
Common concerns
Greenidge’s letter paid keen attention to the mechanisms in place for the Amazonian states to address common concerns such as the raging forest fires.
“In the wake of the extensive fires engulfing swathes of the Amazon forests around Guyana there have been statements of concern about the causes and consequences of this phenomenon for the health of the world, the sustainability of life as we know it and the adequacy of governance, national and international. The impact by way of carbon dioxide levels, already the subject of attempts at global management and on carbon monoxide poisoning should be self-evident. In Guyana two local agencies have recently commented on the significance of the phenomenon for Guyana,” Greenidge explained.
He noted that there are important regional initiatives and agencies charged with integration as well as the coordination of policies across a spectrum of areas ranging from planning, the identification and development of infrastructural facilities, natural resources and emergencies. The most prominent of those, he noted, is UNASUR that is currently in the throes of being effectively disassembled as a result of fractious politics in the region.
“There is a proposal to establish a new institution which would partly replace this body, PROSUR, comprising only however a subset of the regional members. So, no action can be expected from this quarter in the near future. The second constraint on regional action has therefore been a political one,” he explained.
Greenidge also pointed out that another relevant institution is the Council on Amazonian Cooperation (CCOOR), where Guyana, with representative, Ambassador Dr George Talbot currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the Coordinating Committee of that body. However, CCOOR is only a consultative and auxiliary body of the Amazon Cooperation Council (CCA) and its mandate involves regional cooperation to protect the interest and advance the cause of Amazonia but its activities tend to be limited to recommendations to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs.
That leaves the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation (ACTO), of which Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and Educator are members.
ACTO is an organization pledged to cooperating to deepen, broaden and strengthen the process of promoting the full and harmonious development of their respective Amazonian territories.
“There are therefore mechanisms which permit the states of the region to cooperate in efforts to address common environmental concerns such as the extensive and the destructive fires currently sweeping the forests of some Amazonia states,” Greenidge added, while noting that efforts are afoot to convene an ACTO meeting to discuss and activate some of the mechanism but such efforts are currently bedevilled by political controversy over Venezuela and the legitimacy of the Maduro Government.
