The Guyana Forestry Commission is currently overseeing a complaints mechanism established for forest operators to ensure better compliance and governance in the sector.
The mechanism was created as a result of a Food and Agriculture Organization and European Union-funded Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) project to prepare forest sector operators for the implementation of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) Process, which recently concluded.
The project, which was initiated by the Forest Products Association (FPA) in December 2019, was aimed at engaging forest sector operators in the process of developing a complaints mechanism and proposing suitable recommendations for challenges identified; influencing the reduction in barriers affecting legal compliance on the domestic market identified during a survey; and increasing the awareness of operators’ requirement for VPA readiness through the creation of infomercials.