Dr. C. Jagan and the Forestry Industry in Guyana

Dr. C. Jagan and the Forestry
Industry in Guyana
Kaieteur News, 23 February 2007

Dear Editor,

Dr. Cheddi Jagan (as Leader of the Opposition PPP) had rightly condemned the Hoyte/PNC Govt.-Barama deal when details of the biggest forestry giveaway in
Guyana 's history were made public.

On assuming office, the PPP Govt. under Dr Jagan made its own ugly blunders under the watch of the President's brother-in-law. The situation alarmed many of the NGOs stationed in Guyana , and also the international community.

Dr Jagan (responding to these criticisms/pressures that his Govt. was receiving)
instituted a freeze on the handing out of concessions. However, during this ?freeze period,? ?exploratory permits? were handed out from the President's Office. Exploratory permits were then illegal under Guyanese law. The law was subsequently changed to make an illegal act legal.

Dr. C. Jagan probably chose not to re-negotiate the Barama deal, for fear that
foreign investment will not come to Guyana , especially in light of Dr.Jagan's
leftist past. We may not agree with him, but we can probably understand his
situation, especially with his anti-capitalist history. What we cannot understand is why he allowed his Govt.'s image to be also tarnished with more giveaways. What is even more perplexing is that he invited Asian companies to come to Guyana , inexplicably saying that they (because of their non-colonial past) would be less likely to exploit the peoples of the Third World! The companies that responded to his invitation all wanted the same deal given to Barama! That must have opened his eyes and made him realise that ?business is business' ? nationality/ethnicity/origin and ?non-colonial past' have nothing to do with unscrupulous business practices. Berjaya came and stayed,and is now majority owner of UNAMCO.

To his credit, Dr. Jagan realised that the Guyanese people were not getting the
expected benefits from Guyana 's natural resources, in this case forestry. Dr
Jagan read the work (Backs to the Wall in Suriname : Forest policy in Crisis)
of Dr. Nigel Sizer (WRI Senior Associate) and Mr Richard Rice (Director of
economic policy at Conservation International).

Dr. N. Sizer is a British forestry expert who had done work for the neighbouring
Surinamese Govt. Dr Jagan invited Dr. Sizer to visit Guyana and to make:
(1) A Detailed Analysis of the forestry industry in Guyana , and
(2) Appropriate Recommendations for both a sustainable and profitable forestry
industry.

Dr.Nigel Sizer had the highest level access to personnel and the cooperation of
all in Govt. and industry. The result is his benchmark work: Profit without Plunder. This informative summary can be found at: http://biodiv.wri.org/pubs_description.cfm?PubID=2730

In 1995, President Jagan invited WRI (World Resources Institute) to help him
identify options for reforming forest policy in Guyana . This new study,Profit Without Plunder: Reaping Revenue from Guyana 's Tropical Forests Without Destroying Them, was WRI's response. The study's author, Dr.Nigel Sizer, explores ways to enhance income from the traditional timber industry and from such alternative forest-based development as tourism, genetic resource harvesting, and non-timber forest products.

Based upon this extensive research, Dr. Sizer recommends several priority actions and emphasizes the need for international bilateral and multilateral agencies to better coordinate their efforts.? (ISBN 1-56973-103-9) 68 pages, WRI, 1996). An on-line version of the full report is found at: http://pdf.wri.org/profitwithoutplunder_bw.pdf

The study was released at a news conference in Georgetown , Guyana on September
12, 1996 by WRI President Mr. Jonathan Lash and Dr. Nigel Sizer, WRI senior
associate and the study's author.? The author was very generous with his praise of Dr. C. Jagan and the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC).

We were therefore under the impression that Dr C. Jagan, GFC, and Guyana had
accepted this commissioned report of Dr. Sizer, and were in process of implementing the report's several recommendations. We now had a study that pointed the way to make a profit without destructive plunder from the forests,thereby avoiding the mistake of others.

Dr Jagan obviously took a very sensible and rational first step towards
profitability and sustainability. He was commended for his action by several
individuals/groups. We had a decade to implement Dr. Sizer's recommendations.

Recently, we were therefore surprised to learn from the Commissioner of Forestry, that the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) does not accept Dr Nigel Sizer's recommendations. (That was in response to Ms. Janette Bulkan's statement that the GFC is not following Dr. N. Sizer's recommendations). One would have thought that the GFC must have therefore found something better. But this is not so, we now find the GFC is defending the Barama deal with the same reasons that Dr Jagan found unacceptable and therefore commissioned the report! So this means that we are back to square one - 10 years lost! If Dr. Sizer's recommendations were ignored, why should other credible international sources come and spend time and resources here in Guyana?

Why did the PNC members on the GFC not alert us as to this deviation or abandonment of Dr Sizer's professional recommendations? What purpose or whose interests are these GFC members serving? This silence is a rare show of unity by the PPP and PNC controlled board. We must therefore ask why? Are certain members of these two parties and their friends/benefactors benefiting? What is/are the connection(s) between these GFC members and the forestry industry? More questions can easily be asked.

The Forestry experts of the Forestry Dept have a long history of professionalism
in pre-independent Guyana. What has happened for this radical shift in direction? What we would like to know is who ordered the change in direction at the GFC? What is the ?better plan' now being followed? Was the technical and professional staff/advice of the Forestry experts of the GFC over-ruled by politicians? Do directives come from the President's Office? I am certain that the professionals at the Forestry Dept want to continue their tradition of professionalism. National policies on Natural Resources should be debated and approved by the public and parliament. The Guyanese Public must be informed of radical shifts in the handling of the nation's resources.

Currently, forestry is not performing to its full benefit to Guyana. The biology, ecology, and cultivation of some of the top species in demand (e.g. greenheart, bulletwood, pulpleheart) are not being studied at UG or anywhere else in Guyana. Guyana used to produce Mahogany, as is even documented by Dr.William Beebe in his studies at Kartabo, Essequibo (1914). Is anything (research, etc.) being done to revive the growth of this species that has always been in high demand world wide?

We have recently read (SN) that the animals (birds included) that play a large
part in the forest ecology are also getting scarce (due to over-harvesting). We
know that soil chemistry is fundamental to understanding the growth of tropical
forests, yet here is no division of soil chemistry at UG! I can give more
examples. There is apparently no coordinated game plan among the several
stakeholders (Govt.-GFC ? Industry-University-Environmentalists-Amerindians-and other interested parties.)

The earnings of monies for Non-Timber Forestry Products (NTFP), in particular
biopharmaceuticals, have not been promoted. More recently, we saw that
all the samples collected to be tested at UG were destroyed. UG (Chemistry and/or
Biology Depts.) has no one doing research on the putative medicinal plants of
Guyana. Dr. Anand Daljeet (Chemist) and I (Biochemist/Chemist) were interested
in this field of study, but could not get the projects off the ground (besides
the most crude and rudimentary work) because of the lack of equipment and
infrastructure at UG. We have mentioned this so many times before.

Incidentally, others had asked whether Guyana was benefiting from the studies
carried out by IWOKRAMA on potential beneficial medicinal plants. The response
was that Iwokrama send copies of their reports to the Environmental Research
Unit at UG. We know that Unit has no ?hardcore' local/UG chemist to understand the work. It keeps coming back to us having our own people in place to look out for our own interests ? particularly at UG. We chase away the people who are well-qualified to serve the needs of the nation. Yet we are still surprised that we are poor.

To this day, I cannot understand why Dr C. Jagan did not invest in and restore
UG, particularly science and technology, knowing that these areas were so vital
to all national developmental initiatives for the resources sector - to lift us
from poverty. I am certain that he knew about the biopharmaceutical potential
of Guyana. These are another set of opportunities lost for reasons we do not
know. We are still waiting to see the current Govt.'s Science and technology
policies. There is still a vital need for a Ministry of Higher Education,
Science, and Technology.

Would the GFC (with both PPP and PNC members) or the PPP Govt. please tell us
why Dr C. Jagan's acceptance of Dr Nigel Sizer's report was later rejected?
What is the new master plan?

Seelochan Beharry