Guyana 's log harvesting procedures among best in the world

Guyana 's log harvesting procedures
among best in the world
- Jagdeo

-- deploying forests does not mean
transferring ownership
By Leonard Gildarie

Kaieteur News, 17 October 2007

Guyana has some of the best log harvesting procedures in the world,
says President Bharrat Jagdeo who yesterday also sought to clear the
air on aspects of his recent speech on climate change.

With the issue of forest practices currently high on the government's
agenda especially in light of the current high profile Commonwealth
Finance Ministers Meeting (CFMM) on climate change being held here, the
President explained that when he said that he was willing to “deploy”
Guyana 's forest, he did not mean that ownership would be transferred.

“Many people have taken this to mean that we have transferred
ownership. It is far from transferring ownership. What we are saying is
that we would, in Guyana, ensure guaranteed sustainable forestry
practices, preservation as well as focusing heavily on conservation if
there are economic rewards for that.”

Speaking to the media during a visit to Guyana International Conference
Centre in Liliendaal where the CFMM is being held, Jagdeo stressed that
Guyana is prepared to work with bilateral donors as well as commercial
entities to put this to the market to guarantee a financial flow to
Guyana .

During the CFMM opening ceremony Monday night at the National Cultural
Centre the president disclosed that when he had met with then British
Prime Minister Tony Blair last year, “I outlined our offer to deploy
almost our entire rainforest – which is the size of England - in the
long-term service of the world's battle against climate change. That
offer remains.”

In December 1997, more than 160 nations met in Kyoto , Japan , to
negotiate binding limitations on greenhouse gases for the developed
nations. The outcome of the meeting was the Kyoto Protocol, in which
the developed nations agreed to limit their greenhouse gas emissions,
relative to the levels emitted in 1990.

The United States agreed to reduce emissions from 1990 levels by seven
percent during the period 2008 to 2012.

The bone of contention for Guyana is that while some countries are
being rewarded for reforestation, this country receives nothing for
maintaining its pristine forests.

Carbon credits are a key component of national and international
emissions trading schemes. They provide a way to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions on an industrial scale by capping total annual emissions and
letting the market assign a monetary value to any shortfall through
trading.

Credits can be exchanged between businesses or bought and sold in
international markets at the prevailing market price.

“We want to do this ahead of 2012 because at this time there is no
provision for standing rainforests ahead of the Kyoto protocol. And we
don't want to be left out of any financial flow that our country could
well benefit. We are hoping that the post-Kyoto framework that there
will be provision for standing rainforest to reward countries for
conserving those forests,” the President urged.

And what does the President think of the logging practices in Guyana
with all the publicity and question over the state of forestry?

“I think we have some of the most sustainable harvesting practices than
in any part of the world. If you look at the evolution of our laws and
our practices, first of all before you can even cut a single tree you
have to have an exploratory license and part of that process is that
you have to inventorise the logs. Then you have to submit a management
plan.” With restrictions on the number of trees that can be harvested
from a particular area, there is still is a system to monitor logging.

“Can there be breaches of the system?…Yes. Like any system but we have
a sound system to ensure sustainable harvesting practices,” the
President pointed out. “And this can be justified if you fly over many
parts of Guyana where they have logged out the area… you don't see a
break in the canopy because our forestry practices are different from
those in the developed world.

“We do selective logging. I made this point a million times, you don't
see a break in the canopy.”