Forestry commission, FPA differ on consultation

Forestry commission, FPA differ on consultation
Stabroek News, Friday, November 2nd 2007

The Guyana Forestry Com-mission (GFC) is refuting the Forest Products
Association's (FPA) charge that there was little or no stakeholder
consultation on the new lumber yard and sawmilling regulations and
standards set to come into force in January.

But Public Relations Consultant to the FPA Kit Nascimento said that
there was no real consultation process to bring to the industry the new
regulations and standards. He said that the GFC used a very selective
process in sharing information on the new stipulations and the FPA
didn't consider this proper consultation.

The GFC in a press release yesterday noted with concern the statements
contained in an article captioned "FPA unhappy at no consultation on
climate change forest offer" which appeared in the Stabroek News of
Wednesday. The offending statement in the article read: "He
(Nascimento) also referred to the slew of new regulations and standards
to come into place from January 1, 2008 on all lumber dealers, traders
and lumber yards and said too that there was no consultation with the
stakeholders when these were being crafted."

The GFC said that the statement in the article gave the impression that
the GFC would be imposing a number of new regulations and standards for
lumber dealers, traders and lumber yards without having consultations
with stakeholders when these regulations were being formulated.

The GFC is to meet with a technical committee of the FPA on Monday to
consider the submissions of stakeholders to the standards and
regulations.

"This is a complete misrepresentation of the facts. These regulations
and standards are included in the 'Guyana Timber Grading Rules for
Hardwoods', a document that was formulated on the basis of extensive
consultation with the sector over a number of years," the GRC said in a
release yesterday.

It said too that in 2005, the GFC held countrywide consultations to
remind stakeholders that they were expected to comply with these
regulations in 2006.

The FPA is also concerned that the lumber industry could be totally
shut down come January 1 when new regulations are implemented since
many of its members are simply not ready for the major changes. Some of
the new standards concern stacking and racking, end protection,
grading, cutting sizes for dressed lumber, moisture content, and
recovery rates. The standards also call for lumber yards to have hard
floors and for significant changes to be made to buildings housing
sawmills. The FPA has proposed its own draft policies and procedures
for the sawmilling sector with a view to moving the issue forward.

The release from the GFC said: "The GFC recognises the efforts of some
stakeholders to implement the regulations and standards. Unfortunately,
the majority of stakeholders have chosen not to make the required
adjustments to their business procedures. However, the GFC has a
responsibility to ensure that consumers are given value for money
especially in the form of quality products."

The GFC said too that it has a responsibility to promote efficiency and
reduce wastage in the processing arena.

"With this in mind, the GFC held four consultations during the month of
October 2007 at Mon Repos, Skeldon, Anna Regina and Linden to further
remind stakeholders of these regulations and standards, and also
advised that they would be enforced in 2008," the GFC said.

The FPA is maintaining the persons spoken with during this process were
selected and that the consultation wasn't broad-based.

The GFC said that at the consultations, the GFC welcomed written
submissions from stakeholders on the regulations and standards and
indicated that three such submissions have been received so far.

"These facts clearly contradict the allegations of impositions and no
consultations," the GFC said in its release.