FPA unhappy at no consultations on climate change forest offer

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56532229

FPA unhappy at no consultations on climate change forest offer
Stabroek News, Wednesday, October 31st 2007

The Forest Products Association of Guyana (FPA) is concerned that
President Bharrat Jagdeo didn't consult with members of the group
before unveiling his proposal on making Guyana's forest available
towards the fight against climate change.

The proposal will have grave implications for the members of the
Association and on the industry as a whole.

Speaking at a foresters' forum hosted by the Association at the King's
Plaza Hotel yesterday, Public Relations Consultant to the FPA, Kit
Nascimento lamented that the President didn't see it fit to discuss
with members of the association - the direct stakeholders - the
proposal to deploy the forest and its implications for the operators of
the forests.

The President had announced this offer during the opening ceremony of
the Commonwealth Finance Ministers' Meeting at the National Cultural
Centre. He disclosed that Guyana's offer of almost its entire
rainforest in the fight against climate change was still on the table.
During his speech, Jagdeo said that in a meeting last year with former
British Prime Minister Tony Blair he "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".

The form of the offer and the exact details of it in terms of how much
of the forest is being referred to are still unknown.

"That rainforest gives you and your family livelihood and he (the
President) hasn't discussed it with you," Nascimento told the gathering
of forest producers. He 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.

He said that it was obvious the President's actions come on the heels
of the developed world touting the protection of forests as a way of
buying off their carbon emissions. "The developed countries have
destroyed their forests and now they are telling us what to do with our
own," he said.

He said that the Government is reacting to an international position
with regard to climate change in which the international community is
in negotiations to pay a price for standing forests not to be touched.

He asked whether the forest producers were part of the seismic shift in
the Government's attitude towards the sector. Nascimento made the point
that the Association needs to be strengthened so it could properly and
in an organised manner represent the concerns of the forest producers
and get positive results through such representation.

None of the members of the FPA present at the meeting had any knowledge
of the forest offer prior to it being reported in the press after the
President had made his speech.

The members raised concerns that the new policy on Guyana's forests
will conflict with their business aims and they want clarity as to what
exactly the President's offer means for the industry.

A nexus has been drawn between the forest offer and the
administration's increasingly tough stance on forest practices, now on
the front burner with sanctions against Barama Company Limited, which
was last week fined $96.4M for a number of offences related to
under-declaration and false declaration of origin of produce. Barama's
relationship with a number of small timber operators has also been
suspended. So far, Barama is refusing to comment on whether the company
will pay the fine or file an appeal against it.