The urgency of hydroelectricity
Guyana Chronicle Editorial, 24 January 2008
SPIRALLING fuel prices have triggered the search for alternative and
renewable energy sources globally, and indications are that this trend
will continue for a long time because the demand for fossil fuel has
shot-up dramatically with emerging industrial giants such as India and
China and a few others.
Developing countries, particularly those without oil resources, have
been hit hard as increased fuel prices have triggered a steep increase
in the cost of living, bringing severe hardship on the poorer classes.
In this context, the recent announcement by Synergy Holdings Inc that
it is in its final stages of bid documents preparation in relation to
the development of the Amaila Falls Hydroelectricity Project is very
encouraging.
It is unfortunate that the previous management of GPL, when it was a
private company, procrastinated on arriving at a power purchase
agreement because at that time, the price of oil was US$20 per barrel.
Such short-sightedness has resulted in Guyana being in its present
predicament. Of course, eventually, the intrigues of that management
fostering its own agenda were exposed and it had to go.
However, the Amaila Falls project is not the first attempt at bringing
hydroelectricity to Guyana on a major scale.
The PPP government of the 1957-1964 had concluded a deal with the Cuban
government to harness the Tiger Hill Falls in the Demerara River at a
cost then of $32M, which the Cubans would have provided. When the PPP
left office in 1964, the blueprint for the project was there. Yet, some
unfortunately criticised the PPP for a lack of vision.
Unfortunately, the new government did not pursue that course and the
project died a natural death.
Perhaps, if that project had been pursued, Guyana would not have been
in the present difficult situation because of its heavy dependence on
fossil fuel which eats about 60% of our GDP.
Nevertheless, the same government went on an over ambitious
hydro-project, the Upper Mazaruni Hydroelectricity project, which
became a dismal failure and a total waste of money.
In fact, during this period the TUC had called for a minimum wage of
$14 per day but the then Prime Minister lashed back with: “Do you want
hydro or $14?” The rest is history as neither became a reality.
All of that is past and the current realities have to be dealt with
expeditiously, because Guyana has to grapple with the problem of
obtaining a cheap, clean and a reliable source of electricity which has
been a major irritant for a long time.
CEO of Synergy Holdings, Mr. Fip Motilall, on his most recent visit
here last week, sounded very optimistic and all Guyanese are hoping
that this optimism will translate into reality in the shortest period
of time.
According to Motilall, the project is of national importance with a
life span that will exceed 100 years if designed properly and quality
construction materials are used.
“It is currently being offered to Guyana as a 20-year BOOT
(Build-Own-Operate-Transfer) meaning that it will be given to Guyana in
20 years, free and clear. The cost of hydro-power is mainly the cost to
build it and pay off the loans because hydro-power costs less than
half-cent/kwh to produce. This is a price that will remain fixed once
the loans are paid off and Guyana will enjoy this cost of reliable
power the next 80+ years after the loans are repaid. In addition, AFHEP
is expandable to 10 times its size in phases (to over 1,000 MW) so it
will meet the need for power in Guyana long into the future,” Motilall
explained.
He added: “So rather than complain, let’s agree that this is a project
that offers huge economic benefits for a long time to come, allow the
engineers and financial groups time to work on the specifications and
to ensure the best price and terms for the project. We need to all work
together to get this project on-line. The project schedule has
construction starting this year and delivering power to GPL in December
2011.”
He is certainly right. It is, indeed, a project that offers huge
economic benefits because in an increasing competitive global market,
our manufacturers need a cheap and reliable supply of electricity to be
able to maintain a competitive edge.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Groundstar still seeking partner for Takutu oil search
http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56537501
Groundstar still seeking partner for Takutu oil search
Stabroek News, Wednesday, January 23rd 2008
Groundstar Resources Limited is still hopeful that another company will
partner with it for oil exploration and drilling in the Takutu Basin
and by July their plans should be firmly on the table, according to a
source in the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
This company, along with three others, was to have started exploring
for oil during the latter half of last year in the interior of the
country.
The source said that Groundstar was to have indicated by July of 2007
whether it was prepared to drill. "They had asked for a year's
breathing space at the end of which they would look for a partner to
join with them. They've done the groundwork and they've found prospects
that are drillable but they need a partner," the source said. The
source told this newspaper that by July this year Groundstar Resources
should be indicating to the GGMC what its intentions are with regards
drilling. The company is seeking partners to undertake a multi-well
drilling programme during the third phase of the work programme.
The GGMC is said to be in regular contact with Groundstar Resources, a
company which has operated a 9,800 square kilometre Petroleum
Prospecting Licence over the Takutu Basin of Guyana since July 2005.
The second phase of the project started in July 2006.
According to the company, the work programme will encompass
re-processing and re-interpretation of existing seismic data, detailed
geological studies, drilling logistics, assessment of routes to various
drilling sites, transportation and marketing evaluation as well as an
environmental impact study. The company said that three important
structural prospects have been seismically identified. This newspaper
understands that two fairly large, oil exploration companies are also
seeking to get a foot in the door of the GGMC with a view to being
granted licences in the near term.
According to this newspaper's source, the exploration is expected to be
near-shore offshore and their expressions of interest are being
addressed now. Under consideration by the GGMC is an offshore area for
the two companies.
According to the source, the GGMC is engaged with Repsol and Exxon and
is at the moment hammering out and further fine-tuning the particulars
of their arrangements that will take effect now that the Suriname
maritime issue with Guyana has been resolved. Time had overcome some of
these arrangements that had been put in place. "In a very short time we
will know if they will sign on or not, the source said.
This newspaper understands that Exxon is in a less complicated state of
affairs as regards their arrangements than Repsol but similar issues
for both companies still have to be ironed out. The GGMC has had to
alter the offshore concessions for the two large companies as part of
the process of getting them prepared for exploration work.
Sadhna Petroleum is a Trinidadian exploration and drilling company
which with Groundstar Resources signed agreements with the Government
of Guyana in 2006 for the exploration for petroleum products and for
the sharing of returns if the findings are in commercially viable
quantities. Sadhna Petroleum Inc should have been doing work in the
Mahaicony area.
But oil exploration and drilling for Sadhna have been put on hold for
now and that company is working on contract with the Guyana Water Inc
(GWI), drilling borehole wells on various coastal locations. This is as
part of a World Bank-funded project to bring water to the poor. (Johann
Earle)
Groundstar still seeking partner for Takutu oil search
Stabroek News, Wednesday, January 23rd 2008
Groundstar Resources Limited is still hopeful that another company will
partner with it for oil exploration and drilling in the Takutu Basin
and by July their plans should be firmly on the table, according to a
source in the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
This company, along with three others, was to have started exploring
for oil during the latter half of last year in the interior of the
country.
The source said that Groundstar was to have indicated by July of 2007
whether it was prepared to drill. "They had asked for a year's
breathing space at the end of which they would look for a partner to
join with them. They've done the groundwork and they've found prospects
that are drillable but they need a partner," the source said. The
source told this newspaper that by July this year Groundstar Resources
should be indicating to the GGMC what its intentions are with regards
drilling. The company is seeking partners to undertake a multi-well
drilling programme during the third phase of the work programme.
The GGMC is said to be in regular contact with Groundstar Resources, a
company which has operated a 9,800 square kilometre Petroleum
Prospecting Licence over the Takutu Basin of Guyana since July 2005.
The second phase of the project started in July 2006.
According to the company, the work programme will encompass
re-processing and re-interpretation of existing seismic data, detailed
geological studies, drilling logistics, assessment of routes to various
drilling sites, transportation and marketing evaluation as well as an
environmental impact study. The company said that three important
structural prospects have been seismically identified. This newspaper
understands that two fairly large, oil exploration companies are also
seeking to get a foot in the door of the GGMC with a view to being
granted licences in the near term.
According to this newspaper's source, the exploration is expected to be
near-shore offshore and their expressions of interest are being
addressed now. Under consideration by the GGMC is an offshore area for
the two companies.
According to the source, the GGMC is engaged with Repsol and Exxon and
is at the moment hammering out and further fine-tuning the particulars
of their arrangements that will take effect now that the Suriname
maritime issue with Guyana has been resolved. Time had overcome some of
these arrangements that had been put in place. "In a very short time we
will know if they will sign on or not, the source said.
This newspaper understands that Exxon is in a less complicated state of
affairs as regards their arrangements than Repsol but similar issues
for both companies still have to be ironed out. The GGMC has had to
alter the offshore concessions for the two large companies as part of
the process of getting them prepared for exploration work.
Sadhna Petroleum is a Trinidadian exploration and drilling company
which with Groundstar Resources signed agreements with the Government
of Guyana in 2006 for the exploration for petroleum products and for
the sharing of returns if the findings are in commercially viable
quantities. Sadhna Petroleum Inc should have been doing work in the
Mahaicony area.
But oil exploration and drilling for Sadhna have been put on hold for
now and that company is working on contract with the Guyana Water Inc
(GWI), drilling borehole wells on various coastal locations. This is as
part of a World Bank-funded project to bring water to the poor. (Johann
Earle)
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Forestry and Compliance
Forestry and Compliance
Guyana Chronicle Editorial. 22 January 2008
The forestry business globally is coming under increasing scrutiny,
particularly with respect to sustainable forestry practices, as the
world tries to grapple with the crucial issue of Climate Change.
Developing countries, like Guyana are caught in a dilemma, as they try
to exploit their forestry resources for developmental purposes and at
the same time, play the role of the “lungs” of the world.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO): “Sustainable
Forest Management aims to ensure that the goods and services derived
from the forest meet present-day needs, while at the same time,
securing their continued availability and contribution to long-term
development.”
In its broadest sense, forest management encompasses the
administrative, legal, technical, economic, social and environmental
aspects of the conservation and use of forests.
It implies various degrees of deliberate human intervention, ranging
from actions aimed at safeguarding and maintaining the forest ecosystem
and its functions, to favouring specific socially or economically
valuable species or groups of species for the improved production of
goods and services.
Many of the world’s forests and woodlands, however, especially in the
tropics and subtropics, are still not managed in accordance with the
Forest Principles adopted at the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED, 1992).
Many developing countries have inadequate funding and human resources
for the preparation, implementation and monitoring of forest management
plans, and lack mechanisms to ensure the participation and involvement
of all stakeholders in forest planning and development.
Where forest management plans exist, they are frequently limited to
ensuring sustained production of wood, without due concern for non-wood
products and services or social and environmental values.
In addition, many countries lack appropriate forest legislation,
regulation and incentives to promote sustainable forest management
practices. FAO helps member countries overcome these constraints
through the provision of information and policy advice and through
institutional and technical capacity-building activities.
FAO collects, analyses and disseminates information; prepares manuals
and guidelines; and organises workshops and seminars that facilitate
the dissemination of best practices and the exchange of experiences.
Field projects are implemented in all types of natural forests. They
also address emergency situations caused by natural disasters or the
adverse effects of human activities, and offer opportunities for
hands-on training.
At the national level, FAO supports initiatives for the development and
implementation of criteria and indicators to define clearly, the
elements of sustainable forest management and to monitor progress
towards it. At the field level, FAO helps identify, test and promote
innovative forest management approaches and techniques, e.g. through
support for model and demonstration forests.
Here in Guyana, significant strides have been made with respect to
sustainable forestry practices, albeit there is quite a lot more work
to be done.
But compared to the situation which existed about a decade ago, there
has been a marked improvement and this trend should continue through
the persistent ongoing efforts by the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC)
in this regard.
One of the notable strategies of the GFC has been the involvement of
stakeholders in the forestry sectors, through consultations and
meaningful involvement in the formulation of policies and programmes of
the forestry sector.
On this score, the recent announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture
that forestry operators are being encouraged to ensure that they are in
full compliance with the necessary requirements set by the GFC for
permission to continue their operations in the new year, is a welcome
one.
The assurance by the Agriculture Minister that there will be no
compromise with stakeholders, as regards to the necessary requirements,
is a positive signal that the GFC and the Ministry means business. This
is how it should be because for too long many operators in the sector
have escaped with ‘murder’.
The forestry sector is crucial to the economic advancement of this
country and it is evident that with the coming years, it will play an
increasing role in the national economy.
Therefore, it is imperative that the sector is managed efficiently and
effectively in order to maintain sustainable forestry practices. A key
component of this is that stakeholders play by the rules.
Guyana Chronicle Editorial. 22 January 2008
The forestry business globally is coming under increasing scrutiny,
particularly with respect to sustainable forestry practices, as the
world tries to grapple with the crucial issue of Climate Change.
Developing countries, like Guyana are caught in a dilemma, as they try
to exploit their forestry resources for developmental purposes and at
the same time, play the role of the “lungs” of the world.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO): “Sustainable
Forest Management aims to ensure that the goods and services derived
from the forest meet present-day needs, while at the same time,
securing their continued availability and contribution to long-term
development.”
In its broadest sense, forest management encompasses the
administrative, legal, technical, economic, social and environmental
aspects of the conservation and use of forests.
It implies various degrees of deliberate human intervention, ranging
from actions aimed at safeguarding and maintaining the forest ecosystem
and its functions, to favouring specific socially or economically
valuable species or groups of species for the improved production of
goods and services.
Many of the world’s forests and woodlands, however, especially in the
tropics and subtropics, are still not managed in accordance with the
Forest Principles adopted at the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED, 1992).
Many developing countries have inadequate funding and human resources
for the preparation, implementation and monitoring of forest management
plans, and lack mechanisms to ensure the participation and involvement
of all stakeholders in forest planning and development.
Where forest management plans exist, they are frequently limited to
ensuring sustained production of wood, without due concern for non-wood
products and services or social and environmental values.
In addition, many countries lack appropriate forest legislation,
regulation and incentives to promote sustainable forest management
practices. FAO helps member countries overcome these constraints
through the provision of information and policy advice and through
institutional and technical capacity-building activities.
FAO collects, analyses and disseminates information; prepares manuals
and guidelines; and organises workshops and seminars that facilitate
the dissemination of best practices and the exchange of experiences.
Field projects are implemented in all types of natural forests. They
also address emergency situations caused by natural disasters or the
adverse effects of human activities, and offer opportunities for
hands-on training.
At the national level, FAO supports initiatives for the development and
implementation of criteria and indicators to define clearly, the
elements of sustainable forest management and to monitor progress
towards it. At the field level, FAO helps identify, test and promote
innovative forest management approaches and techniques, e.g. through
support for model and demonstration forests.
Here in Guyana, significant strides have been made with respect to
sustainable forestry practices, albeit there is quite a lot more work
to be done.
But compared to the situation which existed about a decade ago, there
has been a marked improvement and this trend should continue through
the persistent ongoing efforts by the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC)
in this regard.
One of the notable strategies of the GFC has been the involvement of
stakeholders in the forestry sectors, through consultations and
meaningful involvement in the formulation of policies and programmes of
the forestry sector.
On this score, the recent announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture
that forestry operators are being encouraged to ensure that they are in
full compliance with the necessary requirements set by the GFC for
permission to continue their operations in the new year, is a welcome
one.
The assurance by the Agriculture Minister that there will be no
compromise with stakeholders, as regards to the necessary requirements,
is a positive signal that the GFC and the Ministry means business. This
is how it should be because for too long many operators in the sector
have escaped with ‘murder’.
The forestry sector is crucial to the economic advancement of this
country and it is evident that with the coming years, it will play an
increasing role in the national economy.
Therefore, it is imperative that the sector is managed efficiently and
effectively in order to maintain sustainable forestry practices. A key
component of this is that stakeholders play by the rules.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
No compromise with requirements for forestry operations - Minister Persaud
No compromise with requirements for forestry operations - Minister
Persaud
Kaieteur News, 21 January 2008
Forestry operators are being encouraged to ensure that they are in full
compliance with the necessary requirements set by the Guyana Forestry
Commission (GFC) for permission to continue their operations in the new
year.
GFC has placed significant emphasis on enforcement of necessary
regulations through which all forest concessions in excess of 20,000
acres are required to have an approved five-year Forest Management Plan
(FMP) while concessionaires must submit, by November 30, an Annual
Operational Plan (AOP) for the following year of activities.
The information is verified by the GFC before permission is granted,
and the November 30 deadline caters for this process so that approval
could be granted, once there is full compliance, by January 1.
At a press conference today at the Agriculture Ministry, Minister with
responsibility for Forestry, Robert Persaud, reported limited adherence
to the deadline, which is now resulting in a delay in granting
permissions.
However, the Minister noted that there will be no compromise since
stakeholders were given enough time to meet the requirements. Meetings
were held with concessionaires since 2006, reminding them that
submission of the AOP with the associated 100 percent inventory
information was compulsory.
This was re-emphasized in individual letters to the concessionaires
and through public notices, while technical inventory assistance on a
cost recovery basis was offered by GFC to concessionaires based on
their request.
An Audit in 2007 revealed that almost all holders of the Timber Sales
Agreements (TSAs) and Wood Cutting Leases (WCLs) had harvested in
blocks that were not approved by GFC, either because they were not
listed in the AOP or because of non submission of the 100 percent
inventory information. All of the defaulting companies were penalized,
in accordance with GFC’s approved procedures.
By September 2007, notices were re-sent to concessionaires advising
them of their obligation to submit the AOP for 2008 by November 30,
2007. The companies were also requested to ensure that they had valid,
approved FMPs.
However, there are currently 24 active TSAs and WCLs, of which 17 have
submitted the AOP for 2008 while only five companies submitted the 100
percent inventory.
During a meeting with Minister Persaud earlier this month, the Forest
Producers Association (FPA) acknowledged the fact that stakeholders
were delinquent in the submission of the required hundred 100 percent
inventory information.
They requested additional time to submit the information, and it was
agreed that this will be facilitated on the condition that no
harvesting would occur unless the inventory information for the
specific block was submitted and verified by GFC.
Minister Persaud said, “in an effort to facilitate the companies, GFC
will try to complete the field verification of the additional blocks as
soon as is possible, without comprising our field procedures.” The GFC
now awaits the submission of the necessary information by the
concessionaires, and had committed to fast track the field verification
exercises without compromising its field procedures.
The FMP outlines the broad business projections over a five-year
period, while the AOP gives details of all the activities to be carried
out in the calendar year, inclusive of the specific 100-hectare blocks
to be harvested during that period with the associated 100 percent
inventory information of the commercial species present in each block
listed in the AOP.
Persaud
Kaieteur News, 21 January 2008
Forestry operators are being encouraged to ensure that they are in full
compliance with the necessary requirements set by the Guyana Forestry
Commission (GFC) for permission to continue their operations in the new
year.
GFC has placed significant emphasis on enforcement of necessary
regulations through which all forest concessions in excess of 20,000
acres are required to have an approved five-year Forest Management Plan
(FMP) while concessionaires must submit, by November 30, an Annual
Operational Plan (AOP) for the following year of activities.
The information is verified by the GFC before permission is granted,
and the November 30 deadline caters for this process so that approval
could be granted, once there is full compliance, by January 1.
At a press conference today at the Agriculture Ministry, Minister with
responsibility for Forestry, Robert Persaud, reported limited adherence
to the deadline, which is now resulting in a delay in granting
permissions.
However, the Minister noted that there will be no compromise since
stakeholders were given enough time to meet the requirements. Meetings
were held with concessionaires since 2006, reminding them that
submission of the AOP with the associated 100 percent inventory
information was compulsory.
This was re-emphasized in individual letters to the concessionaires
and through public notices, while technical inventory assistance on a
cost recovery basis was offered by GFC to concessionaires based on
their request.
An Audit in 2007 revealed that almost all holders of the Timber Sales
Agreements (TSAs) and Wood Cutting Leases (WCLs) had harvested in
blocks that were not approved by GFC, either because they were not
listed in the AOP or because of non submission of the 100 percent
inventory information. All of the defaulting companies were penalized,
in accordance with GFC’s approved procedures.
By September 2007, notices were re-sent to concessionaires advising
them of their obligation to submit the AOP for 2008 by November 30,
2007. The companies were also requested to ensure that they had valid,
approved FMPs.
However, there are currently 24 active TSAs and WCLs, of which 17 have
submitted the AOP for 2008 while only five companies submitted the 100
percent inventory.
During a meeting with Minister Persaud earlier this month, the Forest
Producers Association (FPA) acknowledged the fact that stakeholders
were delinquent in the submission of the required hundred 100 percent
inventory information.
They requested additional time to submit the information, and it was
agreed that this will be facilitated on the condition that no
harvesting would occur unless the inventory information for the
specific block was submitted and verified by GFC.
Minister Persaud said, “in an effort to facilitate the companies, GFC
will try to complete the field verification of the additional blocks as
soon as is possible, without comprising our field procedures.” The GFC
now awaits the submission of the necessary information by the
concessionaires, and had committed to fast track the field verification
exercises without compromising its field procedures.
The FMP outlines the broad business projections over a five-year
period, while the AOP gives details of all the activities to be carried
out in the calendar year, inclusive of the specific 100-hectare blocks
to be harvested during that period with the associated 100 percent
inventory information of the commercial species present in each block
listed in the AOP.
Increased export earnings in 2007 despite decreased extraction...major internal restructuring at GFC in 2008 – Persaud
Increased export earnings in 2007 despite decreased extraction...major
internal restructuring at GFC in 2008 – Persaud
Kaieteur News, 21 January 2008
A total export earning of $61.5M for the forestry sector in 2007 was
reported by Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud.
Persaud was speaking at a special press briefing on Saturday at the
Agriculture Ministry to give his update on the sector’s performance
last year, and his projections for 2008.
He noted that the 2007 figure of $61.5M represented a three per cent
increase over the 2006 figure, which was $59.5M.
Persaud did emphasize, however, that the extraction of wood from the
forests have reduced significantly, but the increase in earning was due
to the export of value added products. “Timber is sold at 200 per cent
above lumber,” Persaud said.
Previously, the bulk of the export earnings for the sector came from
logs, but this was not the case for 2007, as sawn wood accounted for
more than 35.5 per cent of the export earnings, and logs some 34 per
cent.
Persaud, in his update, also indicated that a UK-based firm,
PROFOREST, was contracted to develop a Legal Verification System (LVS)
aimed at assuring international buyers on several aspects of the
legality and sustainability of Guyana’s forest products.
“This system has already been field-tested, and 17 persons trained to
function as auditors for the system.”
He also indicated that another project has been started to enhance
legality in forest products harvesting and trade in Guyana.
According to the Minister,” the project is aimed particularly at
enhancing the chain of custody of timber production and trade by
upgrading the current manual log tracking system through the use of
hand-held scanners and forest station connectivity to electronic
databases.”
Regarding some of the bugbears for 2007, Persaud highlighted the fines
that had to be levied on several concessionaires who were guilty of
harvesting in blocks that they had not been approved to harvest in by
the GFC.
Apart from the heavily publicized fines that were imposed on Barama
Company Limited, he highlighted other companies, including A.
Mazaharally and Sons, Barakat Timbers Limited, Caribbean Resources
Limited, Demerara Timbers Limited, Guyana Sawmills Limited, Kurunduni
Logging and Development Company, Nagasar Sawh Limited, Vergenoegen
Sawmills, Willems Timber and Trading Company, Wood Associated
Industries Limited and Ituni Small Loggers Association.
The companies were fined a total of $275M, with Barama incurring
penalties twice within a matter of months.
Another bugbear Persaud identified was the fact that several companies
did not submit their Annual Operational Plans, and a 100 per cent
inventory of the blocks to be harvested in the calendar year 2008.
This report, Persaud said, was supposed to be submitted by November so
that the GFC could verify the accuracy of the information provided, and
grant approval for harvesting.
There are currently 24 active Timber Sales Agreements and Wood Cutting
Leases (granted to the relevant companies), of which seventeen 17 have
submitted the AOP for 2008.
“Unfortunately, the number of companies that have submitted the 100
per cent inventory is five. Further, these five companies should have
submitted the 100 per cent inventory for a total of 302 blocks, but
inventory information was submitted for only 144 blocks. What is even
more alarming is the fact that, of the 144 blocks submitted, 11were
submitted in December 2007, whilst the remaining 133 were submitted as
late as January 2008.”
According to Persaud, because of the late submission of the limited
inventory data, the GFC can only currently give approval for harvesting
to commence in seven blocks, or a 4.8 per cent approval.
The Commissioner of Forests did state that in an effort to ensure
there is no steep decline in 2008 export earnings, the GFC will be fast
tracking the processing of late submissions.
2008 Projections
Persaud said that, in 2008, the sector is aiming to increase its
efficiency and recovery rates, as well as the utilization of a broader
range of species.
He continued by saying that in order to ensure maximum efficiency and
to accommodate the Forest Industries Development in the coming year,
the GFC will undertake a major internal restructuring exercise.
He added that monitoring activities will continue to be a high
priority area, and an additional 50 forest rangers have been recruited.
Each large concession will now have a minimum of two officers to
monitor the harvesting activities more closely.
Persaud also expressed his optimism in the passing of the new Forests
Bill in the National Assembly which, according to him, will greatly
enhance the capacity of the GFC and the Agriculture Ministry in
monitoring.
internal restructuring at GFC in 2008 – Persaud
Kaieteur News, 21 January 2008
A total export earning of $61.5M for the forestry sector in 2007 was
reported by Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud.
Persaud was speaking at a special press briefing on Saturday at the
Agriculture Ministry to give his update on the sector’s performance
last year, and his projections for 2008.
He noted that the 2007 figure of $61.5M represented a three per cent
increase over the 2006 figure, which was $59.5M.
Persaud did emphasize, however, that the extraction of wood from the
forests have reduced significantly, but the increase in earning was due
to the export of value added products. “Timber is sold at 200 per cent
above lumber,” Persaud said.
Previously, the bulk of the export earnings for the sector came from
logs, but this was not the case for 2007, as sawn wood accounted for
more than 35.5 per cent of the export earnings, and logs some 34 per
cent.
Persaud, in his update, also indicated that a UK-based firm,
PROFOREST, was contracted to develop a Legal Verification System (LVS)
aimed at assuring international buyers on several aspects of the
legality and sustainability of Guyana’s forest products.
“This system has already been field-tested, and 17 persons trained to
function as auditors for the system.”
He also indicated that another project has been started to enhance
legality in forest products harvesting and trade in Guyana.
According to the Minister,” the project is aimed particularly at
enhancing the chain of custody of timber production and trade by
upgrading the current manual log tracking system through the use of
hand-held scanners and forest station connectivity to electronic
databases.”
Regarding some of the bugbears for 2007, Persaud highlighted the fines
that had to be levied on several concessionaires who were guilty of
harvesting in blocks that they had not been approved to harvest in by
the GFC.
Apart from the heavily publicized fines that were imposed on Barama
Company Limited, he highlighted other companies, including A.
Mazaharally and Sons, Barakat Timbers Limited, Caribbean Resources
Limited, Demerara Timbers Limited, Guyana Sawmills Limited, Kurunduni
Logging and Development Company, Nagasar Sawh Limited, Vergenoegen
Sawmills, Willems Timber and Trading Company, Wood Associated
Industries Limited and Ituni Small Loggers Association.
The companies were fined a total of $275M, with Barama incurring
penalties twice within a matter of months.
Another bugbear Persaud identified was the fact that several companies
did not submit their Annual Operational Plans, and a 100 per cent
inventory of the blocks to be harvested in the calendar year 2008.
This report, Persaud said, was supposed to be submitted by November so
that the GFC could verify the accuracy of the information provided, and
grant approval for harvesting.
There are currently 24 active Timber Sales Agreements and Wood Cutting
Leases (granted to the relevant companies), of which seventeen 17 have
submitted the AOP for 2008.
“Unfortunately, the number of companies that have submitted the 100
per cent inventory is five. Further, these five companies should have
submitted the 100 per cent inventory for a total of 302 blocks, but
inventory information was submitted for only 144 blocks. What is even
more alarming is the fact that, of the 144 blocks submitted, 11were
submitted in December 2007, whilst the remaining 133 were submitted as
late as January 2008.”
According to Persaud, because of the late submission of the limited
inventory data, the GFC can only currently give approval for harvesting
to commence in seven blocks, or a 4.8 per cent approval.
The Commissioner of Forests did state that in an effort to ensure
there is no steep decline in 2008 export earnings, the GFC will be fast
tracking the processing of late submissions.
2008 Projections
Persaud said that, in 2008, the sector is aiming to increase its
efficiency and recovery rates, as well as the utilization of a broader
range of species.
He continued by saying that in order to ensure maximum efficiency and
to accommodate the Forest Industries Development in the coming year,
the GFC will undertake a major internal restructuring exercise.
He added that monitoring activities will continue to be a high
priority area, and an additional 50 forest rangers have been recruited.
Each large concession will now have a minimum of two officers to
monitor the harvesting activities more closely.
Persaud also expressed his optimism in the passing of the new Forests
Bill in the National Assembly which, according to him, will greatly
enhance the capacity of the GFC and the Agriculture Ministry in
monitoring.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Forestry sector to be 100 percent compliant by month-end …recommendations by stakeholders had to be reviewed
Forestry sector to be 100 percent compliant by month-end
…recommendations by stakeholders had to be reviewed
Kaieteur News, 19 January 2008
Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud, says that recommendations for the
forestry sector (milling and lumber yards) shaping up by 2008 and
adhering to set guidelines have raised the need for a grace period but
there should be 100 per cent compliance by month-end.
The recommendations came out of the recent consultation sessions.
He indicated during an interview with Kaieteur News that a technical
committee was set up to review the recommendations from various
stakeholders and that the committee members concluded their sessions on
Tuesday. The concluded review will form the basis of the
implementations of the conditions and compliance.
“There had to be some compromise and January was identified as a grace
period to allow stakeholders to have their recommendations and concerns
addressed,” said Persaud.
He added that he thought it best to wait for the extra time so that
stakeholders could be fully on board.
“Once there is enforcement and monitoring, no one can come and say
that (he or she) was not given a fair hearing or that legitimate
concerns were not addressed.”
The new regularised guidelines and standards are aimed at raising the
national level for export on the international market as well as
ensuring maximum utilisation of forest resources.
The Guyana Forestry Commission will be working in tandem with the
Ministry of Labour and in the relevant areas, with the Ministry of
Amerindian Affairs, to develop generic contracts of employment that
would be mandatory. The services of the Guyana National Bureau of
Standards will also be amplified to ensure the provision of quality
products.
Currently, there are several shortcomings in the forestry sector.
These included the use of primordial sawmilling machinery with very few
spare parts available, resulting in a significant wastage.
Prior to the new guidelines, there was no standardisation of cutting
or profile sizes.
There are also few kilns in operation and little knowledge prevails
among the people in the industry.
In Guyana, there are relatively few industrial plants of a reasonable
scale or size.
In 2008 there will be a mandatory recovery rate of 50 percent; the
following year it will be increased by a further ten percent and 2010
will see a mandatory 70 per cent recovery rate. As a result of the
stipulated recovery rates, chainsaw operations would only be permitted
to process lumber above four inches in thickness.
During this year, also, the ends of all sawn lumber will have to be
waxed or sealed with an appropriate sealant so as to prevent splitting
and end checking from occurring and all wood must be stacked, under
cover, as quickly as possible, after coming off the saw.
…recommendations by stakeholders had to be reviewed
Kaieteur News, 19 January 2008
Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud, says that recommendations for the
forestry sector (milling and lumber yards) shaping up by 2008 and
adhering to set guidelines have raised the need for a grace period but
there should be 100 per cent compliance by month-end.
The recommendations came out of the recent consultation sessions.
He indicated during an interview with Kaieteur News that a technical
committee was set up to review the recommendations from various
stakeholders and that the committee members concluded their sessions on
Tuesday. The concluded review will form the basis of the
implementations of the conditions and compliance.
“There had to be some compromise and January was identified as a grace
period to allow stakeholders to have their recommendations and concerns
addressed,” said Persaud.
He added that he thought it best to wait for the extra time so that
stakeholders could be fully on board.
“Once there is enforcement and monitoring, no one can come and say
that (he or she) was not given a fair hearing or that legitimate
concerns were not addressed.”
The new regularised guidelines and standards are aimed at raising the
national level for export on the international market as well as
ensuring maximum utilisation of forest resources.
The Guyana Forestry Commission will be working in tandem with the
Ministry of Labour and in the relevant areas, with the Ministry of
Amerindian Affairs, to develop generic contracts of employment that
would be mandatory. The services of the Guyana National Bureau of
Standards will also be amplified to ensure the provision of quality
products.
Currently, there are several shortcomings in the forestry sector.
These included the use of primordial sawmilling machinery with very few
spare parts available, resulting in a significant wastage.
Prior to the new guidelines, there was no standardisation of cutting
or profile sizes.
There are also few kilns in operation and little knowledge prevails
among the people in the industry.
In Guyana, there are relatively few industrial plants of a reasonable
scale or size.
In 2008 there will be a mandatory recovery rate of 50 percent; the
following year it will be increased by a further ten percent and 2010
will see a mandatory 70 per cent recovery rate. As a result of the
stipulated recovery rates, chainsaw operations would only be permitted
to process lumber above four inches in thickness.
During this year, also, the ends of all sawn lumber will have to be
waxed or sealed with an appropriate sealant so as to prevent splitting
and end checking from occurring and all wood must be stacked, under
cover, as quickly as possible, after coming off the saw.
Guyana's modest proposal
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: CARBON BARGAIN
Guyana's modest proposal
The Globe and Mail
A South American president surprised his people when he offered to let
foreign conservationists manage rain forests in return for aid. A new
way to reconcile development and the environment, or a new
eco-colonialism? Christopher Frey reports
CHRISTOPHER FREY
January 19, 2008
FAIRVIEW, GUYANA -- It's the first time anyone has asked Bradford
Allicock his opinion about the bold new plan for the rain forest he
calls home. Late last year, Guyana's President, Bharrat Jagdeo, told
Britain that he would turn over environmental management of the forests
in return for aid and investment. A month later, the first journalists
and TV cameras arrive in Fairview, the Amerindian village where Mr.
Allicock is the toshau (village captain).
Stepping away from the Pentecostal service occurring in the shade
beneath his stilt-raised house, he says he first heard about the offer
in the media. Locally, there has been talk about carbon offsets and
carbon sinks. Even though his people weren't consulted, he welcomes Mr.
Jagdeo's proposal, saying it is better than the alternative.
"I see the footage of what the big timber companies are doing other
places in Guyana. And I've spoken with other communities who've shared
their bad experiences. Our forest is still here. It's still standing.
So let's ensure the future generations will benefit."
Mr. Jagdeo's offer surprised everyone. Describing the rain forest as a
"global asset in the fight against climate change," he appealed to the
British government and non-governmental organizations to assist Guyana
in safeguarding it through bilateral investments in conservation and
sustainable development.
Poor nations need to be compensated for the economic costs of avoided
deforestation (the political term for such forest protection), he
argued. They need technology transfers to help build a green economy.
With his country's standing rain forest as eco-collateral, he wants to
be paid not to follow the same path that made the developed world
wealthy.
It could become a test case for how the world deals with the conflict
between economic growth and environmental responsibility in developing
countries. Critics worry that Guyana's model might undermine the
sovereignty of struggling countries and engender a new form of
colonialism in which poor nations hand over crucial decisions about
their future in return for a cheque.
Meanwhile, rich governments will be looking to the emerging
carbon-credit markets to help finance such schemes, even though it has
not yet been proved to reduce greenhouse emissions.
English-speaking Guyana still possesses 50 million acres of virgin rain
forest, part of the Guiana Shield that reaches into Venezuela,
Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil. It is among the four largest
tropical rain forests on Earth still relatively intact.
Mr. Jagdeo's proposition came sandwiched between Sir Nicholas Stern's
landmark report on climate change in early November - which recommended
avoided deforestation as an inexpensive step toward climate stability -
and the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, convened to
begin negotiations on a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol.
Limits to deforestation were not included in Kyoto, although cutting of
tropical forests accounts for 20 per cent of greenhouse-gas increases
(second only to the energy industry). The final communiqué at Bali
talked of exploring "policy measures and positive incentives" to
encourage avoided deforestation.
How is Britain reacting to Mr. Jagdeo's proposal? According to Fraser
Wheeler, the British High Commissioner in Guyana, "We're looking at it
and we're very interested."
In the country whose rain forests are at issue, however, the proposal
has been met with mixed confusion, scorn and cautious support. Guyana's
politics are notoriously polarized - allegiances are often tied to
race, and a legacy of corruption ensures a strong dose of public
skepticism. The government has yet to fully explain its plan through a
discussion paper or convene a meeting of stakeholders.
Local loggers and the large Malaysian and Chinese-owned forestry
companies want to know what it means for their existing concessions.
And while much of Guyana's standing forest may be uncut, it is part of
a vast, largely unpoliced frontier.
The opposition is especially rankled at the president's decision to
appeal exclusively to the U.K., Guyana's former colonial master, rather
than pursue a multilateral approach. Even advocates for conservation
have expressed disappointment that there was no public consultation
first.
Robert Corbin, the leader of the opposition People's National Congress
Reform, has likened the direct pitch to Britain as a return to
colonialism. He calls the deal "a new form of serfdom in the 21st
century."
But Dane Gobin, acting director of the organization that manages the
Iwokrama Forest Reserve, presently Guyana's most prominent protected
area, says there were pragmatic reasons to approach Britain as a
partner - the U.K. has been one of the leading movers of debt relief
for developing countries, its consumers are perceived as pioneers of
fair-trade shopping and London has already become the world centre for
the carbon-trading market.
Mr. Gobin even sees the lack of consultation in a positive light. "I
think it might have been strategic in terms of dropping a bombshell, in
that it raises immediate awareness," he says. "The media is coming
here, so Guyana is getting huge mileage from it."
The red road
This talk of avoided deforestation, and achieving value from it,
arrives at a critical juncture in Guyana's development. With 90 per
cent of its 750,000 people living along the Atlantic coastline, there
is little population pressure on the rain forest. But the globalizing
world economy is another matter. Transnational logging, mining, gas and
oil companies are increasingly turning their attention to the resources
locked away in the country's densely forested interior.
Meanwhile, a joint effort with Brazil is under way to upgrade and pave
the narrow, rugged belt of road that traverses the country from the
capital, Georgetown, to the south. The highway would give the
northeastern Brazilian province of Roraima, on the cusp of a boom in
timber, tourism and mining, convenient access to Guyana's deep-water
coastal port for shipping. But it would also dramatically transform the
Guyanese frontier, reducing travel times, improving safety and opening
its hinterland for future development, sustainable or otherwise.
For the time being, though, the clay-packed road still dyes everything
that travels over it an ochre red. In the Iwokrama Forest Reserve, Ron
Allicock stands in the back of a pickup truck sloshing along that
artery after a rainstorm, its spray staining clothing and skin.
Mr. Allicock is a birding guide from the Iwokrama field station and
Bradford Allicock's nephew. As the truck speeds beneath the
outstretched canopy of green, he identifies the many birds circling or
darting overhead - red-billed toucans, jabiru storks, king vultures.
Jaguars occasionally survey the road through a crack in the forest
wall, like sentries of its stunning biological diversity.
The forest and its waterways harbour arapaima, the world's largest
freshwater fish, and endangered species such as the giant river otter,
black caimans, giant river turtles and the rare harpy eagle - the
strongest and most efficient avian predator.
Mr. Jagdeo has said he would like Iwokrama to serve as the model for
the rest of Guyana's standing rain forest.
Mr. Allicock is a product of Iwokrama's commitment to Amerindian
development and stewardship. The studious-looking 29-year-old, a native
of Surama Village, is part of a process that begins with children's
nature clubs and continues with opportunities in ranger training,
guiding and forest management.
"When the researchers first came," he says, "they needed people to help
them find the birds, the mammals, the fish, whatever they were looking
for. I never realized that 10 years later that's what I would be doing
with my life. And that I could make money from it."
The million-acre reserve has grown into an internationally recognized
research station and slowly nurtured an ecotourism business that
attracts about 1,000 visitors a year, many of them birders. It is home
to 16 Amerindian communities that are directly involved in the
reserve's management and economic initiatives.
While Iwokrama received substantial foreign funding in the decade after
its inception in 1989, it has struggled in recent years as donor
agencies have prioritized funds away from the environment and toward
poverty reduction and HIV/AIDS initiatives. When it recently started a
sustainable logging operation within the reserve, it was greeted with
shock. But Mr. Gobin insists Iwokrama was never intended to be purely
an act of conservation - it was an experiment in sustainable
development.
It appears to be an intriguing model for other countries. Partly in
thanks to the reserve, local Amerindian communities collaborate on
business initiatives. But sustainable development is costly. It
requires investment in training, capacity building and proper
extraction techniques.
Iwokrama's small logging operation is trying to secure Forest
Stewardship Council certification, which requires social and
environmental measures that will put its lumber above the world market
price. If it succeeds, it will be the only FSC-compliant timber
operation in Guyana. But there starts the challenge - finding buyers
willing to pay extra for knowing where the wood came from.
A fair trade?
But there is another worry, one that goes to the heart of the
mechanisms being contemplated in the battle against climate change.
Last April, the arrival of Swedish-British businessman Johan Eliasch in
Georgetown triggered speculation about what was in store for Guyana's
rain forest. The owner of the sporting goods manufacturer Head and an
adviser to the British Conservative Party on environmental issues, Mr.
Eliasch turned heads in 2006 when he purchased 400,000 acres of Amazon
rain forest in Brazil from a logging company.
The transaction, he insisted, was purely in the interests of
conservation. But critics have pointed to his support for
carbon-trading markets and suggested he could stand to gain
financially. According to Mr. Wheeler, the British High Commissioner,
talks between his office and the Guyanese government on avoided
deforestation began shortly after Mr. Eliasch's visit, including
discussion of carbon markets.
There are questions, though, about the efficacy of using a market-based
mechanism to reduce emissions. The system enables companies to gain
credits when they reduce emissions or invest in green-technology
projects. They can also buy credits from others. The credits can be
used to gain leeway to exceed legal emissions limits in other
operations. The system has high-profile supporters, including the World
Bank and Conservation International.
The final Bali communiqué emphasized using the carbon market as a
source of financing for avoided deforestation and alternative
development. The fact that it does not require large investments by
governments certainly makes it politically expedient.
"We have a problem that has been called the greatest market failure man
has ever known, namely climate change, and the major solution being put
forward to address this solution is a market solution," says Daphne
Wysham of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington. "The forest
becomes a commodity you can buy and sell. It's a market in hot air, an
invisible gas that no one can completely ensure is doing what it's
supposed to be doing."
While talk of putting forests on the carbon market is relatively new,
Ms. Wysham has been tracking how the scheme is working in other areas.
She says the markets are typically riddled with "perverse incentives"
that encourage dirty industries to play the system.
Coal-fired plants in India, for example, earn credits for producing
cinderblocks from its waste fly ash, because they are reducing
emissions that would otherwise be created by firing clay bricks in a
kiln. Credits are also earned from diverting the highly toxic fly ash
from dumps. In this case, the market only encourages the power plants
to use more coal to make more cinderblock.
"People think of regulation and command and control as this bogeyman,"
Ms. Wysham says. "But governments can be more efficient and more
involved and more targeted than a free market in something like
carbon."
Mr. Corbin, the Guyanese opposition leader, says he has been approached
in the past by British businessmen about his country's willingness to
put its rain forest on the carbon market. He doubts such schemes will
help Guyana.
"I think that we would be more concerned about the bottom line of such
programs," he says. "Whether the people of Guyana and the country will
derive some benefit from the lack of utilization of our forest
resources. ... Will the people of Guyana still suffer because the whole
process has been subjected to the old market forces of trade? I'm very
skeptical when it becomes just a matter of trading. The question of
Guyana's environment, global warming and rising sea levels become
secondary to people making money."
Toronto writer Christopher Frey's book Broken Atlas: The Secret Life of
Globalization is due in 2009.
Guyana's modest proposal
The Globe and Mail
A South American president surprised his people when he offered to let
foreign conservationists manage rain forests in return for aid. A new
way to reconcile development and the environment, or a new
eco-colonialism? Christopher Frey reports
CHRISTOPHER FREY
January 19, 2008
FAIRVIEW, GUYANA -- It's the first time anyone has asked Bradford
Allicock his opinion about the bold new plan for the rain forest he
calls home. Late last year, Guyana's President, Bharrat Jagdeo, told
Britain that he would turn over environmental management of the forests
in return for aid and investment. A month later, the first journalists
and TV cameras arrive in Fairview, the Amerindian village where Mr.
Allicock is the toshau (village captain).
Stepping away from the Pentecostal service occurring in the shade
beneath his stilt-raised house, he says he first heard about the offer
in the media. Locally, there has been talk about carbon offsets and
carbon sinks. Even though his people weren't consulted, he welcomes Mr.
Jagdeo's proposal, saying it is better than the alternative.
"I see the footage of what the big timber companies are doing other
places in Guyana. And I've spoken with other communities who've shared
their bad experiences. Our forest is still here. It's still standing.
So let's ensure the future generations will benefit."
Mr. Jagdeo's offer surprised everyone. Describing the rain forest as a
"global asset in the fight against climate change," he appealed to the
British government and non-governmental organizations to assist Guyana
in safeguarding it through bilateral investments in conservation and
sustainable development.
Poor nations need to be compensated for the economic costs of avoided
deforestation (the political term for such forest protection), he
argued. They need technology transfers to help build a green economy.
With his country's standing rain forest as eco-collateral, he wants to
be paid not to follow the same path that made the developed world
wealthy.
It could become a test case for how the world deals with the conflict
between economic growth and environmental responsibility in developing
countries. Critics worry that Guyana's model might undermine the
sovereignty of struggling countries and engender a new form of
colonialism in which poor nations hand over crucial decisions about
their future in return for a cheque.
Meanwhile, rich governments will be looking to the emerging
carbon-credit markets to help finance such schemes, even though it has
not yet been proved to reduce greenhouse emissions.
English-speaking Guyana still possesses 50 million acres of virgin rain
forest, part of the Guiana Shield that reaches into Venezuela,
Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil. It is among the four largest
tropical rain forests on Earth still relatively intact.
Mr. Jagdeo's proposition came sandwiched between Sir Nicholas Stern's
landmark report on climate change in early November - which recommended
avoided deforestation as an inexpensive step toward climate stability -
and the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, convened to
begin negotiations on a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol.
Limits to deforestation were not included in Kyoto, although cutting of
tropical forests accounts for 20 per cent of greenhouse-gas increases
(second only to the energy industry). The final communiqué at Bali
talked of exploring "policy measures and positive incentives" to
encourage avoided deforestation.
How is Britain reacting to Mr. Jagdeo's proposal? According to Fraser
Wheeler, the British High Commissioner in Guyana, "We're looking at it
and we're very interested."
In the country whose rain forests are at issue, however, the proposal
has been met with mixed confusion, scorn and cautious support. Guyana's
politics are notoriously polarized - allegiances are often tied to
race, and a legacy of corruption ensures a strong dose of public
skepticism. The government has yet to fully explain its plan through a
discussion paper or convene a meeting of stakeholders.
Local loggers and the large Malaysian and Chinese-owned forestry
companies want to know what it means for their existing concessions.
And while much of Guyana's standing forest may be uncut, it is part of
a vast, largely unpoliced frontier.
The opposition is especially rankled at the president's decision to
appeal exclusively to the U.K., Guyana's former colonial master, rather
than pursue a multilateral approach. Even advocates for conservation
have expressed disappointment that there was no public consultation
first.
Robert Corbin, the leader of the opposition People's National Congress
Reform, has likened the direct pitch to Britain as a return to
colonialism. He calls the deal "a new form of serfdom in the 21st
century."
But Dane Gobin, acting director of the organization that manages the
Iwokrama Forest Reserve, presently Guyana's most prominent protected
area, says there were pragmatic reasons to approach Britain as a
partner - the U.K. has been one of the leading movers of debt relief
for developing countries, its consumers are perceived as pioneers of
fair-trade shopping and London has already become the world centre for
the carbon-trading market.
Mr. Gobin even sees the lack of consultation in a positive light. "I
think it might have been strategic in terms of dropping a bombshell, in
that it raises immediate awareness," he says. "The media is coming
here, so Guyana is getting huge mileage from it."
The red road
This talk of avoided deforestation, and achieving value from it,
arrives at a critical juncture in Guyana's development. With 90 per
cent of its 750,000 people living along the Atlantic coastline, there
is little population pressure on the rain forest. But the globalizing
world economy is another matter. Transnational logging, mining, gas and
oil companies are increasingly turning their attention to the resources
locked away in the country's densely forested interior.
Meanwhile, a joint effort with Brazil is under way to upgrade and pave
the narrow, rugged belt of road that traverses the country from the
capital, Georgetown, to the south. The highway would give the
northeastern Brazilian province of Roraima, on the cusp of a boom in
timber, tourism and mining, convenient access to Guyana's deep-water
coastal port for shipping. But it would also dramatically transform the
Guyanese frontier, reducing travel times, improving safety and opening
its hinterland for future development, sustainable or otherwise.
For the time being, though, the clay-packed road still dyes everything
that travels over it an ochre red. In the Iwokrama Forest Reserve, Ron
Allicock stands in the back of a pickup truck sloshing along that
artery after a rainstorm, its spray staining clothing and skin.
Mr. Allicock is a birding guide from the Iwokrama field station and
Bradford Allicock's nephew. As the truck speeds beneath the
outstretched canopy of green, he identifies the many birds circling or
darting overhead - red-billed toucans, jabiru storks, king vultures.
Jaguars occasionally survey the road through a crack in the forest
wall, like sentries of its stunning biological diversity.
The forest and its waterways harbour arapaima, the world's largest
freshwater fish, and endangered species such as the giant river otter,
black caimans, giant river turtles and the rare harpy eagle - the
strongest and most efficient avian predator.
Mr. Jagdeo has said he would like Iwokrama to serve as the model for
the rest of Guyana's standing rain forest.
Mr. Allicock is a product of Iwokrama's commitment to Amerindian
development and stewardship. The studious-looking 29-year-old, a native
of Surama Village, is part of a process that begins with children's
nature clubs and continues with opportunities in ranger training,
guiding and forest management.
"When the researchers first came," he says, "they needed people to help
them find the birds, the mammals, the fish, whatever they were looking
for. I never realized that 10 years later that's what I would be doing
with my life. And that I could make money from it."
The million-acre reserve has grown into an internationally recognized
research station and slowly nurtured an ecotourism business that
attracts about 1,000 visitors a year, many of them birders. It is home
to 16 Amerindian communities that are directly involved in the
reserve's management and economic initiatives.
While Iwokrama received substantial foreign funding in the decade after
its inception in 1989, it has struggled in recent years as donor
agencies have prioritized funds away from the environment and toward
poverty reduction and HIV/AIDS initiatives. When it recently started a
sustainable logging operation within the reserve, it was greeted with
shock. But Mr. Gobin insists Iwokrama was never intended to be purely
an act of conservation - it was an experiment in sustainable
development.
It appears to be an intriguing model for other countries. Partly in
thanks to the reserve, local Amerindian communities collaborate on
business initiatives. But sustainable development is costly. It
requires investment in training, capacity building and proper
extraction techniques.
Iwokrama's small logging operation is trying to secure Forest
Stewardship Council certification, which requires social and
environmental measures that will put its lumber above the world market
price. If it succeeds, it will be the only FSC-compliant timber
operation in Guyana. But there starts the challenge - finding buyers
willing to pay extra for knowing where the wood came from.
A fair trade?
But there is another worry, one that goes to the heart of the
mechanisms being contemplated in the battle against climate change.
Last April, the arrival of Swedish-British businessman Johan Eliasch in
Georgetown triggered speculation about what was in store for Guyana's
rain forest. The owner of the sporting goods manufacturer Head and an
adviser to the British Conservative Party on environmental issues, Mr.
Eliasch turned heads in 2006 when he purchased 400,000 acres of Amazon
rain forest in Brazil from a logging company.
The transaction, he insisted, was purely in the interests of
conservation. But critics have pointed to his support for
carbon-trading markets and suggested he could stand to gain
financially. According to Mr. Wheeler, the British High Commissioner,
talks between his office and the Guyanese government on avoided
deforestation began shortly after Mr. Eliasch's visit, including
discussion of carbon markets.
There are questions, though, about the efficacy of using a market-based
mechanism to reduce emissions. The system enables companies to gain
credits when they reduce emissions or invest in green-technology
projects. They can also buy credits from others. The credits can be
used to gain leeway to exceed legal emissions limits in other
operations. The system has high-profile supporters, including the World
Bank and Conservation International.
The final Bali communiqué emphasized using the carbon market as a
source of financing for avoided deforestation and alternative
development. The fact that it does not require large investments by
governments certainly makes it politically expedient.
"We have a problem that has been called the greatest market failure man
has ever known, namely climate change, and the major solution being put
forward to address this solution is a market solution," says Daphne
Wysham of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington. "The forest
becomes a commodity you can buy and sell. It's a market in hot air, an
invisible gas that no one can completely ensure is doing what it's
supposed to be doing."
While talk of putting forests on the carbon market is relatively new,
Ms. Wysham has been tracking how the scheme is working in other areas.
She says the markets are typically riddled with "perverse incentives"
that encourage dirty industries to play the system.
Coal-fired plants in India, for example, earn credits for producing
cinderblocks from its waste fly ash, because they are reducing
emissions that would otherwise be created by firing clay bricks in a
kiln. Credits are also earned from diverting the highly toxic fly ash
from dumps. In this case, the market only encourages the power plants
to use more coal to make more cinderblock.
"People think of regulation and command and control as this bogeyman,"
Ms. Wysham says. "But governments can be more efficient and more
involved and more targeted than a free market in something like
carbon."
Mr. Corbin, the Guyanese opposition leader, says he has been approached
in the past by British businessmen about his country's willingness to
put its rain forest on the carbon market. He doubts such schemes will
help Guyana.
"I think that we would be more concerned about the bottom line of such
programs," he says. "Whether the people of Guyana and the country will
derive some benefit from the lack of utilization of our forest
resources. ... Will the people of Guyana still suffer because the whole
process has been subjected to the old market forces of trade? I'm very
skeptical when it becomes just a matter of trading. The question of
Guyana's environment, global warming and rising sea levels become
secondary to people making money."
Toronto writer Christopher Frey's book Broken Atlas: The Secret Life of
Globalization is due in 2009.
US$20M more for world conservation activities
http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56537235
US$20M more for world conservation activities
Stabroek News, Saturday, January 19th 2008
Conservation International (CI) was recently the beneficiary of US$20
million in new funds from the World Bank through the Global Environment
Facility (GEF) to protect some of the world's unique and threatened
areas, including island ecosystems and temperate forests, a release
said.
And while it is not clear in what way CI Guyana would benefit from the
fund, Ajay Baksh of the local organisation said that it would benefit
directly or indirectly. He pointed out that the Guyana arm and the
world body work in tandem and as such benefits would more than likely
trickle down. He also said that in the past CI Guyana has benefited
directly from monies provided by the GEF.
According to the release, the funds would be made available as grants
for projects undertaken by the non-governmental community, and private
sector organisations though the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
(CEPF), which is administered by CI.
The release said that the new funding brings the total GEF commitment
to the CEPF to US$45 million. The money, the release said, is pooled
with contributions from CI and other global leaders in the partnership
to create a biodiversity fund that unites expertise and resources to
safeguard the hotspots. The biodiversity hotspots are home to more than
half of all terrestrial plants and animals, as well as more than 1.8
billion people who are highly dependent on healthy lands for their
livelihoods and well-being.
At least 10 hotpots will receive CEPF funding for the first time, and
grants will also help consolidate gains made in other hotspots that
received previous CEPF investments. Other partners in the area are the
French Development Agency, the Government of Japan, the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank.
US$20M more for world conservation activities
Stabroek News, Saturday, January 19th 2008
Conservation International (CI) was recently the beneficiary of US$20
million in new funds from the World Bank through the Global Environment
Facility (GEF) to protect some of the world's unique and threatened
areas, including island ecosystems and temperate forests, a release
said.
And while it is not clear in what way CI Guyana would benefit from the
fund, Ajay Baksh of the local organisation said that it would benefit
directly or indirectly. He pointed out that the Guyana arm and the
world body work in tandem and as such benefits would more than likely
trickle down. He also said that in the past CI Guyana has benefited
directly from monies provided by the GEF.
According to the release, the funds would be made available as grants
for projects undertaken by the non-governmental community, and private
sector organisations though the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
(CEPF), which is administered by CI.
The release said that the new funding brings the total GEF commitment
to the CEPF to US$45 million. The money, the release said, is pooled
with contributions from CI and other global leaders in the partnership
to create a biodiversity fund that unites expertise and resources to
safeguard the hotspots. The biodiversity hotspots are home to more than
half of all terrestrial plants and animals, as well as more than 1.8
billion people who are highly dependent on healthy lands for their
livelihoods and well-being.
At least 10 hotpots will receive CEPF funding for the first time, and
grants will also help consolidate gains made in other hotspots that
received previous CEPF investments. Other partners in the area are the
French Development Agency, the Government of Japan, the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank.
The year for Climate Change
The year for Climate Change
Guyana Chronicle Editorial, 19 January 2008
Last year saw a phenomenal surge in the popularity of climate change
issues, on the local as well as global levels. After years of fighting
an uphill battle to get their message out, those who have been sounding
the alarms over climate change can virtually just sit back and let the
weather speak for itself. The most significant victory of course was
the Nobel Prize awarded to former US Vice President Al Gore and the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Locally, the Jagdeo Initiative on Climate Change – with its generous
offer of Guyana's standing rainforests as a sort of global warming
insurance policy – underscored some bold initiatives on the local
front, one example being the formation of a National Climate Change
Committee.
Local commitment to fighting the effects of global warming cannot be
overstressed in a country, the majority of which population exists
along a coastal belt barely protected by an often porous stone wall;
and a significant portion of which economy is built on agricultural
activity on the coast as well.And while the effects of climate change
may be felt most profoundly on the coast, global warming has serious
implications for our inland areas as well – there truly is no safe zone
when every single factor is considered.
Regionally also, Guyana is increasingly tying its economic activities
into a framework – the CARICOM Single Market Economy – in which the
majority of the other members are small island developing states (SIDS)
vulnerable to the ravages of an increasingly hostile planet.The
devastation visited upon Grenada by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 is proof
enough of the effect that climate change can have on the region.The
generosity of Guyana's response, along with that of the rest of
CARICOM, in the wake of that disaster was indeed admirable but is not
something that can be sustained if global warming continues unabated.
We simply do not possess the sort of resources to be engaged in
constantly rebuilding.Indeed no one does, as the economic hardship
caused by Katrina's impact on the America city of New Orleans proves.
It is not simply a matter of throwing money at the problem.While the
amount of dollars available for disaster management and reconstruction
may be a factor in mitigating the effects of the devastation caused by
floods and hurricanes and whatever other way Nature manifests its
wrath, if the CO2 emissions which are the root causes of climate change
continue unchecked, there is going to come a time when humanity's
ability to deal with the effects of global warming will be overwhelmed
to the point where money is irrelevant.If the current patterns are
anything to judge by, that time may come sooner than later.
Guyana Chronicle Editorial, 19 January 2008
Last year saw a phenomenal surge in the popularity of climate change
issues, on the local as well as global levels. After years of fighting
an uphill battle to get their message out, those who have been sounding
the alarms over climate change can virtually just sit back and let the
weather speak for itself. The most significant victory of course was
the Nobel Prize awarded to former US Vice President Al Gore and the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Locally, the Jagdeo Initiative on Climate Change – with its generous
offer of Guyana's standing rainforests as a sort of global warming
insurance policy – underscored some bold initiatives on the local
front, one example being the formation of a National Climate Change
Committee.
Local commitment to fighting the effects of global warming cannot be
overstressed in a country, the majority of which population exists
along a coastal belt barely protected by an often porous stone wall;
and a significant portion of which economy is built on agricultural
activity on the coast as well.And while the effects of climate change
may be felt most profoundly on the coast, global warming has serious
implications for our inland areas as well – there truly is no safe zone
when every single factor is considered.
Regionally also, Guyana is increasingly tying its economic activities
into a framework – the CARICOM Single Market Economy – in which the
majority of the other members are small island developing states (SIDS)
vulnerable to the ravages of an increasingly hostile planet.The
devastation visited upon Grenada by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 is proof
enough of the effect that climate change can have on the region.The
generosity of Guyana's response, along with that of the rest of
CARICOM, in the wake of that disaster was indeed admirable but is not
something that can be sustained if global warming continues unabated.
We simply do not possess the sort of resources to be engaged in
constantly rebuilding.Indeed no one does, as the economic hardship
caused by Katrina's impact on the America city of New Orleans proves.
It is not simply a matter of throwing money at the problem.While the
amount of dollars available for disaster management and reconstruction
may be a factor in mitigating the effects of the devastation caused by
floods and hurricanes and whatever other way Nature manifests its
wrath, if the CO2 emissions which are the root causes of climate change
continue unchecked, there is going to come a time when humanity's
ability to deal with the effects of global warming will be overwhelmed
to the point where money is irrelevant.If the current patterns are
anything to judge by, that time may come sooner than later.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Guyana's ambassador refutes Venezuelan allegation
Guyana's ambassador refutes Venezuelan allegation
Kaieteur News, 16 January 2008
Guyana's Ambassador to Venezuela, Dr Odeen Ishmael, yesterday clarified
for Venezuelans that Guyana was not giving Britain more influence in
the southern part of the country but, rather, that the land is proposed
for the fight against climate change.
Venezuela is laying claim to Guyana's western territory, which is also
home to the forest conservation efforts.
Dr Ishmael's comments were aired on American Voice Radio Network in New
York during a programme that was anchored by Venezuelan-born John
Sanchez (from San Cristobal).
It involved the participation of VHeadline editor Roy S. Carson.
Dr Ishmael told the panelists that Jagdeo did go to Britain and made a
statement in which he was encouraging that country, along with other
developed countries, to engage in the environmental and sustainable
development of the forested areas, and that Britain was interested.
He emphasised that it was not a matter of Britain seeking a policy of
greater influence in the southern region of the country.
“Of course we want them to be interested, because we want them to
inject some funds,” said Dr Ishmael.
According to Dr Ishmael, Guyana was working along the lines of not
having the forests systematically destroyed.
“We want to protect them and have the people living here to have
economic benefits without damaging the forests.”
Kaieteur News, 16 January 2008
Guyana's Ambassador to Venezuela, Dr Odeen Ishmael, yesterday clarified
for Venezuelans that Guyana was not giving Britain more influence in
the southern part of the country but, rather, that the land is proposed
for the fight against climate change.
Venezuela is laying claim to Guyana's western territory, which is also
home to the forest conservation efforts.
Dr Ishmael's comments were aired on American Voice Radio Network in New
York during a programme that was anchored by Venezuelan-born John
Sanchez (from San Cristobal).
It involved the participation of VHeadline editor Roy S. Carson.
Dr Ishmael told the panelists that Jagdeo did go to Britain and made a
statement in which he was encouraging that country, along with other
developed countries, to engage in the environmental and sustainable
development of the forested areas, and that Britain was interested.
He emphasised that it was not a matter of Britain seeking a policy of
greater influence in the southern region of the country.
“Of course we want them to be interested, because we want them to
inject some funds,” said Dr Ishmael.
According to Dr Ishmael, Guyana was working along the lines of not
having the forests systematically destroyed.
“We want to protect them and have the people living here to have
economic benefits without damaging the forests.”
No forest harvesting without operation plans – GFC
No forest harvesting without operation plans – GFC
Kaieteur News, 16 January 2008
No logging company is allowed to harvest any forest for this year
unless they submit their Annual Plan of Operations to the Guyana
Forestry Commission (GFC).
This plan has to be submitted with supporting inventory information for
approval by the GFC before authorised harvesting can take place.
This is also applicable to all holders of active Timber Sales
Agreements (TSA) and Wood Cutting Leases (WCL).
In a public notice, the GFC announced that any breach by companies will
result in appropriate action being taken against them.
Failure to submit the Forest Management Plan and Annual Plan of
Operation will result in operations being temporarily suspended.
Speaking with Kaieteur News yesterday, Public Relations Officer, Jaime
Hall, said that the Commission does have a degree of flexibility with
some concessionaries.
He noted that if companies cannot submit the entire document on time
then they can go into the Forestry Commission and have a discussion on
the issue rather than not submitting it at all.
Forest Management Plans should follow a three- to five-year period and
must be approved prior to the submission of Annual Plans of Operation.
Hall noted yesterday that to ensure that companies are complying with
the requirements, officers at forest stations across the country
monitor the operations.
There are 21 forest stations within the country, he noted. Officers
from those stations, he added, are tasked with the responsibility to
ensure that all the forestry guidelines are carried out.
GFC is also advising all persons transporting forest produce to ensure
that reflective triangles or other such clearly distinguishable signs
are prominently displayed on vehicles and other forms of transport at
all times.
The Forestry Commission also announced that all unused tags for 2007
must be returned.
Companies are required to submit to the GFC, the volume and number of
pieces of produce on the ground together with the tags used on this
produce.
Permission will then be granted to remove only this produce in 2008 as
production from 2007.
Kaieteur News, 16 January 2008
No logging company is allowed to harvest any forest for this year
unless they submit their Annual Plan of Operations to the Guyana
Forestry Commission (GFC).
This plan has to be submitted with supporting inventory information for
approval by the GFC before authorised harvesting can take place.
This is also applicable to all holders of active Timber Sales
Agreements (TSA) and Wood Cutting Leases (WCL).
In a public notice, the GFC announced that any breach by companies will
result in appropriate action being taken against them.
Failure to submit the Forest Management Plan and Annual Plan of
Operation will result in operations being temporarily suspended.
Speaking with Kaieteur News yesterday, Public Relations Officer, Jaime
Hall, said that the Commission does have a degree of flexibility with
some concessionaries.
He noted that if companies cannot submit the entire document on time
then they can go into the Forestry Commission and have a discussion on
the issue rather than not submitting it at all.
Forest Management Plans should follow a three- to five-year period and
must be approved prior to the submission of Annual Plans of Operation.
Hall noted yesterday that to ensure that companies are complying with
the requirements, officers at forest stations across the country
monitor the operations.
There are 21 forest stations within the country, he noted. Officers
from those stations, he added, are tasked with the responsibility to
ensure that all the forestry guidelines are carried out.
GFC is also advising all persons transporting forest produce to ensure
that reflective triangles or other such clearly distinguishable signs
are prominently displayed on vehicles and other forms of transport at
all times.
The Forestry Commission also announced that all unused tags for 2007
must be returned.
Companies are required to submit to the GFC, the volume and number of
pieces of produce on the ground together with the tags used on this
produce.
Permission will then be granted to remove only this produce in 2008 as
production from 2007.
Forestry sector eyeing more value-added production - Exports grow by almost US$20M in last two years
Forestry sector eyeing more value-added production - Exports grow by
almost US$20M in last two years
Kaieteur News, 16 January 2008
Focus continues to be placed on sustainable management, utilization,
and development of the forestry sector as key stakeholders are engaged
in discussions on the role and operations of the Forest Product
Marketing Council of Guyana (FPMC).
The FPMC was established in December 2005 by Government, based on
recommendations by the International Tropical Timber Organisation
(ITTO), after a diagnostic review of the forestry sector was conducted
in 2002. The review, which was done at the request of Government,
highlighted the need to boost marketing capabilities of forest products
to increase vibrancy of the sector.
The Council was established to co-ordinate marketing activities,
provide advice on the types of wood in demand, and address and explore
lesser used species. A Board of Directors was appointed and a five-year
operational work plan was prepared.
During the first in a series of consultations held yesterday at the
Guyana Forestry Commission's (GFC) Boardroom, Kingston, Georgetown,
discussions focused on the Council's performance during the past two
years, its weaknesses and strengths, and the way forward for the FPMC.
Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud, officials of FPMC, the Guyana
Forestry Commission (GFC), including Commissioner James Singh, Guyana
Manufacturers Association (GMA), Forest Producers Association (FPA) and
forest products exporters were among those present at the session.
Minister Persaud highlighted the consultative approach taken with
regard to the Council's operations over the past two years and its
continued functioning, which is being discussed with all stakeholders.
“The forestry sector is undergoing changes, and we are looking at the
issues closely and are keeping our partners au fait with these changes.
This will continue and a lot of emphasis will be placed on value-added
production,” the Minister said.
He noted that FMPC was developed to guide the industry to take
advantage of the marketing opportunities, and in continuing its work,
focus must be placed on areas that need addressing. These include
marketing of lesser-used species, the perception that some companies
are given preference by the FMPC as against others, and the current
operating arrangement of the Council.
It was pointed out that this should be considered, taking into account
that the FPMC is funded solely by Government, with assistance from
several projects and agencies. Stakeholders were called upon to ensure
greater collaboration to address some of the challenges facing the
Council.
FPMC's Director, Luvindra Sukraj, reported success in the Council's
operations, evidenced by the increase in exports of forest products,
with earnings moving from US$43M in 2005 to US$61.5M in 2007, the year
in which there was a reduction in the export of logs.
In addition, the Council has attended to almost all of the areas
outlined in the business plan, including exposure for value-added
production and understanding the use and promotion of lesser-used wood
species. Another area of emphasis was training in areas such as timber
grading and saw-doctoring, while focus was placed on product
development and utilisation of lesser-used wood species.
Getting the industry ready by improving the product line to meet market
requirements, and legal and sustainable verification were also
addressed. To date, the Legal Verification System (LVS) has been
developed and is awaiting the necessary operational plans to be put in
place for implementation.
Arising from yesterday's consultations, a working group has been
established and is required to brief Minister Persaud on the
discussions within the next three weeks. The consultations will
continue to ensure that the views and recommendations of all
stakeholders are included.
The forestry sector contributes about six percent to the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP), employs about 25,000 persons, and plays a key role in
the country's development, particularly in the rural and hinterland
communities where forestry activities generate income for many
households and contribute to the national economy.
almost US$20M in last two years
Kaieteur News, 16 January 2008
Focus continues to be placed on sustainable management, utilization,
and development of the forestry sector as key stakeholders are engaged
in discussions on the role and operations of the Forest Product
Marketing Council of Guyana (FPMC).
The FPMC was established in December 2005 by Government, based on
recommendations by the International Tropical Timber Organisation
(ITTO), after a diagnostic review of the forestry sector was conducted
in 2002. The review, which was done at the request of Government,
highlighted the need to boost marketing capabilities of forest products
to increase vibrancy of the sector.
The Council was established to co-ordinate marketing activities,
provide advice on the types of wood in demand, and address and explore
lesser used species. A Board of Directors was appointed and a five-year
operational work plan was prepared.
During the first in a series of consultations held yesterday at the
Guyana Forestry Commission's (GFC) Boardroom, Kingston, Georgetown,
discussions focused on the Council's performance during the past two
years, its weaknesses and strengths, and the way forward for the FPMC.
Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud, officials of FPMC, the Guyana
Forestry Commission (GFC), including Commissioner James Singh, Guyana
Manufacturers Association (GMA), Forest Producers Association (FPA) and
forest products exporters were among those present at the session.
Minister Persaud highlighted the consultative approach taken with
regard to the Council's operations over the past two years and its
continued functioning, which is being discussed with all stakeholders.
“The forestry sector is undergoing changes, and we are looking at the
issues closely and are keeping our partners au fait with these changes.
This will continue and a lot of emphasis will be placed on value-added
production,” the Minister said.
He noted that FMPC was developed to guide the industry to take
advantage of the marketing opportunities, and in continuing its work,
focus must be placed on areas that need addressing. These include
marketing of lesser-used species, the perception that some companies
are given preference by the FMPC as against others, and the current
operating arrangement of the Council.
It was pointed out that this should be considered, taking into account
that the FPMC is funded solely by Government, with assistance from
several projects and agencies. Stakeholders were called upon to ensure
greater collaboration to address some of the challenges facing the
Council.
FPMC's Director, Luvindra Sukraj, reported success in the Council's
operations, evidenced by the increase in exports of forest products,
with earnings moving from US$43M in 2005 to US$61.5M in 2007, the year
in which there was a reduction in the export of logs.
In addition, the Council has attended to almost all of the areas
outlined in the business plan, including exposure for value-added
production and understanding the use and promotion of lesser-used wood
species. Another area of emphasis was training in areas such as timber
grading and saw-doctoring, while focus was placed on product
development and utilisation of lesser-used wood species.
Getting the industry ready by improving the product line to meet market
requirements, and legal and sustainable verification were also
addressed. To date, the Legal Verification System (LVS) has been
developed and is awaiting the necessary operational plans to be put in
place for implementation.
Arising from yesterday's consultations, a working group has been
established and is required to brief Minister Persaud on the
discussions within the next three weeks. The consultations will
continue to ensure that the views and recommendations of all
stakeholders are included.
The forestry sector contributes about six percent to the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP), employs about 25,000 persons, and plays a key role in
the country's development, particularly in the rural and hinterland
communities where forestry activities generate income for many
households and contribute to the national economy.
Health Ministry boasts significant reduction in reported malaria cases
Health Ministry boasts significant reduction in reported malaria cases
Kaieteur News, 16 January 2008
The sustained efforts by the Health Ministry to curb the scourge of
malaria have resulted in a significant reduction in the number of
reported cases last year.
According to Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, his Ministry had, for
2007, established a target of less than 15,000 cases, and this was
achieved with a total of 10,829 cases being recorded.
This development, the Minister said, surpassed the Ministry's
expectations. He added that the proposed target for this year has now
become inapplicable.
In 2006, the proposed target which was established for 2008 was 12,000
cases, but, according to the Minister, it is now anticipated that it
would be less than 8,000 cases, a feat he has no doubt will be
accomplished.
The Health Minister commended the support of donor agencies and the
efforts of those who contributed in one way or another towards the
success of the malaria programme.
He noted that the evidence of the reduction of the prevalence of the
disease should be reason enough for those in the health sector to feel
a sense of pride.
Dr Ramsammy added, though, that health workers must be reminded that
although the current figure stands at 10,000 cases, they should strive
towards achieving even better results.
While the overall figure for the country has been reduced, the Minister
bemoaned the fact that the highest incidence - 42 per cent of the
recorded cases - came from Region Seven. The Minister described this as
unacceptable, since that particular region and Region Eight are the two
areas to which the most resources are directed.
For this reason, Dr. Ramsammy emphasised, health workers will have to
redouble their efforts this year, particularly in Region Seven.
However, according to Malaria Programme Director Dr Indal Rambajan,
reducing the incidence of malaria in Region Seven is no simple task.
He explained that, while it is hard enough trying to divulge
information to miners and other individuals, some of the areas there
are virtually inaccessible.
The Programme Director assured that, despite the odds, there would be a
concerted effort to address the situation.
Kaieteur News, 16 January 2008
The sustained efforts by the Health Ministry to curb the scourge of
malaria have resulted in a significant reduction in the number of
reported cases last year.
According to Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, his Ministry had, for
2007, established a target of less than 15,000 cases, and this was
achieved with a total of 10,829 cases being recorded.
This development, the Minister said, surpassed the Ministry's
expectations. He added that the proposed target for this year has now
become inapplicable.
In 2006, the proposed target which was established for 2008 was 12,000
cases, but, according to the Minister, it is now anticipated that it
would be less than 8,000 cases, a feat he has no doubt will be
accomplished.
The Health Minister commended the support of donor agencies and the
efforts of those who contributed in one way or another towards the
success of the malaria programme.
He noted that the evidence of the reduction of the prevalence of the
disease should be reason enough for those in the health sector to feel
a sense of pride.
Dr Ramsammy added, though, that health workers must be reminded that
although the current figure stands at 10,000 cases, they should strive
towards achieving even better results.
While the overall figure for the country has been reduced, the Minister
bemoaned the fact that the highest incidence - 42 per cent of the
recorded cases - came from Region Seven. The Minister described this as
unacceptable, since that particular region and Region Eight are the two
areas to which the most resources are directed.
For this reason, Dr. Ramsammy emphasised, health workers will have to
redouble their efforts this year, particularly in Region Seven.
However, according to Malaria Programme Director Dr Indal Rambajan,
reducing the incidence of malaria in Region Seven is no simple task.
He explained that, while it is hard enough trying to divulge
information to miners and other individuals, some of the areas there
are virtually inaccessible.
The Programme Director assured that, despite the odds, there would be a
concerted effort to address the situation.
Health Ministry aims to eliminate malaria and TB
Health Ministry aims to eliminate malaria and TB
Guyana Chronicle, 16 January 2008
A two-day workshop sponsored by Global Fund on the monitoring and
evaluation of malaria and tuberculosis (TB), was yesterday declared
open by Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy.
During the opening session, the minister stressed that his Ministry has
ambitious goals for programmes such as these and signalled that efforts
will be redoubled to further reduce the spread of the diseases.
Dr. Ramsammy pointed out that Guyana exceeded the target for malaria
reduction in 2007 and he has no doubt that Guyana will again achieve
the target for this year. He stated that this is not something to
celebrate, but rather to work further to not have any report on malaria
and tuberculosis in Guyana.
The minister said that the real objective is that Guyana should not
have any malaria and TB cases, because tools for preventing both
diseases are available in Guyana. He said 2008 will see a dramatic
reduction of TB and malaria.
“Our goal should be that we do not have to record TB and Malaria in our
country and everyone should get involved and stop TB and malaria,” Dr.
Ramsammy emphasised.
According to the minister, the highest number of malaria cases were
recorded in Region 7(Cuyuni/Mazaruni) and added that there must be a
more aggressive approach to reduce the cases in 2008. He further stated
that it is unacceptable that the region where there is most resources
has the most malaria cases.
“If we tackle this then we would have no problem in reducing malaria
cases in Guyana. The monitoring and evaluation programme is a very
significant programme for Guyana. We have to ensure that both malaria
and TB cases have relevant information and know that the people are
given treatment. The health system must ensure that the end result of
being cured is achieved. We must therefore create this confidence in
people,” Dr. Ramsammy exhorted.
Also present at the opening ceremony of the workshop was the Director
of the Health Sector Development Unit (HSDU), Mr. Keith Burrowes, who
noted that the workshop is to further strengthen the capacity of work
that is currently being done. He said the venture aims at producing
quality data for decision making. He also urged the participants to
further enhance their skills.
The facilitators of the workshop are Mr. Ron Mataya from the University
of Loma Linda, USA and Mr. Yamil Silva from PAHO/WHO. (Nathalene
DeFreitas)
Guyana Chronicle, 16 January 2008
A two-day workshop sponsored by Global Fund on the monitoring and
evaluation of malaria and tuberculosis (TB), was yesterday declared
open by Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy.
During the opening session, the minister stressed that his Ministry has
ambitious goals for programmes such as these and signalled that efforts
will be redoubled to further reduce the spread of the diseases.
Dr. Ramsammy pointed out that Guyana exceeded the target for malaria
reduction in 2007 and he has no doubt that Guyana will again achieve
the target for this year. He stated that this is not something to
celebrate, but rather to work further to not have any report on malaria
and tuberculosis in Guyana.
The minister said that the real objective is that Guyana should not
have any malaria and TB cases, because tools for preventing both
diseases are available in Guyana. He said 2008 will see a dramatic
reduction of TB and malaria.
“Our goal should be that we do not have to record TB and Malaria in our
country and everyone should get involved and stop TB and malaria,” Dr.
Ramsammy emphasised.
According to the minister, the highest number of malaria cases were
recorded in Region 7(Cuyuni/Mazaruni) and added that there must be a
more aggressive approach to reduce the cases in 2008. He further stated
that it is unacceptable that the region where there is most resources
has the most malaria cases.
“If we tackle this then we would have no problem in reducing malaria
cases in Guyana. The monitoring and evaluation programme is a very
significant programme for Guyana. We have to ensure that both malaria
and TB cases have relevant information and know that the people are
given treatment. The health system must ensure that the end result of
being cured is achieved. We must therefore create this confidence in
people,” Dr. Ramsammy exhorted.
Also present at the opening ceremony of the workshop was the Director
of the Health Sector Development Unit (HSDU), Mr. Keith Burrowes, who
noted that the workshop is to further strengthen the capacity of work
that is currently being done. He said the venture aims at producing
quality data for decision making. He also urged the participants to
further enhance their skills.
The facilitators of the workshop are Mr. Ron Mataya from the University
of Loma Linda, USA and Mr. Yamil Silva from PAHO/WHO. (Nathalene
DeFreitas)
Chairpersons of four Special Select Committees elected
Chairpersons of four Special Select Committees elected
Guyana Chronicle, 16 January 2008
THE National Assembly yesterday elected persons to chair four Special
Select Committees.
These include the first Special Select Committee on the Security Sector
Reform (SSR) Action Plan, and the first Special Select Meeting on the
Disciplined Forces Commission --- which will both be chaired by Prime
Minister Samuel Hinds, following two unopposed nominations.
Also elected was Minster of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who was
selected as the chairman of the Special Select Committee on the Report
of the Draft Standing Orders.
Agriculture Minster Robert Persaud was appointed to serve as chairman
on the Select Committee on the Forest Bill 2007.
The nominations were read my Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph
Ramkarran, in the Speaker’s Chamber, Public Buildings Georgetown.
Disciplined Forces Commission
The Disciplined Forces Commission (DFC), which will be chaired by Prime
Minister Hinds, was established to inquire into a wide range of issues,
including pay, training, structures, the need for an
ethnically-balanced police force and the disposition of human rights
complaints, within the Disciplined Forces which included the Guyana
Defence Force (GDF) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
Since its establishment, the DFC has received hundreds of submissions
from various sources, including government officials, non-governmental
organisations and members of the public.
Recently, the Commission had announced that the police needed “urgent,
serious and wide-ranging reform,” a step that will be crucial in
creating a balance among all levels of Guyanese society.
SSR Action Plan
The Security Sector Reform (SSR) Action Plan, is designed to
effectively address the rising concerns within the security sector.
The plan was inked last year between the Government of Guyana and the
British Government through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), and its
Special Select Committee will be chaired by Prime Minister Samuel
Hinds.
The Plan comprises five elements, which include building the
operational capacity of the Guyana Police Force from the provision of a
uniformed response toward serious crime, to forensics, crime
intelligence and traffic policing.
It also intends to strengthen the policy-making process across the
security sector to make it more transparent, effective, and better
coordinated. (Alex Holder)
Guyana Chronicle, 16 January 2008
THE National Assembly yesterday elected persons to chair four Special
Select Committees.
These include the first Special Select Committee on the Security Sector
Reform (SSR) Action Plan, and the first Special Select Meeting on the
Disciplined Forces Commission --- which will both be chaired by Prime
Minister Samuel Hinds, following two unopposed nominations.
Also elected was Minster of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who was
selected as the chairman of the Special Select Committee on the Report
of the Draft Standing Orders.
Agriculture Minster Robert Persaud was appointed to serve as chairman
on the Select Committee on the Forest Bill 2007.
The nominations were read my Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph
Ramkarran, in the Speaker’s Chamber, Public Buildings Georgetown.
Disciplined Forces Commission
The Disciplined Forces Commission (DFC), which will be chaired by Prime
Minister Hinds, was established to inquire into a wide range of issues,
including pay, training, structures, the need for an
ethnically-balanced police force and the disposition of human rights
complaints, within the Disciplined Forces which included the Guyana
Defence Force (GDF) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
Since its establishment, the DFC has received hundreds of submissions
from various sources, including government officials, non-governmental
organisations and members of the public.
Recently, the Commission had announced that the police needed “urgent,
serious and wide-ranging reform,” a step that will be crucial in
creating a balance among all levels of Guyanese society.
SSR Action Plan
The Security Sector Reform (SSR) Action Plan, is designed to
effectively address the rising concerns within the security sector.
The plan was inked last year between the Government of Guyana and the
British Government through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), and its
Special Select Committee will be chaired by Prime Minister Samuel
Hinds.
The Plan comprises five elements, which include building the
operational capacity of the Guyana Police Force from the provision of a
uniformed response toward serious crime, to forensics, crime
intelligence and traffic policing.
It also intends to strengthen the policy-making process across the
security sector to make it more transparent, effective, and better
coordinated. (Alex Holder)
Guyana must take more active role in climate change arena - Bulkan
http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56537062
Guyana must take more active role in climate change arena - Bulkan
Stabroek News, Wednesday, January 16th 2008
Researcher and columnist Janette Bulkan believes Guyana must take a
more active role in presenting its case with respect to climate change
if it wants to be taken seriously on the world stage.
In a letter to Stabroek News recently, Bulkan said that in the reports
of the working groups, which prepared for the Bali climate change
conference in Indonesia, the concerns of Guyana seemed not to have been
presented.
"Perhaps Guyana did not send delegates, or its delegates were unable to
present a persuasive and rationalised case. Yet Guyana should have a
good case in relation to rising sea levels, and should be able to
present a comprehensive and costed action plan for re-engineering of
its sea defences and of its drainage and irrigation control systems in
the water conservancies," the letter said.
She said the relevant chapters in the National Development Strategy
2001-2010 contain the bases for such an action plan. "Is the Ministry
of Agriculture working on such an action plan as its contribution as a
member of AOSIS [Association of Small Island Developing States]?" she
pondered.
She said this briefing pointed out that countries with good forest
governance would be well placed to take up post-Bali funding while
countries with a reputation for poor forest governance would not. Also,
technologies - of the kinds now being promoted by the GFC - are not a
substitute for good governance. "In other words, to be credible and
eligible for new donor funding Guyana (as represented by the GFC) would
itself need to engage in real internal reform," the letter said.
"This reform is not evident. The GFC is ordering the forest product
processors to reform, even though it has not explained publicly the
rationale for such reforms, and is critical of the press for not
correctly reproducing the instructions," she said.
She said that at Bali, the Coalition of Rainforest Nations - to which
Guyana is aligned - was mostly concerned about extracting cash from
major carbon-emitting countries for reduced emissions from forest
burning associated with land clearing for subsistence and commercial
agriculture. "As predicted before the Bali conference, the delegates
were little concerned about difficult-to-measure degradation of
standing forest through poorly-controlled harvesting of timber and
other products," Bulkan said.
A source, who was part of the Guyana delegation, told this newspaper
that at a later point the delegation would issue a statement in
response to Bulkan's letter and Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud
confirmed this. The source said too that Guyana is gearing to be part
of the larger negotiating process involving the Coalition of Rainforest
Nations (CRN) and AOSIS.
The source said that shortly Guyana should be able to present a
definitive position on where it is going in terms of negotiations,
mitigation and adaptation.
Bulkan said the small budget of US$100 million for the "readiness
mechanism" in the World Bank-administered Forest Carbon Partnership
Facility touted at the conference would be easily "soaked up."
"The presidential expectation of receiving funding related to reducing
emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) simply for having
standing forest not under threat of deforestation seems to be
misplaced," she said. REDD is a facility through which countries could
access financing to cut down on deforestation.
"This fund is intended to assist 20 countries to reduced emissions from
deforestation," she said, adding, "instead of looking towards REDD for
financial support, Guyana should take note of a pre-Bali briefing
provided by the Royal Institute for International Affairs in London and
the consultancy ProForest in Oxford UK." She believes Guyana ought to
be able to draw on the new United Nations Climate Change Adaptation
Fund which had been agreed under the Marrakesh Accords in 2001. "The
Bali conference finally agreed that the Global Environmental Facility
at the World Bank would act as the interim secretariat for this Fund,
and Guyana ought to be actively engaged to make this Fund operationally
effective," she said.
Guyana must take more active role in climate change arena - Bulkan
Stabroek News, Wednesday, January 16th 2008
Researcher and columnist Janette Bulkan believes Guyana must take a
more active role in presenting its case with respect to climate change
if it wants to be taken seriously on the world stage.
In a letter to Stabroek News recently, Bulkan said that in the reports
of the working groups, which prepared for the Bali climate change
conference in Indonesia, the concerns of Guyana seemed not to have been
presented.
"Perhaps Guyana did not send delegates, or its delegates were unable to
present a persuasive and rationalised case. Yet Guyana should have a
good case in relation to rising sea levels, and should be able to
present a comprehensive and costed action plan for re-engineering of
its sea defences and of its drainage and irrigation control systems in
the water conservancies," the letter said.
She said the relevant chapters in the National Development Strategy
2001-2010 contain the bases for such an action plan. "Is the Ministry
of Agriculture working on such an action plan as its contribution as a
member of AOSIS [Association of Small Island Developing States]?" she
pondered.
She said this briefing pointed out that countries with good forest
governance would be well placed to take up post-Bali funding while
countries with a reputation for poor forest governance would not. Also,
technologies - of the kinds now being promoted by the GFC - are not a
substitute for good governance. "In other words, to be credible and
eligible for new donor funding Guyana (as represented by the GFC) would
itself need to engage in real internal reform," the letter said.
"This reform is not evident. The GFC is ordering the forest product
processors to reform, even though it has not explained publicly the
rationale for such reforms, and is critical of the press for not
correctly reproducing the instructions," she said.
She said that at Bali, the Coalition of Rainforest Nations - to which
Guyana is aligned - was mostly concerned about extracting cash from
major carbon-emitting countries for reduced emissions from forest
burning associated with land clearing for subsistence and commercial
agriculture. "As predicted before the Bali conference, the delegates
were little concerned about difficult-to-measure degradation of
standing forest through poorly-controlled harvesting of timber and
other products," Bulkan said.
A source, who was part of the Guyana delegation, told this newspaper
that at a later point the delegation would issue a statement in
response to Bulkan's letter and Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud
confirmed this. The source said too that Guyana is gearing to be part
of the larger negotiating process involving the Coalition of Rainforest
Nations (CRN) and AOSIS.
The source said that shortly Guyana should be able to present a
definitive position on where it is going in terms of negotiations,
mitigation and adaptation.
Bulkan said the small budget of US$100 million for the "readiness
mechanism" in the World Bank-administered Forest Carbon Partnership
Facility touted at the conference would be easily "soaked up."
"The presidential expectation of receiving funding related to reducing
emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) simply for having
standing forest not under threat of deforestation seems to be
misplaced," she said. REDD is a facility through which countries could
access financing to cut down on deforestation.
"This fund is intended to assist 20 countries to reduced emissions from
deforestation," she said, adding, "instead of looking towards REDD for
financial support, Guyana should take note of a pre-Bali briefing
provided by the Royal Institute for International Affairs in London and
the consultancy ProForest in Oxford UK." She believes Guyana ought to
be able to draw on the new United Nations Climate Change Adaptation
Fund which had been agreed under the Marrakesh Accords in 2001. "The
Bali conference finally agreed that the Global Environmental Facility
at the World Bank would act as the interim secretariat for this Fund,
and Guyana ought to be actively engaged to make this Fund operationally
effective," she said.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
2007, a good year for mineral production– emphasis placed on ensuring sustainable mining practices
2007, a good year for mineral production
– emphasis placed on ensuring sustainable mining practices
A GINA Feature
Guyana Chronicle, 14 January 2008
A commitment to liberialise telecommunications sector, rapid movement
toward renewable energy initiative, increased electricity generation
and the promotion of sustainable mining were key highlights of the
Office of the Prime Minister for 2007.
Prime Minister Hinds and BOSAI's representatives tour old Linden
aluminum plant. (GINA photo)
Mining
Rehabilitation works on the road linking Matthews Ridge to Arakaka,
Port Kaituma and other communities was realised through funding by the
Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC). The previous condition of
the roadway impeded inter-community travel by residents, farmers and
miners.
The year also began with a strong warning by Prime Minister Samuel
Hinds and the GGMC to miners about breaches in regulation relative to
emission of fluids with high turbidity into the waterways or other
parts of the environment.
In addition to ensuring that miners comply, international regulations
require that mining, forestry and other activities be done in a
sustainable manner, mitigating possible negative effects to human,
animal or plant life.
Government also recognised the need to provide opportunities for small
and medium scale miners and issued lots at Quartzhill, Region Eight to
several of them by way of a lottery.
In an effort to raise the standard of professionalism in the mining
industry, the GGMC offered scholarships in geology engineering at the
University of Guyana.
The GGMC also entered into an agreement with the Guyana Lands and
Surveys Commission, and the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) for
multiple uses of hinterland roads. The Memorandum of Understanding was
inked to bring amicable solutions to the long standing dispute between
miners and forestry operators in relation to access.
A new company, BOSAI of China, began investing in the Linden bauxite
industry in February. The new foreign company entered into an
acquisition agreement with IAMGOLD, the former investor in the Linden
bauxite company and renamed the industry, BOSAI Minerals Group Guyana
Incorporated.
Efforts were also made during the latter part of the year to revitalise
manganese mining and processing in Region One. The Guyana Office for
Investment (GO-INVEST) ventured to the region with a team of new
investors among which was Essar Steel of India which is interested in
reopening the manganese mines
Government in collaboration with the GGMC demonstrated its commitment
to supporting communities surrounding mining districts by commissioning
two skills training centres for youths at Matthews Ridge and Port
Kaituma. Youths can access training in information technology,
carpentry, painting, joinery, electrical installation, masonry, graphic
designing, sculpting, and welding and auto body repairs.
Mineral production
Figures provided up to the end of November showed that bauxite
production was 94.7 percent of the year to date budget while stone
output was 353,485 tonnes, exceeding its year to date budget by 31
percent and sand production was 358,243 tonnes.
The Guyana Gold Board (GGB) recorded a production figure of 240,000
ounces of gold, a 16 percent increase over the 2006 production.
Telecommunications
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government in 2007 also
fulfilled its commitment to widen participation in the
telecommunications sector which saw keen competition between service
providers as a result of the advent of Digicel in February.
Digicel’s entry sparked a high level of competition, resulting in a
significant increase of cellular subscribers.
Government through the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) instituted
additional measures, among which was the enforcement of Per-Second
Billing which ensures that consumers pay only for the time spent on the
network
Government is continuing discussions with Atlantic Tele-Network, the
parent company of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T),
for the liberalisation of various categories of the monopoly it
currently enjoys.
Energy
The Office of the Prime Minister in March launched a loss reduction
campaign which targeted the replacement of 25,000 defective meters.
This was in an effort to ensure the continued extension of electricity
services.
The action followed concerns raised by the Inter-American Development
Bank (IDB) about the need to recover an estimated 30 percent of
electricity lost monthly.
The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Company intensified its energy
conservation campaign during the year. This was highlighted in December
with its ‘Switch it off – Plug it out’ campaign which targets its
136,000 customers.
In keeping with a commitment by President Bharrat Jagdeo to personally
ensure that the GPL’s capacity was boosted to provide sufficient power,
especially during the Christmas season, five power generating sets,
arrived on December 18 from the US to provide 10 megawatts of power.
A number of initiatives were pursued during the year to fulfill the
plan for hydro, wind and solar power to serve as alternative sources of
energy.
In August, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, attended a PetroCaribe summit
in Venezuela where considerations were given to identifying some
territories within the Caribbean that will serve as permanent storage
and shipping locations. The possibility of constructing gas pipelines
that run through Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana was also
discussed.
Hydropower is at present a major investment under consideration for
communities in Region One, and foreign investors have committed to help
make this a reality.
Jailing Forest Enterprise from China and Essar Steel from India are two
of the major foreign companies in the mining industry which have sought
enquiries from Prime Minister Samuel Hinds about the possibilities of
developing this alternative source of electricity in the Region.
– emphasis placed on ensuring sustainable mining practices
A GINA Feature
Guyana Chronicle, 14 January 2008
A commitment to liberialise telecommunications sector, rapid movement
toward renewable energy initiative, increased electricity generation
and the promotion of sustainable mining were key highlights of the
Office of the Prime Minister for 2007.
Prime Minister Hinds and BOSAI's representatives tour old Linden
aluminum plant. (GINA photo)
Mining
Rehabilitation works on the road linking Matthews Ridge to Arakaka,
Port Kaituma and other communities was realised through funding by the
Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC). The previous condition of
the roadway impeded inter-community travel by residents, farmers and
miners.
The year also began with a strong warning by Prime Minister Samuel
Hinds and the GGMC to miners about breaches in regulation relative to
emission of fluids with high turbidity into the waterways or other
parts of the environment.
In addition to ensuring that miners comply, international regulations
require that mining, forestry and other activities be done in a
sustainable manner, mitigating possible negative effects to human,
animal or plant life.
Government also recognised the need to provide opportunities for small
and medium scale miners and issued lots at Quartzhill, Region Eight to
several of them by way of a lottery.
In an effort to raise the standard of professionalism in the mining
industry, the GGMC offered scholarships in geology engineering at the
University of Guyana.
The GGMC also entered into an agreement with the Guyana Lands and
Surveys Commission, and the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) for
multiple uses of hinterland roads. The Memorandum of Understanding was
inked to bring amicable solutions to the long standing dispute between
miners and forestry operators in relation to access.
A new company, BOSAI of China, began investing in the Linden bauxite
industry in February. The new foreign company entered into an
acquisition agreement with IAMGOLD, the former investor in the Linden
bauxite company and renamed the industry, BOSAI Minerals Group Guyana
Incorporated.
Efforts were also made during the latter part of the year to revitalise
manganese mining and processing in Region One. The Guyana Office for
Investment (GO-INVEST) ventured to the region with a team of new
investors among which was Essar Steel of India which is interested in
reopening the manganese mines
Government in collaboration with the GGMC demonstrated its commitment
to supporting communities surrounding mining districts by commissioning
two skills training centres for youths at Matthews Ridge and Port
Kaituma. Youths can access training in information technology,
carpentry, painting, joinery, electrical installation, masonry, graphic
designing, sculpting, and welding and auto body repairs.
Mineral production
Figures provided up to the end of November showed that bauxite
production was 94.7 percent of the year to date budget while stone
output was 353,485 tonnes, exceeding its year to date budget by 31
percent and sand production was 358,243 tonnes.
The Guyana Gold Board (GGB) recorded a production figure of 240,000
ounces of gold, a 16 percent increase over the 2006 production.
Telecommunications
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government in 2007 also
fulfilled its commitment to widen participation in the
telecommunications sector which saw keen competition between service
providers as a result of the advent of Digicel in February.
Digicel’s entry sparked a high level of competition, resulting in a
significant increase of cellular subscribers.
Government through the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) instituted
additional measures, among which was the enforcement of Per-Second
Billing which ensures that consumers pay only for the time spent on the
network
Government is continuing discussions with Atlantic Tele-Network, the
parent company of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T),
for the liberalisation of various categories of the monopoly it
currently enjoys.
Energy
The Office of the Prime Minister in March launched a loss reduction
campaign which targeted the replacement of 25,000 defective meters.
This was in an effort to ensure the continued extension of electricity
services.
The action followed concerns raised by the Inter-American Development
Bank (IDB) about the need to recover an estimated 30 percent of
electricity lost monthly.
The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Company intensified its energy
conservation campaign during the year. This was highlighted in December
with its ‘Switch it off – Plug it out’ campaign which targets its
136,000 customers.
In keeping with a commitment by President Bharrat Jagdeo to personally
ensure that the GPL’s capacity was boosted to provide sufficient power,
especially during the Christmas season, five power generating sets,
arrived on December 18 from the US to provide 10 megawatts of power.
A number of initiatives were pursued during the year to fulfill the
plan for hydro, wind and solar power to serve as alternative sources of
energy.
In August, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, attended a PetroCaribe summit
in Venezuela where considerations were given to identifying some
territories within the Caribbean that will serve as permanent storage
and shipping locations. The possibility of constructing gas pipelines
that run through Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana was also
discussed.
Hydropower is at present a major investment under consideration for
communities in Region One, and foreign investors have committed to help
make this a reality.
Jailing Forest Enterprise from China and Essar Steel from India are two
of the major foreign companies in the mining industry which have sought
enquiries from Prime Minister Samuel Hinds about the possibilities of
developing this alternative source of electricity in the Region.
Caught in the climate change trap
Caught in the climate change trap
- President Jagdeo laments alarming disparity in commitment, ability of
rich and poor countries to fight this growing global scourge
‘If allowed to continue unabated, rice (for instance) will be grown in
Canada, US instead of the tropics’ – President Jagdeo
By Mark Ramotar
Guyana Chronicle, 14 January 2008
http://www.guyanachronicle.com/topstory.html#Anchor-62658
THE disparity in commitment and ability between rich and poor countries
to respond to Climate Change and its devastating effects is creating
even larger inequalities both between and within countries, according
to President Bharrat Jagdeo.
“Climate change represents possibly, over time, one of the biggest
challenges to developing countries because of their limiting capacity
to adapt or to mitigate…,” the Guyanese Head of State declared during
his address at the launch of a Farmers Magazine last week at the
Buddy’s International Hotel at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
Acknowledging that both adaptation and mitigation will cost huge sums
of money, President Jagdeo pointed out that while the commitment is
there, the national budget of a poor country like Guyana will not allow
it to meet the challenges of climate change.
“We have already seen the adverse weather patterns emerging from global
climate change. Many of us in Guyana have to live through every rainy
season with trepidation (and) we have many sleepless nights especially
during the rainy seasons,” he said, adding that this is happening
largely because of “changes and irresponsible policies taking place
elsewhere”.
According to Mr. Jagdeo, the amount of greenhouse gas that Guyana, for
instance, is contributing to the atmosphere is “so miniscule and so
negligible that if you had a graph it would not show on it (on the
graph)”.
The rich countries contribute a lot of greenhouse gases to the
atmosphere and they are major contributors to climate change but yet
still it is countries like Guyana that face the worst brunt and
consequences of this, President Jagdeo contended.
“Our budget will not allow us to meet the challenges of climate change,
especially the adverse weather conditions that we will experience in
the future unless something dramatic is done about climate change,” he
warned.
He noted that developing countries like Guyana are “struggling to
identify the resources” to flight climate change, and as such rely
heavily on donor support in this regard.
“In fact, the prediction is that if things go unabated, then the places
that will be growing rice (for instance) in the future will not be in
the tropics like Guyana and countries in the Caribbean…because the
climate is going to change in such a way that rice will be grown in New
York and Canada - places where the weather is cold.”
This, he argued, is because global warming will make the place so hot
in years to come that “the agriculture that we know will not be able to
sustain it.”
Speaking with reporters a few weeks ago, President Jagdeo stressed the
fact that Climate Change, one of the most critical global challenges of
our time, is not a “futuristic thing” but an alarming problem that is
currently occurring and which needs a committed global effort to
mitigate its devastating effects.
According to him, recent events have emphatically demonstrated the
growing vulnerability of countries around the world to climate change.
Climate change impact will range from affecting agriculture- further
endangering food security, sea-level rise and the accelerated erosion
of coastal zones, increasing intensity of natural disasters, species
extinction and the spread of vector-borne diseases.
“Everyone right across the world have recognised adverse weather
because of climate change and what is happening right now…so it is not
a futuristic thing,” President Jagdeo told reporters.
“The science is clear, and the manifestations of climate change are
clear right across the world,” he declared.
THE JAGDEO INITIATIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE
In an effort to fight against climate change, the Guyanese Head of
State has introduced an initiative on climate change.
The Jagdeo initiative was first introduced at the Commonwealth Finance
Ministers’ Meeting in October last year and then again at the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Business forum in Kampala, Uganda, in
November 2007.
President Jagdeo’s initiative calls for developed countries to give
market-based incentives to developing countries, who can offer their
rainforest in service of the world’s fight against climate change.
It is a known fact that developed nations are guilty of contributing
the most carbon dioxide emissions to the environment, the leading
contributing factor to global warming.
In fact, the United States alone is said to be contributing 25% of
carbon dioxide emissions.
Meanwhile, the 2007 annual United Nations Human Development Report that
was released in November last year, warned that climate change could
have a disastrous impact for the world's poorest people and reverse any
gains made in poverty reduction, nutrition, health and education.
The world's 2.6 billion people living on less than US$2 daily have
contributed least to global emissions. But they are "paying a high
price for the actions of others," said Claes Johansson of the UN
Development Programme, UNDP, which prepared the report.
The potential toll on humans of climate change has been understated,
the report concludes, pointing to meteorological shocks such as
droughts, floods and storms, whose intensity and frequency are
increasing, adding to existing poverty and inequality.
"For millions of people, these are events that offer a one-way ticket
to poverty and long-run cycles of disadvantage," the UNDP said.
The UN agency recommended a "twin track" approach merging mitigation
efforts to limit global warming this century with bolstered global
cooperation on adaptation measures.
For rich nations to help poor ones achieve this goal, the report
proposes a Climate Change Mitigate Facility at a cost of US$25 billion
to US$50 billion per year to finance development of low-carbon energy
systems in developing nations.
"Therefore, developed nations have a historic responsibility to cut
emissions, to climate-proof their growth and to invest in efforts that
can help prevent catastrophic reversals in human development," said
Johansson.
Developing countries, in turn, must do their part to reduce their own
emissions, but cannot do so without the help of wealthier nations,
Johansson observed.
The report, "Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided
world," was released a week prior to the opening of the UN Climate
Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia.
- President Jagdeo laments alarming disparity in commitment, ability of
rich and poor countries to fight this growing global scourge
‘If allowed to continue unabated, rice (for instance) will be grown in
Canada, US instead of the tropics’ – President Jagdeo
By Mark Ramotar
Guyana Chronicle, 14 January 2008
http://www.guyanachronicle.com
THE disparity in commitment and ability between rich and poor countries
to respond to Climate Change and its devastating effects is creating
even larger inequalities both between and within countries, according
to President Bharrat Jagdeo.
“Climate change represents possibly, over time, one of the biggest
challenges to developing countries because of their limiting capacity
to adapt or to mitigate…,” the Guyanese Head of State declared during
his address at the launch of a Farmers Magazine last week at the
Buddy’s International Hotel at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
Acknowledging that both adaptation and mitigation will cost huge sums
of money, President Jagdeo pointed out that while the commitment is
there, the national budget of a poor country like Guyana will not allow
it to meet the challenges of climate change.
“We have already seen the adverse weather patterns emerging from global
climate change. Many of us in Guyana have to live through every rainy
season with trepidation (and) we have many sleepless nights especially
during the rainy seasons,” he said, adding that this is happening
largely because of “changes and irresponsible policies taking place
elsewhere”.
According to Mr. Jagdeo, the amount of greenhouse gas that Guyana, for
instance, is contributing to the atmosphere is “so miniscule and so
negligible that if you had a graph it would not show on it (on the
graph)”.
The rich countries contribute a lot of greenhouse gases to the
atmosphere and they are major contributors to climate change but yet
still it is countries like Guyana that face the worst brunt and
consequences of this, President Jagdeo contended.
“Our budget will not allow us to meet the challenges of climate change,
especially the adverse weather conditions that we will experience in
the future unless something dramatic is done about climate change,” he
warned.
He noted that developing countries like Guyana are “struggling to
identify the resources” to flight climate change, and as such rely
heavily on donor support in this regard.
“In fact, the prediction is that if things go unabated, then the places
that will be growing rice (for instance) in the future will not be in
the tropics like Guyana and countries in the Caribbean…because the
climate is going to change in such a way that rice will be grown in New
York and Canada - places where the weather is cold.”
This, he argued, is because global warming will make the place so hot
in years to come that “the agriculture that we know will not be able to
sustain it.”
Speaking with reporters a few weeks ago, President Jagdeo stressed the
fact that Climate Change, one of the most critical global challenges of
our time, is not a “futuristic thing” but an alarming problem that is
currently occurring and which needs a committed global effort to
mitigate its devastating effects.
According to him, recent events have emphatically demonstrated the
growing vulnerability of countries around the world to climate change.
Climate change impact will range from affecting agriculture- further
endangering food security, sea-level rise and the accelerated erosion
of coastal zones, increasing intensity of natural disasters, species
extinction and the spread of vector-borne diseases.
“Everyone right across the world have recognised adverse weather
because of climate change and what is happening right now…so it is not
a futuristic thing,” President Jagdeo told reporters.
“The science is clear, and the manifestations of climate change are
clear right across the world,” he declared.
THE JAGDEO INITIATIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE
In an effort to fight against climate change, the Guyanese Head of
State has introduced an initiative on climate change.
The Jagdeo initiative was first introduced at the Commonwealth Finance
Ministers’ Meeting in October last year and then again at the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Business forum in Kampala, Uganda, in
November 2007.
President Jagdeo’s initiative calls for developed countries to give
market-based incentives to developing countries, who can offer their
rainforest in service of the world’s fight against climate change.
It is a known fact that developed nations are guilty of contributing
the most carbon dioxide emissions to the environment, the leading
contributing factor to global warming.
In fact, the United States alone is said to be contributing 25% of
carbon dioxide emissions.
Meanwhile, the 2007 annual United Nations Human Development Report that
was released in November last year, warned that climate change could
have a disastrous impact for the world's poorest people and reverse any
gains made in poverty reduction, nutrition, health and education.
The world's 2.6 billion people living on less than US$2 daily have
contributed least to global emissions. But they are "paying a high
price for the actions of others," said Claes Johansson of the UN
Development Programme, UNDP, which prepared the report.
The potential toll on humans of climate change has been understated,
the report concludes, pointing to meteorological shocks such as
droughts, floods and storms, whose intensity and frequency are
increasing, adding to existing poverty and inequality.
"For millions of people, these are events that offer a one-way ticket
to poverty and long-run cycles of disadvantage," the UNDP said.
The UN agency recommended a "twin track" approach merging mitigation
efforts to limit global warming this century with bolstered global
cooperation on adaptation measures.
For rich nations to help poor ones achieve this goal, the report
proposes a Climate Change Mitigate Facility at a cost of US$25 billion
to US$50 billion per year to finance development of low-carbon energy
systems in developing nations.
"Therefore, developed nations have a historic responsibility to cut
emissions, to climate-proof their growth and to invest in efforts that
can help prevent catastrophic reversals in human development," said
Johansson.
Developing countries, in turn, must do their part to reduce their own
emissions, but cannot do so without the help of wealthier nations,
Johansson observed.
The report, "Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided
world," was released a week prior to the opening of the UN Climate
Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Britain considering President's ideas to combat climate change
Guyana Chronicle news item, Friday 11 January 2008
http://www.guyanachronicle.com/news.html
Britain considering President's ideas to combat climate change
PERMANENT Under-Secretary and Head of the British Diplomatic Service, Peter
Rickets, says he will be heading home to Britain with a strong message on
the challenge facing Guyana as a result of Climate Change.
The Under-Secretary met with President Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday last at the
Office of the President to discuss among other things, the President's
initiative on Climate Change and other matters relating to the Commonwealth
countries.
"I had a very interesting meeting with the President. We talked about a lot
of things....Climate Change, for example, and the President has some very
interesting ideas which he's been talking to my Prime Minister, Gordon Brown
about," Rickets explained after the meeting.
Rickets alluded to the President's offer of donating Guyana 's entire
rainforest in the service in the battle against climate change. The
President made the offer during a memorable speech in October last during
the Commonwealth Finance Ministers' Meeting opening ceremony held at the
National Cultural Centre. Britain has since been considering the offer while
other Heads of Government have welcomed the initiative.
"I think being here...I can see why climate change is a real challenge for
Guyana ," Rickets contended as he observed the inclement weather patterns
and the constant rain.
" Britain is very much at the heart of trying to help the President in his
reform measures and I am going back with some new ideas I can think about,"
Rickets posited.
The President's Climate Change Initiative aims at incentives to reduce
deforestation and stipulates that this should be integral to any agreement
on climate change. Guyana 's rainforest traps carbon dioxide and converts it
into carbon and could be integral in the global fight against climate
change. With carbon having monetary value, the Head of State believes that
Guyana should be compensated for its standing forest and for its efforts to
preserve its rainforest. (GINA)
http://www.guyanachronicle.com
Britain considering President's ideas to combat climate change
PERMANENT Under-Secretary and Head of the British Diplomatic Service, Peter
Rickets, says he will be heading home to Britain with a strong message on
the challenge facing Guyana as a result of Climate Change.
The Under-Secretary met with President Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday last at the
Office of the President to discuss among other things, the President's
initiative on Climate Change and other matters relating to the Commonwealth
countries.
"I had a very interesting meeting with the President. We talked about a lot
of things....Climate Change, for example, and the President has some very
interesting ideas which he's been talking to my Prime Minister, Gordon Brown
about," Rickets explained after the meeting.
Rickets alluded to the President's offer of donating Guyana 's entire
rainforest in the service in the battle against climate change. The
President made the offer during a memorable speech in October last during
the Commonwealth Finance Ministers' Meeting opening ceremony held at the
National Cultural Centre. Britain has since been considering the offer while
other Heads of Government have welcomed the initiative.
"I think being here...I can see why climate change is a real challenge for
Guyana ," Rickets contended as he observed the inclement weather patterns
and the constant rain.
" Britain is very much at the heart of trying to help the President in his
reform measures and I am going back with some new ideas I can think about,"
Rickets posited.
The President's Climate Change Initiative aims at incentives to reduce
deforestation and stipulates that this should be integral to any agreement
on climate change. Guyana 's rainforest traps carbon dioxide and converts it
into carbon and could be integral in the global fight against climate
change. With carbon having monetary value, the Head of State believes that
Guyana should be compensated for its standing forest and for its efforts to
preserve its rainforest. (GINA)
Friday, January 11, 2008
Agriculture diversification moves forward
Agriculture diversification moves forward
Guyana Chronicle, 10 January 2008
SIGNIFICANT achievements were made through the Ministry of Agriculture
to ensure that its mandate for 2007 was attained, particularly as it
related to improving services offered to farmers to support further
agricultural development.
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud with fishermen at a Georgetown
fisheries operations.
Non-Traditional Crops and Agricultural Diversification
The non-traditional crops sector recoded increased exports and
introduced several new crops to the overseas markets, especially in
North America.
Another notable activity in this area was the start of construction of
the $89M packaging and storage facility at Parika to boost the
non-traditional crops sector, to increase exports and promote more
value-added products.
Efforts to encourage advanced agricultural diversification continued
with various initiatives, some of which were guided by the Ministerial
Advisory Committee on Diversification set up following the Agricultural
Diversification Summit hosted in December 2006.
Approval of the US$21M Agricultural Diversification Initiative and the
US$6M Rural Enterprise Agricultural Development (READ) Project is
another major success for the Ministry since these projects will add to
ongoing diversification activities.
Improved Services to Farmers
Services offered by the Ministry were reviewed and various adjustments
made to ensure more opportunities for agricultural stakeholders and to
promote a more business-like approach to support further profitability
of their activities.
The extension services programme was revamped with new initiatives that
included training of farmers/residents as extension agents, development
of a Farmers’ Manual as a form of technical assistance, and
establishment of several information technology (IT) centres.
A marketing centre was established at the New Guyana Marketing
Corporation (GMC) to assist farmers, exporters, processors and others
with pertinent information.
In an effort to ensure the safe use of pesticides and toxic chemicals,
amendments to the existing Act were pursued while construction of the
laboratory at Mon Repos was completed and is awaiting installation of
equipment.
Livestock and Poultry
One of the main activities pursued in 2007, was improved breeding
stocks through which several animal breeds were imported and farms were
developed by private investors with support from the Agriculture
Ministry.
Other activities were done through the National Agricultural Research
Institute (NARI) to ensure that improved breeds of animals are made
available to farmers while investments were made to establish new
pastures.
Regulations were updated to address the sale of chicken and the quality
of feed available to farmers to guide development in the poultry
sector. These regulations are being implemented and necessary
monitoring is being done.
Attention was given to animal health and safety through increased
surveillance for Foot and Mouth Disease at all ports of entry and Avian
Influenza (Bird Flu). A simulation exercise for Bird Flu was
successfully conducted at Laluni to ensure Guyana is adequately
equipped to deal with a possible outbreak of the disease.
Fisheries
Among the main achievements in this sector were completion of the
Fisheries Management Plan (FMP) that outlines strategies to develop the
various sub-sectors and re-activation of the Fisheries Advisory
Committee (FAC) that advises on the sector’s continued growth.
Additionally, new initiatives were pursued to tackle piracy including
strong collaboration with fishermen’s cooperative societies and law
enforcement agencies. Two boats and engines were purchased by the
Ministry to assist with patrols while, through the intervention of
President Bharrat Jagdeo, $5M was made available to initiate an
Anti-Piracy Revolving Fund.
The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) secured an additional $15M to set up a
modern communication system with heightened efforts by the GDF,
especially the Coastguard, in dealing with piracy.
To further boost the aquaculture industry, the Ministry continued
providing support to the National Aquaculture Association of Guyana
(NAAG) and began construction of a new hatchery at Mon Repos, East
Coast Demerara.
Forestry
Of significance in this sector was the passing of the Guyana Forestry
Commission (GFC) Bill as part of efforts to modernise the entity’s
operations and continue the sector’s continued growth.
Several regulations were promoted for improved wood processing
standards and procedures while countrywide sensitisation seminars were
held to ensure that stakeholders are aware of the regulations.
Focus continued on the promotion of lesser-known species to reduce
dependency on popular wood types while other activities were taken to
boost monitoring and management of the sector.
Rice
Exports of rice recorded the highest in the last decade despite
production being affected by inclement weather and increased costs of
fertilizers, spare parts for machinery and fuel.
Government’s intervention to deal with the rising production cost
resulted in the removal of Valued Added Tax (VAT) from fertilizers and
spare parts for machinery used in the rice industry. Additionally, the
Excise Tax on fuel was reduced.
Other major achievements to boost the rice industry included launching
of a $1B financial facility that provides loans to rice stakeholders at
reduced interest rates, major waters works in Region Two and provision
of improved extension and research development services.
Additionally, seed paddy plants were commissioned at Leguan and Crane
while construction of another at Black Bush Polder commenced.
Sugar
Although the sugar industry was affected by several major challenges,
the new factory at Skeldon advanced as the diesel generators of the
co-generation plant were commissioned.
Additionally, a lot of emphasis was placed on accelerating work on the
agricultural component of the Skeldon Modernisation Project (SSMP) and
on upgrading of various factories particularly the plant at Enmore to
accommodate establishment of a packaging facility.
Climate Change
During 2007, the National Climate Unit and National Climate Change
Committee and an additional 35 monitoring stations were established in
the country. Focus was placed on capacity building in the respective
agencies to meet the commitments of the Kyoto Protocol and Bali Road
Map.
Guyana was also represented at the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (CoP) meeting in Bali
, Indonesia , which focused on initiatives to tackle climate change
globally.
Drainage and Irrigation
To combat the effects of climate change, approximately $2.2B was
invested through the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, the
Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary - Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA)
and the various Regional Administrations to improve drainage and
irrigation in several areas.
Some of the activities undertaken were the purchase of more equipment
such as pumps and excavators, clearing of various canals and outfalls
channels, construction/heightening of embankments and
rehabilitation/reactivation of structures such as sluices and kokers.
(GINA)
Guyana Chronicle, 10 January 2008
SIGNIFICANT achievements were made through the Ministry of Agriculture
to ensure that its mandate for 2007 was attained, particularly as it
related to improving services offered to farmers to support further
agricultural development.
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud with fishermen at a Georgetown
fisheries operations.
Non-Traditional Crops and Agricultural Diversification
The non-traditional crops sector recoded increased exports and
introduced several new crops to the overseas markets, especially in
North America.
Another notable activity in this area was the start of construction of
the $89M packaging and storage facility at Parika to boost the
non-traditional crops sector, to increase exports and promote more
value-added products.
Efforts to encourage advanced agricultural diversification continued
with various initiatives, some of which were guided by the Ministerial
Advisory Committee on Diversification set up following the Agricultural
Diversification Summit hosted in December 2006.
Approval of the US$21M Agricultural Diversification Initiative and the
US$6M Rural Enterprise Agricultural Development (READ) Project is
another major success for the Ministry since these projects will add to
ongoing diversification activities.
Improved Services to Farmers
Services offered by the Ministry were reviewed and various adjustments
made to ensure more opportunities for agricultural stakeholders and to
promote a more business-like approach to support further profitability
of their activities.
The extension services programme was revamped with new initiatives that
included training of farmers/residents as extension agents, development
of a Farmers’ Manual as a form of technical assistance, and
establishment of several information technology (IT) centres.
A marketing centre was established at the New Guyana Marketing
Corporation (GMC) to assist farmers, exporters, processors and others
with pertinent information.
In an effort to ensure the safe use of pesticides and toxic chemicals,
amendments to the existing Act were pursued while construction of the
laboratory at Mon Repos was completed and is awaiting installation of
equipment.
Livestock and Poultry
One of the main activities pursued in 2007, was improved breeding
stocks through which several animal breeds were imported and farms were
developed by private investors with support from the Agriculture
Ministry.
Other activities were done through the National Agricultural Research
Institute (NARI) to ensure that improved breeds of animals are made
available to farmers while investments were made to establish new
pastures.
Regulations were updated to address the sale of chicken and the quality
of feed available to farmers to guide development in the poultry
sector. These regulations are being implemented and necessary
monitoring is being done.
Attention was given to animal health and safety through increased
surveillance for Foot and Mouth Disease at all ports of entry and Avian
Influenza (Bird Flu). A simulation exercise for Bird Flu was
successfully conducted at Laluni to ensure Guyana is adequately
equipped to deal with a possible outbreak of the disease.
Fisheries
Among the main achievements in this sector were completion of the
Fisheries Management Plan (FMP) that outlines strategies to develop the
various sub-sectors and re-activation of the Fisheries Advisory
Committee (FAC) that advises on the sector’s continued growth.
Additionally, new initiatives were pursued to tackle piracy including
strong collaboration with fishermen’s cooperative societies and law
enforcement agencies. Two boats and engines were purchased by the
Ministry to assist with patrols while, through the intervention of
President Bharrat Jagdeo, $5M was made available to initiate an
Anti-Piracy Revolving Fund.
The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) secured an additional $15M to set up a
modern communication system with heightened efforts by the GDF,
especially the Coastguard, in dealing with piracy.
To further boost the aquaculture industry, the Ministry continued
providing support to the National Aquaculture Association of Guyana
(NAAG) and began construction of a new hatchery at Mon Repos, East
Coast Demerara.
Forestry
Of significance in this sector was the passing of the Guyana Forestry
Commission (GFC) Bill as part of efforts to modernise the entity’s
operations and continue the sector’s continued growth.
Several regulations were promoted for improved wood processing
standards and procedures while countrywide sensitisation seminars were
held to ensure that stakeholders are aware of the regulations.
Focus continued on the promotion of lesser-known species to reduce
dependency on popular wood types while other activities were taken to
boost monitoring and management of the sector.
Rice
Exports of rice recorded the highest in the last decade despite
production being affected by inclement weather and increased costs of
fertilizers, spare parts for machinery and fuel.
Government’s intervention to deal with the rising production cost
resulted in the removal of Valued Added Tax (VAT) from fertilizers and
spare parts for machinery used in the rice industry. Additionally, the
Excise Tax on fuel was reduced.
Other major achievements to boost the rice industry included launching
of a $1B financial facility that provides loans to rice stakeholders at
reduced interest rates, major waters works in Region Two and provision
of improved extension and research development services.
Additionally, seed paddy plants were commissioned at Leguan and Crane
while construction of another at Black Bush Polder commenced.
Sugar
Although the sugar industry was affected by several major challenges,
the new factory at Skeldon advanced as the diesel generators of the
co-generation plant were commissioned.
Additionally, a lot of emphasis was placed on accelerating work on the
agricultural component of the Skeldon Modernisation Project (SSMP) and
on upgrading of various factories particularly the plant at Enmore to
accommodate establishment of a packaging facility.
Climate Change
During 2007, the National Climate Unit and National Climate Change
Committee and an additional 35 monitoring stations were established in
the country. Focus was placed on capacity building in the respective
agencies to meet the commitments of the Kyoto Protocol and Bali Road
Map.
Guyana was also represented at the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (CoP) meeting in Bali
, Indonesia , which focused on initiatives to tackle climate change
globally.
Drainage and Irrigation
To combat the effects of climate change, approximately $2.2B was
invested through the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, the
Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary - Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA)
and the various Regional Administrations to improve drainage and
irrigation in several areas.
Some of the activities undertaken were the purchase of more equipment
such as pumps and excavators, clearing of various canals and outfalls
channels, construction/heightening of embankments and
rehabilitation/reactivation of structures such as sluices and kokers.
(GINA)
Sawmill worker dies from October injuries
Sawmill worker dies from October injuries
Guyana Chronicle, 10 January 2008
A SIXTY-YEAR-OLD labourer, struck in the chest by a falling piece of
lumber while working at a Parika, East Bank Essequibo sawmill last
October 16, died yesterday in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of
Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH).
George Profitt, also of Parika, succumbed around 14:45 h, his
distraught relatives told the Guyana Chronicle.
They said he never recovered fully since being injured and had been in
and out of hospital.
He was being treated for internal as well as external injuries to the
chest.
During the Christmas holidays, Profitt was taken to West Demerara
Regional Hospital but, on Old Year’s Night, his condition worsened and
he was transferred to the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of GPH.
After about a week there, he deteriorated rapidly and breathed his last
minutes after being moved to the ICU.
A post mortem examination is to be conducted tomorrow on the body of
Profitt, who is survived by his wife, Ruby Wong, two sons, Gary and
Kennard, daughter Glennis and other kin.
Guyana Chronicle, 10 January 2008
A SIXTY-YEAR-OLD labourer, struck in the chest by a falling piece of
lumber while working at a Parika, East Bank Essequibo sawmill last
October 16, died yesterday in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of
Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH).
George Profitt, also of Parika, succumbed around 14:45 h, his
distraught relatives told the Guyana Chronicle.
They said he never recovered fully since being injured and had been in
and out of hospital.
He was being treated for internal as well as external injuries to the
chest.
During the Christmas holidays, Profitt was taken to West Demerara
Regional Hospital but, on Old Year’s Night, his condition worsened and
he was transferred to the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of GPH.
After about a week there, he deteriorated rapidly and breathed his last
minutes after being moved to the ICU.
A post mortem examination is to be conducted tomorrow on the body of
Profitt, who is survived by his wife, Ruby Wong, two sons, Gary and
Kennard, daughter Glennis and other kin.
River polluting miners face stringent penalties - GGMC
http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56536639
River polluting miners face stringent penalties - GGMC
SN, Wednesday, January 9th 2008
Following recent investigations of continuous pollution of the
Essequibo River by some operators who discharge tailings waste into the
waterway, more stringent actions against miners guilty of such breaches
will be taken by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
Operators who continue with "grievous infringement" will also face the
brunt of the law, Minister of Transport and Hydraulics Robeson Benn,
who is presently holding the office of Public Works and Communications
in the absence of Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who is out of the
country, said, according to a release from the Government Information
Agency (GINA).
"The GGMC, both the mines officers and environmental officers and
technicians have to go out into the districts, that is the watercourses
of the Essequibo, Cuyuni, Mazuruni, the Potaro, Mora and Siparuni and
take action to prevent siltation of the creeks and rivers", GINA quoted
Benn as stating.
The release said that the campaign against illegal mining will also
take into consideration the removal of shops which have moved from the
location allocated to them and which investigations have found "are a
haven for miners who operate unlawfully".
The GGMC recently seized equipment from three unauthorized operations
in Mahdia, Region Eight, illegal operations were discovered on the
road, south of Mahdia, and law enforcement agencies apprehended miners
who were found encroaching on Omai Gold Mines Limited's property, the
release noted.
It was also discovered that the law-breakers were those who have been
granted plots of land at Quartz Hill but who were dissatisfied with the
rewards from their operations, it added.
The Quartz Hill area is a 50-acre plot of land which was an abandoned
property formerly owned by Omai and which was auctioned to small and
medium-scale miners by the GGMC.
The GGMC has issued a strong warning to miners about unlawful
operations such as emissions of fluids with high turbidity into the
waterways or any other part of the environment.
River polluting miners face stringent penalties - GGMC
SN, Wednesday, January 9th 2008
Following recent investigations of continuous pollution of the
Essequibo River by some operators who discharge tailings waste into the
waterway, more stringent actions against miners guilty of such breaches
will be taken by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
Operators who continue with "grievous infringement" will also face the
brunt of the law, Minister of Transport and Hydraulics Robeson Benn,
who is presently holding the office of Public Works and Communications
in the absence of Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who is out of the
country, said, according to a release from the Government Information
Agency (GINA).
"The GGMC, both the mines officers and environmental officers and
technicians have to go out into the districts, that is the watercourses
of the Essequibo, Cuyuni, Mazuruni, the Potaro, Mora and Siparuni and
take action to prevent siltation of the creeks and rivers", GINA quoted
Benn as stating.
The release said that the campaign against illegal mining will also
take into consideration the removal of shops which have moved from the
location allocated to them and which investigations have found "are a
haven for miners who operate unlawfully".
The GGMC recently seized equipment from three unauthorized operations
in Mahdia, Region Eight, illegal operations were discovered on the
road, south of Mahdia, and law enforcement agencies apprehended miners
who were found encroaching on Omai Gold Mines Limited's property, the
release noted.
It was also discovered that the law-breakers were those who have been
granted plots of land at Quartz Hill but who were dissatisfied with the
rewards from their operations, it added.
The Quartz Hill area is a 50-acre plot of land which was an abandoned
property formerly owned by Omai and which was auctioned to small and
medium-scale miners by the GGMC.
The GGMC has issued a strong warning to miners about unlawful
operations such as emissions of fluids with high turbidity into the
waterways or any other part of the environment.
More Amerindian land grant proposals under scrutiny
http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56536684
More Amerindian land grant proposals under scrutiny
SN, Thursday, January 10th 2008
Government is considering proposals for village grants from 125
Amerindian communities. President Bharrat Jagdeo had said that a total
of $150M would be allocated to the communities and that larger
communities would get more money at the Toshaos' Conference held in
October.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release
Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues, said so far her
ministry has received 40 proposals and it is checking the feasibility
of the projects before releasing the money.
She said that in 2005, the communities were given the liberty to choose
their projects, with the ministry's permission, but many of the
proposals were not sustainable. "This time we want to be careful in
choosing the projects so that the communities can benefit," she said.
According to the ministry's Project Director, Ronald Cumberbatch, the
grant is to assist the communities to develop their capacity to manage
projects as well as to provide capital for feasible economic projects.
According to GINA, some Toshaos and residents said they took more time
to draft their proposals because they wanted the money to be spent
wisely for the benefit of the communities. Some of the communities
intend to invest the money in a number of income-generating activities
already ongoing in the regions. In Region Nine, at Fairview, villagers
used the last grant to establish a shop and the money generated was
used to purchase a minibus for the community.
More Amerindian land grant proposals under scrutiny
SN, Thursday, January 10th 2008
Government is considering proposals for village grants from 125
Amerindian communities. President Bharrat Jagdeo had said that a total
of $150M would be allocated to the communities and that larger
communities would get more money at the Toshaos' Conference held in
October.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release
Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues, said so far her
ministry has received 40 proposals and it is checking the feasibility
of the projects before releasing the money.
She said that in 2005, the communities were given the liberty to choose
their projects, with the ministry's permission, but many of the
proposals were not sustainable. "This time we want to be careful in
choosing the projects so that the communities can benefit," she said.
According to the ministry's Project Director, Ronald Cumberbatch, the
grant is to assist the communities to develop their capacity to manage
projects as well as to provide capital for feasible economic projects.
According to GINA, some Toshaos and residents said they took more time
to draft their proposals because they wanted the money to be spent
wisely for the benefit of the communities. Some of the communities
intend to invest the money in a number of income-generating activities
already ongoing in the regions. In Region Nine, at Fairview, villagers
used the last grant to establish a shop and the money generated was
used to purchase a minibus for the community.
Unfair suggestion that Guyana was not properly represented at Bali
Unfair suggestion that Guyana was not properly represented at Bali
Guyana Chronicle, 9 January 2008
I agree with a letter writer in one of the daily newspapers that much
work needs to be done if Guyana is to be taken seriously where
compensation for its standing forests and funding to mitigate rising
sea levels which are occurring as a result of climate change, are
concerned.
However, to suggest that Guyana was not properly represented at the
Bali Summit on Climate Change I think is being somewhat unfair.
An international forum as such involved hundreds of countries’
representatives and Guyana, as a small developing nation, I assume
would have had little time to make any lengthy or substantive
presentations, let alone numerous presentations.
I have been hearing about this Climate Change issue for a while now, in
fact, I believe months now in Guyana, so I think the country was well
prepared.
I also admire the fact that Guyana, if successful, will be a role model
for other countries in a similar position. We need these results to be
positive and I commend the President of this country for taking such an
initiative to lobby for funds for the rainforest.Everyday, as the
rains continue to pour, I get worried and I keep hoping that it will
not fall long enough for parts of the country to become highly flooded.
Guyana needs help in this area as we are way below sea level and I
think we are very lucky to have been able to withstand any major
disaster where hundreds of people are killed like is occurring in other
countries.
A. B. YOUNGE
Guyana Chronicle, 9 January 2008
I agree with a letter writer in one of the daily newspapers that much
work needs to be done if Guyana is to be taken seriously where
compensation for its standing forests and funding to mitigate rising
sea levels which are occurring as a result of climate change, are
concerned.
However, to suggest that Guyana was not properly represented at the
Bali Summit on Climate Change I think is being somewhat unfair.
An international forum as such involved hundreds of countries’
representatives and Guyana, as a small developing nation, I assume
would have had little time to make any lengthy or substantive
presentations, let alone numerous presentations.
I have been hearing about this Climate Change issue for a while now, in
fact, I believe months now in Guyana, so I think the country was well
prepared.
I also admire the fact that Guyana, if successful, will be a role model
for other countries in a similar position. We need these results to be
positive and I commend the President of this country for taking such an
initiative to lobby for funds for the rainforest.Everyday, as the
rains continue to pour, I get worried and I keep hoping that it will
not fall long enough for parts of the country to become highly flooded.
Guyana needs help in this area as we are way below sea level and I
think we are very lucky to have been able to withstand any major
disaster where hundreds of people are killed like is occurring in other
countries.
A. B. YOUNGE
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Illegal mining severely polluting E'bo, Omai Rivers - Govt. engineers flown in to assess damage
Illegal mining severely polluting E'bo,
Omai Rivers - Govt. engineers flown in to
assess damage
Kaieteur News, 8 January 2008
Several government engineers have been dispatched to the Omai area to
investigate reports of widespread pollution of the Omai and Essequibo
Rivers by illegal miners.
Four employees of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) were
flown to the area yesterday.
Hundreds of miners, operating illegally in Quartz Hill and along the
Omai River, are causing headaches for government, with one man being
shot last week during clashes with security personnel of the Omai
Mining Company.
One mining official yesterday confirmed that efforts are being made to
remove the many illegal shops which have been springing up in the
Quartz Hill area. These shops will be removed to the approved
commercial area at Kumaka Landing. The illegal shops are said to be
contributing greatly to the gun incidents and prostitution in the area,
Kaieteur News was told.
Omai Mining Company officials also confirmed last week that four
individuals out of a raiding party of nine have been arrested after
person(s) destroyed a surveillance camera and broke into the company's
refinery.
Minister of Public Works Robeson Benn last week confirmed the incident
and hinted at strict measures to regularize, within two weeks, both the
Omai situation and another set of incidents at Mahdia, where equipment
were seized in mid-December.
According to reports reaching Kaieteur News, on December 30, at around
02:30 hrs, nine men entered an Omai concession, where they removed a
key surveillance camera from the Mill and broke two padlocks from the
refinery door.
Security officials, after realizing that the camera was not working,
went to the refinery, where they discovered the door open.
The security officials reportedly ordered the intruders out of the
refinery, and four men complied. However, one man, whose name was given
as Garfield Wintz, aged 37, of Graham Street, Plaisance, remained
inside and, according to reports, refused to heed instructions to leave
the building.
Wintz was reportedly shot in the shoulder after he allegedly pushed a
security guard to the floor and made attempts to pick something up from
the floor.
Four men reportedly escaped.
The shooting came in the midst of the raiding of the Omai concession by
illegal miners, who have recently been allocated land in the Quartz
Hill area, across the Omai River, several months ago. While waiting on
official permission to start mining in Quartz Hill, several miners
descended on the area and started operations.
The situation became even more lawless when the miners crossed the
river and went into the Omai concession and dug huge craters and caused
other environmental damage.
Some 150 persons have already been arrested, and according to Omai
officials, some of them were caught two or more times on the
concession. Despite being handed over to the police, they kept
returning to the Omai mining site.
According to one management official, it is a constant running battle
with the illegal miners, some of whom are caught with guns.
While the company has no wish to injure anyone, Sunday's shooting will
serve to emphasize the fact that Omai remains resolute to protect its
workers and property, the official said.
Minister Benn had criticized the situation and disclosed that, on a
number of occasions, drugs were discovered with some “elements,”who
have guns and are involved in illegal activities. The minister believes
that the incidents are systematic efforts by some persons not to adhere
to law and order.
Already, the government, in recognition of the development of the area,
has allowed shops and other key facilities, especially in the Kumaka
Landing area, to make life easier for the mining community.
Efforts by the illegal miners would put all this to waste, Benn
stressed.
While some miners were trying hard to toe the line, it was clear there
were some bad eggs in between. The minister sounded a clear warning
that the raiding of Omai concessions would not be tolerated, since
valuable power equipment along with the dangerous cyanide chemical used
in the gold production process were on the site.
While Omai is no longer in operation, Benn pointed out, the company is
in the process of environmental care and maintenance, and any illegal
activity may impede this process.
Omai Rivers - Govt. engineers flown in to
assess damage
Kaieteur News, 8 January 2008
Several government engineers have been dispatched to the Omai area to
investigate reports of widespread pollution of the Omai and Essequibo
Rivers by illegal miners.
Four employees of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) were
flown to the area yesterday.
Hundreds of miners, operating illegally in Quartz Hill and along the
Omai River, are causing headaches for government, with one man being
shot last week during clashes with security personnel of the Omai
Mining Company.
One mining official yesterday confirmed that efforts are being made to
remove the many illegal shops which have been springing up in the
Quartz Hill area. These shops will be removed to the approved
commercial area at Kumaka Landing. The illegal shops are said to be
contributing greatly to the gun incidents and prostitution in the area,
Kaieteur News was told.
Omai Mining Company officials also confirmed last week that four
individuals out of a raiding party of nine have been arrested after
person(s) destroyed a surveillance camera and broke into the company's
refinery.
Minister of Public Works Robeson Benn last week confirmed the incident
and hinted at strict measures to regularize, within two weeks, both the
Omai situation and another set of incidents at Mahdia, where equipment
were seized in mid-December.
According to reports reaching Kaieteur News, on December 30, at around
02:30 hrs, nine men entered an Omai concession, where they removed a
key surveillance camera from the Mill and broke two padlocks from the
refinery door.
Security officials, after realizing that the camera was not working,
went to the refinery, where they discovered the door open.
The security officials reportedly ordered the intruders out of the
refinery, and four men complied. However, one man, whose name was given
as Garfield Wintz, aged 37, of Graham Street, Plaisance, remained
inside and, according to reports, refused to heed instructions to leave
the building.
Wintz was reportedly shot in the shoulder after he allegedly pushed a
security guard to the floor and made attempts to pick something up from
the floor.
Four men reportedly escaped.
The shooting came in the midst of the raiding of the Omai concession by
illegal miners, who have recently been allocated land in the Quartz
Hill area, across the Omai River, several months ago. While waiting on
official permission to start mining in Quartz Hill, several miners
descended on the area and started operations.
The situation became even more lawless when the miners crossed the
river and went into the Omai concession and dug huge craters and caused
other environmental damage.
Some 150 persons have already been arrested, and according to Omai
officials, some of them were caught two or more times on the
concession. Despite being handed over to the police, they kept
returning to the Omai mining site.
According to one management official, it is a constant running battle
with the illegal miners, some of whom are caught with guns.
While the company has no wish to injure anyone, Sunday's shooting will
serve to emphasize the fact that Omai remains resolute to protect its
workers and property, the official said.
Minister Benn had criticized the situation and disclosed that, on a
number of occasions, drugs were discovered with some “elements,”who
have guns and are involved in illegal activities. The minister believes
that the incidents are systematic efforts by some persons not to adhere
to law and order.
Already, the government, in recognition of the development of the area,
has allowed shops and other key facilities, especially in the Kumaka
Landing area, to make life easier for the mining community.
Efforts by the illegal miners would put all this to waste, Benn
stressed.
While some miners were trying hard to toe the line, it was clear there
were some bad eggs in between. The minister sounded a clear warning
that the raiding of Omai concessions would not be tolerated, since
valuable power equipment along with the dangerous cyanide chemical used
in the gold production process were on the site.
While Omai is no longer in operation, Benn pointed out, the company is
in the process of environmental care and maintenance, and any illegal
activity may impede this process.
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