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.