An attempt to mislead the public by distorting the real facts

An attempt to mislead the public by distorting the real facts
Guyana Chronicle, 31 January 2008
THE Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) notes with concern, a letter by
Anthony Lim that has been published on pages 4 and 5 of the Saturday
26th January 2008 edition of Kaieteur News and captioned “The Guyana
Forestry Commission is crippling the forestry sector”.

This letter appears one week after a press briefing on Forestry by the
Hon. Minister of Agriculture ( 19-1-2008 ) to review the performance of
the sector in 2007 and outline priority activities for 2008. This event
was publicized extensively in both the print and electronic media.

In his briefing, the Hon. Minister emphasized the fact that all
operators in the sector were required to submit essential information
to the GFC by a well publicized deadline of November 30, 2007.He
further advised that compliance with this timeline would have allowed
the GFC to conduct the necessary field inspection and verification
exercises, and operators who satisfied that review process would have
been approved to commence business activities from January 2, 2008.

The Minister then informed that in excess of 90 % of the operators did
not meet that deadline, with the result that inspection and
verification activities are still ongoing for those who have made late
submissions. A large number of operators are still to provide the GFC
with all of the required information.

As such, the delay in giving 2008 approvals for sawmills, lumber yards
and forest concessions can in no way be attributed to the GFC.

GFC views this correspondence as an attempt to mislead the public by
distorting the real facts and discrediting the continuing strategic
actions by the Government of Guyana to promote good governance of the
Forestry sector. It is also seen as a malicious attack on the Hon.
Minister who provides excellent policy guidance and support to the
sector through his regular interactions with the Forest Products
Association (FPA), the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association
(GMSA), other Industry groups, the GFC Board of Directors and GFC
management.

To apprise Mr Lim of the real facts, the GFC would like to make the
following direct comments on his letter:

Puruni Wood Products, and Timber Traders were only granted Timber Sales
Agreements in the latter half of 2007. Prior to that they were State
Forest Exploratory Permits, and no commercial harvesting was allowed.
These companies are now in the ongoing process of conducting 100 %
inventory of the blocks to be harvested in 2008 and onwards.

Unamco has expired and the company has made a request for renewal which
is currently being reviewed by the Government.

Jaling was suspended for some time because the Government of Guyana was
not satisfied with the overall management aspects of the company. This
has now been resolved and the company has been given approval to
re-commence operations. The company is in the process of constructing
its sawmilling and wood processing operations at Port Kaituma.

The activities of Garner Forest Industries were also put on hold
because of unclear management issues within the company. These have now
been resolved and logging activities will commence in 2008.

Baishanlin has made a request to the GFC to establish a wood processing
facility. The GFC is currently reviewing the documentation submitted,
and conducting a due diligence of the Company. After these activities
have been completed, the GFC will then make a recommendation to the
Government of Guyana.

These facts highlight that activities in the forestry sector are not
carried out in an unregulated manner; rather, the ability of companies
to carry out proposed operations are investigated, and if companies
default in some way, appropriate action including suspension or
repossession is taken.

Neither the Minister nor the GFC have any displayed any threatening or
abrasive attitude in their dealings with stakeholders. On the contrary,
the Minister and GFC have both worked with stakeholders to find
acceptable solutions that do not in any way compromise the requirements
of the GFC and other Government guidelines.

The Minister and the GFC have also reminded stakeholders that these
requirements are guidelines that are not new, but have been in
existence for several years now. They are absolutely necessary to
promote and encourage sustainable management and utilization of the
resource, as well as increase the efficiency and profitability of
stakeholder companies.

As mentioned before, the fact that most forestry operations have not
been approved for 2008 is no fault of the GFC. Companies that manage
sawmill /lumber yard operations were advised that they had to have
approvals/no objections from several agencies including the
Environmental Protection Agency, the Central and Housing Planning
Authority, the Neighbourhood Democratic Council before the GFC could
issue a licence for 2008. These operators were advised that this
documentation was essential and that it would take some time to acquire
all. However, most companies have not provided the GFC with all of the
required documentation, even though applications for renewals should
have been submitted since 2007.

With specific reference to the Timber Sales Agreements and wood Cutting
Leases (TSA’s and WCL’s), nine of these expired on December 31, 2007 .
The GFC held a meeting with these TSA and WCL’s holders on August 31,
2007 to advise them on the requirements to be fulfilled on or before
November 30, 2007 if there was to be any consideration of renewal. A
formal communication was sent to these companies on September 3, 2007
reminding them of the requirements to be satisfied. None of these nine
(9) companies met all of the requirements, and even at today’s date,
only two (2) companies have recently satisfied all of the requirements.

The GFC currently has twenty four (24) active TSA’s and WCL’s. These
companies were advised since 2006 that it was compulsory for them to
submit an Annual Operation Plan (AOP) for the next calendar year; this
AOP must include all of the proposed hundred (100) hectare blocks for
harvesting, inventoried at 100 % for all commercial species. Many
companies breached this regulation in 2007 and were penalized by the
GFC.

In September 2007, the GFC again sent notices to concessionaires
reminding them of their obligation to submit AOP’s by November 30, 2007
, inclusive of the 100 % inventory information for the blocks proposed
for harvesting in 2008. Companies were again offered technical
assistance by the GFC, based on written requests.

The facts are most revealing. Of the 24 active companies, only 17
submitted their AOP’s (70.8 %). However, only 5 companies (20.8 %)
provided partial 100 % information. Further, these 5 companies should
have submitted 100 % inventory for 302 blocks, but 100 % inventory data
was submitted for only 144 blocks. Of the 144 blocks, the inventory
information for 133 was submitted only in January, 2008.

The GFC has to do field verification of the inventory information
before it gives approval for harvesting to commence. It is therefore
unreasonable to expect the GFC to give approval for companies to begin
operations in the absence of this 100 % inventory information.

As part of his ongoing meetings with stakeholders, the Hon. Minister of
Agriculture invited the FPA to a meeting on January 8, 2008 . The
Commissioner of Forests was also in attendance. At that meeting, the
FPA members accepted that they were delinquent in their inventory
submissions, and requested additional time to submit this 100 %
inventory information. The Minister and the GFC agreed to facilitate
this request on the conditions that:

All 100 % inventory information must be submitted on or before May 31,
2008
No harvesting would occur in any block unless the 100 % inventory
information was submitted to, and approved by the GFC.

At that meeting, the FPA also made representation on behalf of the TSA
and WCL holders whose concessions had expired on December 31, 2007 and
who had not paid off all indebtedness to the GFC as per one of the
requirements for consideration of renewal.

The Minister and the GFC clarified again, that whilst concessionaires
had previously agreed on repayment plans with the GFC, these were
constantly being breached, and they were now null and void, as
indicated to all at the August 31, 2007 meeting, and by formal
communication of September 3, 2007 .

The FPA agreed to write on behalf of the delinquent companies,
requesting a very short term time period to liquidate all outstanding
amounts. Unfortunately, the GFC was in receipt of a letter from the FPA
the same week, indicating that they had obtained legal advice that
previous repayment plans with the GFC were binding.

The above facts clearly show that the GFC is in no way culpable for the
lateness of renewals and for the inactivity in the forestry sector
during January 2008. Rather, it is tardiness and complacency on the
part of some of the operators who chose not to submit their required
documentation by the specified time. The GFC in the interest of the
sector commits itself to processing the documentation as soon as it is
received. The GFC, however, in keeping with its motto of “Ensuring
Sustainable Forestry”, must ensure that it applies all of its
procedures in a consistent, transparent and credible manner. It must be
stressed too, that these are not new rules being imposed overnight on
the sector; these guidelines were developed in a consultative manner
with all stakeholders several years ago. The GFC has spent considerable
time and resources to publicize these guidelines, and also train
stakeholders on how to interpret and implement same. Constant reminders
were sent out in 2007, in addition to the outreach meetings. To state
then that “The GFC is busy trying to implement new rules and
regulations for forestry operators to comply with, utilizing the big
stick method of threats and intimidation fully aided by the Minister”
is a most uninformed and ridiculous position.

In closing, the attack on the competence of the GFC staff is both
unfortunate and infantile. GFC staff has not only been recognized at
the local and regional levels for their competence and ability, but
also at the International level. The remarkable strides made in the
forestry sector over the past decade, as well as the f

act that Guyanese forest produce has almost unrestricted access to the
very demanding international markets is testimony to the high esteem in
which the forestry practices and the GFC is held.
JAMES SINGH
Commissioner of Forests