Managing forests on a sustainable basis

The Single Market requires states to manage forests on a sustainable basis
Friday, December 8th 2006
Stabroek News

Dear Editor,

Surely, the Guyana Forestry Commission must be aware that we are on the threshold of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). Surely, the Head of the Commission is aware of the requirements of the CSME as far as the forestry sector is concerned.

The CSME requires that the Community, in collaboration with competent national, regional and international agencies and organizations, promote the development, management and conservation of the forest resources in the Member States on a sustainable basis.

Mr. Editor, if we carefully examine the objectives of the CSME, the key requirement of the CSME is the conservation of our forest resources as a Member State. Surely, we cannot achieve this through the wanton export of logs unless it is for further processing in a Member State of the Community. It seems as though the international agencies and organizations with which the Commission is collaborating are the importers of our logs.

The wanton export of logs runs counter to Guyana's interest from every perspective. Within the context of the CSME, the Commis-sioner/Commission should be pushing for policy development in the area of local value added which is highly possible given the proven ability of local companies to compete on the international market.

If the current trend continues, Guyana will not meet its obligations to the CSME and this will constitute a major impediment not only in terms of our national competitiveness, given the natural advantages of this resource base, but also to our credibility as a serious player within this most important economic framework.

Yours faithfully,

O. Gilkes