Iwokrama revisited

Iwokrama unveils five-year plan for joint venture in 'sustainable harvesting'

By Heppilena Ferguson
Friday, February 9th 2007

The Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Con-servation and Development is partnering with Tigerwood Guyana Inc. (TGI) for what it calls 'sustainable harvesting' of some of its forests over the next five years.

And TGI hopes to start work in a matter of weeks.

Essentially it means that trees earmarked by the conservation centre will be processed into log products which Tigerwood said will be done right here in Guyana and preferably in the areas where the trees were harvested.

And Iwokrama justifies its move with the belief of its trustees that the centre "must be master of its own financial house and not solely dependent on official donors with other and understandable priorities".

Iwokrama yesterday unveiled a plan which it noted was approved in April last year by its board of trustees in which it outlines a model of business development.

At a simple ceremony yesterday to launch the five-year plan, presented by advisor to the Trustee Board, John Clement, Chairman Edward Glover pointed out that the centre must be able to plan several years in advance, rather than an "uncertain hand-to-mouth existence."

He said the official sponsors of Iwokrama gave it a crucial start, but noted that the centre must finish the job itself.

"It is up to Iwokrama to deliver a modern, efficient, effective and robust business with steady and reliable cash flow, just like any other reputable business organisation," Glover contended as he stressed the need for financial strength.

Former Commonwealth Secretary General Sir Shridath Ramphal is chairing the board of Iwokrama's business partner through its subsidiary Iwokrama Timber Incorporated.

In an exclusive interview with Stabroek News yesterday, Sir Shridath said Tigerwood Guyana Inc.'s (TGI) role will be essentially operational and one of the strategies of the partnership is to enable the forest to contribute to economic development through sustainable harvesting of a selective and limited number of trees in their forest.

"It's not just preserving the forest as a museum but allowing it to generate economic activity to contribute to Iwokrama's capacity to do its work," Sir Shridath said.

He told this newspaper too that the great problem with cutting down trees anywhere in the world was people doing so to ship them out, which was not a sustainable process of development.

In a statement, TGI assured that it looks forward to participating with the Iwokrama Centre in managing and preserving the rainforest while sustainably harvesting and processing a prescribed and limited amount of timber per annum.

It said too that all operations would be in full accordance with global best practices of low impact logging and the requirements of the internationally-recognized Forestry Stewardship Council.

No export of logs

Iwokrama's partner has also promised to ensure that no logs are exported from the area and that many value-added activities will be undertaken, including processing timber into hewn wood and pilings thereby creating more employment for persons in the local communities.

According to Sir Shridath, this partnership with TGI and Iwokrama could evolve as a model for sustainable forestry development.

"So we could have our forestry contribute to economic development, to jobs to national development and at the same time to preserve the essential elements of the forest resources," he noted.

The proceeds from this partnership agreement should increase Iwokrama's capacity to better do its work, Sir Shridath explained.

He said the company regards the joint venture project with Iwokrama as an exciting opportunity to demonstrate to the world that through the sustainable harvesting of a limited number of trees in a managed and responsible manner which encourages the growth of saplings, forests can be sustained while creating employment and contributing to economic growth.

Meanwhile, Sir Shridath acknowledged that while Guyana's rainforest conservation efforts are small, "every little helps in a quantitative sense." He was sharing his perspective of the impact that rainforest conservation in small countries could have on the global effort.

According to Sir Shridath, Guyana has already done a whole lot in the Iwokrama scheme and is demonstrative of what could be done globally.

In this vein, he said that the TGI/Iwokrama partnership is carrying Guyana's efforts one step further.

However, an independent body to oversee the actual implementation of the agreement has not yet been formalized but would consist of representatives from both entities.

Sir Shridath occupied the chair of Commonwealth Secretary General in 1989 when the then President Desmond Hoyte had set aside, on an experimental basis, a part of Guyana's tropical rainforest for commonwealth research and welcomed commonwealth assistance. This was at the Commonwealth meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The commonwealth heads accepted Hoyte's offer and so Iwokrama was born.

John Willems, Kads Khan, Timoths Ashworth-Foster, Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran and Sir Ronald Sanders are the directors of TGI.

Stabroek News