Forest Destruction – Who to blame?

Guyana Chronicle
2007-10-04
- Logging companies and miners at odds over forestry destruction, environmental degradation
By Neil Marks

A MINING dredge operates on the Potaro River in Region Eight, November, 2006. (Neil Marks photo)

OWNERS of large logging companies say they are not responsible for the destruction of Guyana’s forests, but rather the blame should go to miners who are not under the same stringent environmental guidelines.

However, head of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association Mr. Edward Shields says the claim is “artificial” and one being trumped up to squeeze miners out of business so that one large forestry operator can get in on the gold.

“This is sheer gold; this is El Dorado”, Mr. Yacoob Ally, Managing Director of A. Mazaharally and Sons, said of the resource rich Arimu area (Cuyuni/Mazarui), in explaining why miners bulldoze the land and clear it of entire forested portions in areas where they want to dig for gold.

Taking reporters yesterday on a fly-over of forest concessions within which miners have also been licensed to operate, Ally showed that in the areas where logging companies operate, the forest canopy has remained intact, since trees are selected and then cut. “We can’t fake this for you!”

He posited therefore that the activities of the logging companies are environmentally sustainable, but the same cannot be said of miners who are highly unregulated, and clear the land of its vegetation where they dig their gold pits.

The forestry companies are going all out to prove their claim of environmentally sustainable logging, since international buyers have begun to question them, given what they say is unfair criticism from Ms. Janet Bulkan - a fierce critic of the loggers with overseas partners, such as Barama - and the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA).

The FPA, through its public relations consultant Mr. Kit Nascimento claims that the charges are hurled against logging companies because some of the critics are being financed by “green” groups of industrialized nations who now want Guyana’s forests preserved after destroying their own.

Nascimento said it is no logic to claim that the loggers are clearing the forests in their operations, since this would be foolhardy.

According to Nascimento, the commercially viable forests within the concessions are rooted in clumps in vast areas.

GOLD GONE: Photo shows the forest destruction as a result of mining in Region Eight. (Neil Marks photo)

Therefore the operators have to move to the different areas to get the suitable logs, since clearing the forests to get the required species would not make sense economically.

He said, in fact, it comes down to a situation of “low density, low yields, but high cost”.

Mr. John Willems, who has worked in the forestry industry for more than four decades, is adamant too, that the loggers cannot be blamed for damaging the environment or depleting the forests.

He pointed to a report of Tropenbos, an international organization advocating better use of tropical forests, which concluded that although the population of the Greenheart trees has declined by 63 percent over the last 75 years, the species is still ranked third in abundance.

The report, which was completed towards the end of 2001, presented a comparison between forest inventories of 1924, 1964 and 1999 of an 800 kilometre forest-harvesting area in central Guyana, namely the Bartica triangle.

Willems quoted the report as saying that although the decline has been serious, sufficient Greenheart remains, suggesting that the species is not threatened with local extinction.

Looking over the Bartica Triangle, where Willems’ company has operated for decades, there is no break in the canopy around the extraction area, while in areas where mining was taking place, there are vast stretches of cleared land, and the river, such as the Puruni, has become completely murky.

Nascimento argued that the forestry concessions are flooded with miners and the logging operators are being blamed unfairly and their certification comes under question for failing to engage in sustainable practices.

Mr. William Woolford, Commissioner (ag) of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), when contacted said miners operating within the concessions are doing so within the law.

He said the government approved “multi-use” of the country’s natural resources a long time ago.

Woolford said miners are bound by the Mining Act and its accompanying regulations. These regulations include environmental regulations governing issues such as restoration and turbidity.

He said the GGMC is aware of complaints by logging operators that their certification could be jeopardized because of the operations of miners.

He said the GGMC has held several meetings with the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), “…and these are matters we have to keep addressing.”

Shields, mentioned earlier, said the issue is now being blown out of proportion by the logging companies, since they have an interest in mining in the areas which are being mined already.

He said mining activities have always taken place within logging concessions and questioned the motive for the accusations, coming “all of a sudden”. He labelled the FPA as being “deceitful”.

“This claim that the miners are operating like a bunch of cowboys is totally, totally, false!”

He said the miners are governed by laws and are regulated by the GGMC, which has an environmental management department.

Shields also noted that medium and large scale miners now have to first get permission from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before commencing operations.

Nascimento said the FPA has advocated a “meeting of minds” to sort the problems out, but this has not borne fruit as yet.

He said too, the FPA wants to be treated fairly by the government and not to be pronounced on negatively without evidence.

Minister of Agriculture Mr. Robert Persaud last week announced that several forestry companies operating locally are currently under scrutiny for under declaration of produce harvested as well as the locations from which they were harvested.

The investigative team is expected to present a preliminary report to the Minister of Agriculture by October 10.