Guyana needs a University on Forestry and Environmental Studies

Jan 12, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor
The Norway/Guyana MOU is an insult to President Jagdeo and the people of Guyana as claimed vehemently, by Patrick Pereira, the past President of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGMA) in SN on January 6.
This is the response of the GGDMA as they wrestled against other foreign interests to defend their ownership of wealth of Guyana’s natural resources.
In his pursuit to secure more funds from abroad, the President has entered into a MOU with the Norwegians, which seem to be now backfiring. The consequences of not putting the interest of the people first, are beginning to bite, as the multinationals square up to defend their spheres of influence on the future directions of the country.
The GGMA represents powerful outside interests, including OMAI and other outside mining concerns. They are now conveniently hiding behind the façade of pretence by claiming that their heart lies with protecting the interests of small, local miners against the perceived threat from the Amerindian communities.
“Informal gold mining is causing environmental harm and human rights abuses in Guyana”. This is according to a report by the International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) of Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Programme. The report “All That Glitters: Gold Mining in Guyana,” claimed that, “the Guyanese government has failed to reign in wildcat miners and protect the rights of indigenous populations’, and that mining in Guyana “has caused deforestation and mercury pollution, which can cause severe public health problems, and worsened malaria in the region”. And “medium and small scale gold mining as currently practiced and regulated inflict severe environmental, health, and social damage on the areas and people near mining operations”, according to Bonnie Docherty of the IHRC.
The report in noting the abuses occurring in the regulatory system also claim that, “there are four flaws in Guyana’s legal system that have exacerbated the ills of gold mining: giving priority to subsurface rights over surface rights; failing to fully implement environmental regulations from 2005; under-enforcement of its current regulations and weak monitoring of medium and small scale mines”, which the report notes “represent the majority of those in Guyana.”
Clearly if there is any positive outcome from the MOU, it has to be on the Norwegians’ insistence to enforce the rights of the Amerindian communities. The financial agreement with Norway of November 8, 2009, stipulates that Guyana will abstain from forest degradation. In exchange the country will receive US$25O million over a five-year period on proof of transparency and good forestry governance.
However the new status as defined for the Amerindian communities under the MOU is now being regarded as a stumbling block and a further threat to the mining industry.
Patrick Pereira went on to claim that the MOU conditions “has nothing to do with any love for the Amerindian people, both by local and foreign powers, and they (the Amerindians) are aware of it, and are taking advantage of it, and they, with help of external forces, have researched, through GGMC mineral maps, and purposely and cleverly included very rich Gold anomalous areas in 11 more Amerindian Communities, which they expect to get Land Titles to, sometime in the future, adding to the already held 14% (equal to 2.1 Million Hectares or 5.4 Million Acres) of the forested area’. (SN Jan 06, 10)
Mr. Pereira further stated, “There was collusion between the World Bank people and the Norway people as you may recall that just before the Norway MOU, the World Bank people visited our interior with a direct mission, and spoke directly to the Amerindian people, which, could be interpreted as a domestic interference and an insult to our Sovereignty. The taking away of these rich gold bearing lands from the control of miners will force the miners to work poor mineral areas which will eventually send them bankrupt. Imagine Norway has no shame being a party to the financial and social destruction of thousands of Guyanese miners and other people living in the interior by demanding that President Jagdeo give to the Amerindians, hundreds of thousands more acres of lands, which obviously includes rich mining lands. Could we be told how many hundreds of thousands of Amerindians live in these 92+ communities, totaling over 5.5 million acres of lands, with 11 more areas to add, if they could get away with taking from our miners, thousands more acres of the rich mineral areas, most of which they are not qualified to legally occupy in these 11 additional areas”.
The statements clearly assert the deep sentiments that the GGDMA holds against the future survival of the Amerindian communities. The World Bank and government of Norway are accused of collusion and working against the GGDMA entrenched and opaque interests.
The influx of foreign and illegal mining activities over the decades has not generated the same level of heat or revulsion from the GGDMA. If not working blindly alongside the illegal miners, both the GGDMA and the government have immense knowledge on the illegal mining activities that are allowed to go unhindered in Guyana.
Afro Alfonso the outgoing President of the GGMA has noted that out some 9000 dredges operating in Guyana only 271 were licensed and registered as at 2008. The influx of Brazilians with better mechanical and technical capabilities, are able to produce significantly far more gold, which are not sold locally according to Stanislaus Jardine. (Alva Solomon. SN July 10, 09)
Prime Minister Sam Hinds has had first hand knowledge of the devastating pollution left behind by the Brazilians on a recent visit to the Barlow Landing in the Mazaruni area, according to miner Stanislaus Jardine. He claimed that out of the list of the top 40 registered producers in 2008, no Brazilian mining operation was listed, and 80% of local gold production in 2008 was from registered Guyanese operations. (SN July, 10, 09)
305,178 troy ounces of gold is the official gold production figure for 2009, which includes gold production from only 271 licensed dredges. It is now left to the imagination as to the staggering amount of gold that some 9,000 unlicensed dredges can produce and then vanish into thin air. Let alone the devastating pollution and mercury poisoning, that the Guyanese people must face; what is the real purpose of the mining industry and where is all the invisible gold revenue going?
The GGDMA has claimed that they are providing employment for some 100,000 workers in the industry. No argument has been presented about what will happen to these workers, when mining exploitations have been exhausted and cease to exist, to leave behind polluted and denuded forests. If nothing is done now, these same workers may be forced into dismal future, after the mining companies have long vanished along with the riches of Guyana’s gold and diamonds.
Successful and sustainable forest husbandry as envisaged by the MOU should provide a vital safety net and to cushion any employment loss in the wake of mining exhaustions. Indeed this new, clean and environmentally friendly industry could potentially create a far greater capacity for increasing employment and far in excess to the 100,000 that the GGDMA has been crowing about.
At the end of the day, this would depend on whether a weak, mediocre government can be motivated to deliver. Such a new industry would need sound, vibrant and dedicated management systems to be in place, with a vision that is distinct and alien to the present culture of corruption in Guyana. This is not the kind of vision that President Jagdeo has so far demonstrated, or willing to embrace. His interest seem little removed from collecting more cash handouts from outside agencies, with no real commitment towards his people.
In the MOU he could have insisted that all forestry management and field personnel to be home grown and trained in Guyana, as opposed to depending on imported foreign consultants and field operatives. His better thoughts should have also guided him into setting up a new kind of training establishment. Environmental protection is becoming the new vibrant industry that will occupy and dominate the future direction of the world, if not saving it.
A strong, dedicated and non-political institution with University status on Forestry and Environmental Studies of Guyana is seriously lacking. Such an institution could spearhead new standards including on transparency and accountability within a fast-growing industry, and to deliver a lasting legacy to his people. Furthermore, the workers from the mining industry might even regard him as their champion after retraining them and guiding them towards a far more rewarding and brighter future.
Mac Mahase

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