ECHO calls for transparency and accountability in extractive sector

Aug 10, 2014 News

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... advocates for environmental court

By Zena Henry

As the government seeks to grow the country’s extractive sector, the Environmental Community Health Organization (ECHO) is calling for greater accountability and transparency in the acquisition of the country’s resources. ECHO has also called for the establishment of environmental court to properly address environmental crimes that might accompany the sector’s growth.
ECHO Director Royston King, spoke specifically to news that the Chinese company Bai Shan Lin has been exporting large quantities of lumber, apparently against the country’s stated regulations.
King said that the organization is concerned that the revelations highlight “plunder of our natural environment.”
“The alleged exportation of logs from our hinterland, particularly in region 10, has endorsed our view that there is need for greater governance of our natural assets in Guyana.”
According to reports, Bai Shan Lin, a large logging company in Guyana is shipping large amounts of raw logs overseas. It is alleged that while the company does not have the authorization to export logs out of the country it has teamed up with other logging companies and is conducting business by circumventing the system.
“This is unsustainable and should not be accepted by our society because the effects of cutting trees in different parts of Guyana is accompanied by soil erosion, disruption in the water cycle, loss of biodiversity and contributes to climate change,” King said.
He explained that when forest areas are cleared, the ground is exposed to the sun, making it very dry and eventually infertile, due to nutrients such as nitrogen being lost. Rainfall washes away the rest of the nutrients, which flow with the rainwater.
Merely replanting trees may not help in solving the problems caused by deforestation, for by the time the trees mature, the soil will be totally devoid of essential nutrients and cultivation in this land will become virtually impossible. Large tracts of land will be rendered permanently impoverished due to soil erosion.
Trees contribute in a large way in maintaining the water cycle. They draw up water via their roots, and release it into the atmosphere. A large part of the water that circulates in the ecosystem of rainforests, for instance, remains inside the plants. When these trees are cut down, the result is that the climate gets drier in that area.
Groundwater tables are affected and soon get depleted. Trees also prevent the running off of water and help the soil to absorb it. Without trees, water runs off the surface, leaving no chance for the groundwater tables to absorb more water. This ultimately leads to the reduction in water resources.

The unique biodiversity of various geographical areas is already being lost, King said.
“Even though tropical rainforest makes up just 6 percent of the surface area of the Earth, about 80-90 percent of the entire species of the world exist there. Due to massive felling of trees, about 50 to 100 species of animals are being lost each day. The outcome of which is the extinction of animals and plants on a massive scale. They not only lose their habitat and protective cover, they are pushed to extinction.”
King said it is now common knowledge that global warming is being caused largely due to emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Deforestation has a direct association with carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.
Trees act as a major storage depot for carbon, since they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is then used to produce carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that make up trees. When deforestation occurs, many of the trees are burnt or they are allowed to rot, which results in releasing the carbon that is stored in them as carbon dioxide. This, in turn, leads to greater concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The consequences of these negatives are very unpleasant, King pointed out.
“Not only do animals lose their homes, but humans who depend on the local ecology are also affected. We are calling for more transparency and an effective legal system that will hold local and foreign companies accountable for the impact of their corporate activities on the environment.”
“We are flagging the need for an environmental court and perhaps, the competent authorities need to begin to contemplate the need for such a court, to deal quickly with environmental issues.”

“It is clear, to us, at ECHO, that our natural environment appears to be under siege, threatened by the march to prosperity without real economic growth. Our natural assets, that should be the lifeline by which many of our poor are removed from poverty, are producing wasted opportunities to improve the standard of living of local people and to better the condition of their local communities.”
King said the organization has already notified its local and international partners about the ongoing matter and ECHO will take steps to raise public awareness for greater care, vigilance and surveillance to secure the integrity of our environment and its resources.

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