“Forestry ban was just and necessary”

Jun 03, 2016 News

“…given the wanton and wild way logs were being shipped out” – Minister Trotman
By Kiana Wilburg
According to statistics provided by the Ministry of Finance, the forestry sector performed poorly in

Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman

2015 and has remained on the decline curve since the beginning of this year.
In fact, forestry production for January 2016 totaled 25,733m3. This represents a decline of 18.6 percent compared to January 2015 when 31,638m3 was achieved.
The Finance Ministry admitted that the low production levels resulted from Government’s temporary ban on timber exports.
In a previous interview with this newspaper, Finance Minister Winston Jordan had said that the forestry sector’s performance for 2015 was disappointing. “This sector had one of the hardest hits in recent times. We expected it to pick up, but it did not.”
On the other hand, Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman, insists that the ban was “just and necessary”. He admitted that forestry production fell short of expectations, but he refrained from expressing that the industry performed “poorly”.
“Indeed the restriction on the exports of some logs would have contributed to a reduction in revenue from exports, and we believe that this restriction was just and necessary, given the wanton and wild way trees were being cut and logs were shipped,” Trotman asserted.
He further contended, “Also, many logging concessions had to be closed down for four to five months because of unusually heavy rains last year. Finally, the slowing of Asian economies, particularly China’s and India’s, led to a downturn in demand for commodities, including timber. These three factors led to the decline.”
Trotman said that “the good news” is that Guyana’s forests are still standing and there is value in them “so we are not worse off.”
According to the Finance Minister, work is presently underway to stimulate greater foreign and local investment in the forestry sector, especially in value added activities. He said that sustainable management of the forestry resources will continue through community training and capacity building, which will target over 400 persons.
He said that the Government, via the Ministry of Natural Resources, will continue to work along with the international community to develop a comprehensive, equitable and sustainable international regime of compensation for the provision of climate amelioration services provided by Guyana.
Jordan said, too, that the Government will undertake a thorough review of the Investment Agreements for this sector to ensure that there is compliance with regulations and the agreements, and to ensure sustainable harvesting of the forestry product.
The current administration was recently in receipt of a forensic audit report that highlighted a logging company being granted concessions for machinery, equipment and construction materials which were just too excessive and in many instances, had nothing to do with its work.