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No hurrying here… Allocation of state lands follow a set pattern – Forestry Commission
The Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) is denying that it is hurrying the allocation of a number of large-scale logging concessions that were associated with disgraced Chinese investor, BaiShanLin.
Forests
The Commission was over the weekend responding to a letter writer titled, ‘Hurried allocation of over one million acres of State Forest will be a national environmental disaster’.
The letter would have followed statements of Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, who last week warned that there should be no hurry in allocating the lands, which represents several hundred hectares.
The forested area, covering miles of Guyana’s hinterland, was repossessed by the Coalition Government in 2016 after it became clear that BaiShanLin had failed to honour a number of commitments, including the construction of a large processing plant in the Region 10 area.
“The Guyana Forestry Commission Act 2007 and the Forests Act 2009 have given a clear mandate to the GFC for the management and administration of State forests. The vacant areas as advertised were repossessed by the GFC in 2016 after significant transgressions of the Forest Act 2009 by the previous concession holders,” the Commission said in response over the weekend.
The Commission pointed out the article cited the proposed re-allocations as a significant development, but attempts were then made to suggest that the Commission was guided and or motivated by political considerations.
“The GFC unequivocally states that the timing of the advertisement has no bearing on the impending electoral process. The areas have been held in abeyance since their repossession. Their reallocation was based on submissions recommended by the GFC, which were duly studied and carefully considered by the Board of Directors of the GFC.”
According to the Commission, the Guyana Forestry Commission Act 2007 and the Forests Act 2009 have given a clear mandate to the GFC for the management and administration of state forests.
“The vacant areas as advertised were repossessed by the GFC in 2016 after significant transgressions of the Forest Act 2009 by the previous concession holders. The areas as advertised will be issued in accordance with the Forest Act 2009 and as embraced in the Guyana Timber Legality Assurance System (GTLAS) which is internationally recognised as being a transparent and legitimate system of allocating state forest, by donor partners including the European Commission and the Kingdom of Norway.”
GFC stressed that the article cited the proposed re-allocations as a significant development, but attempts were then made to suggest that the Commission was guided and or motivated by political considerations.
“It should be noted that a portion of the Barama concession was allocated in 2018 under and the very process being following to re-allocate the current areas and no concerns of forests degradation or ‘environmental disasters’ were expressed by anyone. Therefore, it is ludicrous to conclude that the impending re-allocations will have any dire effect on the environment or be contrary to the principles of sustainable forests management practiced by the sector.”
GFC insisted that Guyana has been sustainably harvesting its forests for more than a 100 years and yet deforestation rates remains one or if not the lowest in the world.
“A fact that has been confirmed by the Forests Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) REDD+ process and the Monitoring Reporting Verification System (MRVS) reports which have resulted in Guyana receiving approximately GY$9B in December, 2019 from the Kingdom of Norway.”
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