Companies looking to capitalise on the available forest concessions will have to prove that they employ sustainable forestry practices. This is even as the Government looks to re-allocate concessions once held by the Barama logging company.
Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman
Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman said that the subject Ministry has begun inviting tenders for forest concessions previously held by Barama.
Speaking to the media late last week, Trotman said the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) has been advertising in the media locally, as well as in major forestry magazines and websites regionally and internationally, to invite interested and highly competent parties to submit Expressions of Interest for State Forest Exploratory Permits. The deadline for submission of applications is January 20, 2016.
According to him, the processing of applications will begin after the deadline for submission. “We will begin a new chapter of greater sustainability practices in forestry and a reinvigorated focus on value added,” he explained.
Trotman said that the 1.6 million hectares concession previously held by Barama would be divided into four portions. “One of these portions will be used for conservation; a second will be made available to small loggers who are interested in pursuing sustainable logging activities, while the last two will be open to multinational companies interested in operating larger concessions in an environmentally sustainable way,” he said.
In October, Barama announced its decision to not extend its forest concession agreement with the Government of Guyana. Trotman assured that his Ministry, through the Guyana Forestry Commission, was monitoring the winding up of the company’s logging operations, even as the Social Protection Ministry continued to engage the company directly on matters related to its workers.
Reports indicate that the company was still deciding whether it was profitable to continue its sawmilling and veneering and plywood manufacturing here.
According to reports, Government’s slothfulness in reviewing the renewal of the contract was the main reason behind Barama’s decision to leave the market.
Sources had said that during the period of the prolonged negotiations, the global economic situation took a drastic turn for the worse. The sources said had the Government presented a contract earlier, the company would have most likely still be conducting operations.
In 2015, the Natural Resources Ministry undertook to review the renewal of the contract with Barama at its behest; however, the company was presented with a draft agreement in late 2016.
A task force was established to examine the company’s request for a continuation of its contract, given the “rapacious activities” of some foreign companies operating in the forests of Guyana.
When the draft agreement was finally presented to Barama for feedback, the company had already decided to pull the plug on its operations. The source quoted in the media also indicated that the draft contract was “rough”, and did not encourage the company to stay in the market.
Barama has invested in excess of US$43 billion in its local operations since its establishment in 1991 and was one of the country’s largest employers.
Trotman, following the company’s withdrawal, had submitted a number of proposals to Cabinet on alternative use of the more than 1.6 million hectares of forest lands, as well as on the welfare of the workers who were affected by the closure.
