Guyana delegation to travel to UK to push for lifting of ban on greenheart

A high-level delegation led by Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman will be travelling to the United Kingdom to facilitate discussions on the complete lifting of its procurement ban on greenheart from Guyana. The meeting is set for November 19-21, 2018.
The ban, which was introduced by the Environmental Agency (EA) in the UK in 2015, claimed that proof of sustainable sourcing of the forest product was inadequate. This has since resulted in a drastic decrease in exports of the product to the UK. It has also seen several concerns being raised by members of the Forest Producers Association and the public, as it was noted that the banned

product was historically vital to Guyana’s economy and the long-term effect of the ban could be damaging to Guyana’s export of greenheart as well as its credibility internationally.
Greenheart represents over 18 per cent of Guyana’s logging industry production, of which timber is a major export earner, thus it was agreed that the Government of Guyana would engage in talks at the diplomatic level, among other things, to ensure this matter is sorted out.
It must be noted that Guyana’s system of monitoring and verification to ensure logging is done in a sustainable and legal manner has been tested and proven over time, particularly, through our agreement with the Kingdom of Norway.
With this being said, in December 2016, after being advised that a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification was awarded to Iwokrama, the EA relaxed the ban on greenheart. This meant that the UK began to accept Category A FSC 100 per cent greenheart only from Iwokrama, but continued to refuse Category B timber.
In 2017, the UK agreed to reopen dialogue.
In a statement, the Natural Resources Ministry said that Guyana saw this opening as an opportunity to fully ventilate the issue and Guyana’s position with regard to the UK, and made a case for completely lifting the ban on greenheart imports.
Guyana will, therefore, take advantage of the opportunity for dialogue toward the resolution of the matter to restart the smooth export of greenheart to the UK, and strengthen the relationship between Guyana and the UK.
“Guyana believes that it has met and maintained all international standards and criteria for the product and export of timber products of all species. This again is evidenced by the successful implementation of the Partnership Agreement with the Kingdom of Norway, and by the successful conclusion of a Voluntary Partnership Agreement with the European Union, under the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) regime, which is to be signed on November 23, 2018 in Brussels, Belgium,” the statement further said.
It was outlined that while in the UK, the delegation will deliver a presentation in support of Guyana’s case for lifting of the ban and hold discussions with senior officials.
The Ministry, which will also receive delegation support from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, is anticipating that the discussions will be “fruitful and rewarding.” The other members of the Guyana delegation include Guyana Forestry Commission Chairman Joslyn Dow, EU-FLEGT Secretariat Head Kenny David and GFC Deputy Commissioner Gavin Agard.