Iwokrama warns about illegal activities in protected forest

The Iwokrama International Centre said it has noted with serious concern the propagation of illegal activities in the Iwokrama Forest and is warning persons from conducting those activities without the requisite permission.

Section 2 of the clause titled “Control of the Programme Site” of the Iwokrama Act states:
Subject to Section 6 (1) and notwithstanding anything in any other written law:-
(a) No mining, forestry or other resources utilisation activity shall be carried out on the Programme Site by any person other than the Centre except with the prior written permission of the Centre; and
(b) No lease of land or permission to use land in the Programme Site shall be issued by any person other than the Centre and all activities on the Programme Site shall be in accordance with regulations prescribed therefor under this Act.
Section 3 goes on to prescribe the penalties.
“Any person who contravenes the provisions of Subsection (2) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of one hundred thousand dollars or imprisonment for a period of one year and where the offence is of a continuing nature, to a further fine not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars for each day during which the offence continues after conviction.”
With that in mind, Iwokrama said that it has discovered a plethora of illegal activities in its forest. Those activities include, but are not limited to, fishing, hunting, logging and mining.
“The Centre would like to remind the public and other stakeholders that these activities are not allowed in the Iwokrama Forest unless the Centre gives express written permission for any of these activities to be undertaken. The Centre has already imposed penalties on one errant tourism operator who was caught illegally logging in the Iwokrama Forest and a gold miner who was arrested and is now being placed before the courts,” the Centre said in an advertisement.
Iwokrama said it has spent enough time and resources on education and awareness with regard to these illegal activities in the Iwokrama Forest and has now adopted a zero-tolerance approach to these activities, especially the gold mining and logging operations. The Centre’s monitoring team together with the regulatory institutions in Guyana, including but not limited to, the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Forestry Commission, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency will continue to undertake regular monitoring and enforcement activities within the environs of the Iwokrama Forest.
The Centre will also be rigidly enforcing the prescribed penalties under the Iwokrama Act and other laws of Guyana to any person found illegally operating in the Iwokrama Forest.
“Iwokrama believes in the development of the hinterland region of Guyana which provides livelihoods for many Guyanese but at the same time, all activities must be done within the confined of the laws of Guyana,” the ad related.
The Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development (Iwokrama) was created in the “run-up” to the Rio Summit in 1992. It is a key environmental programme dedicated by the Government of Guyana, through President Desmond Hoyte, to the Commonwealth in 1989 at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Malaysia.
Since its foundation, through an Act of Parliament in 1996, signed off by then President Dr Cheddi Jagan, Iwokrama has sought to advance best practices in the sustainable management of the world’s remaining rain forests.
Iwokrama manages the 371,000 hectares (nearly one million acres) Iwokrama Forest in central Guyana to show how tropical forests can be conserved and sustainably used for ecological, social and economic benefits to local, national and international communities.
Iwokrama is a mountain range in the forest, and the word Iwokrama is of the Macushi tribal nation which means “place of refuge”. The legend is that there was historical inter-tribal warfare and the Makushi people fled into the Iwokrama Mountains to seek refuge.