VPA agreement will advance forestry, increase employment – Iwokrama

Increased employment opportunities and sustainable forestry operations will be the result of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) for the trade of legal timber, the Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development has stated as it praised Government’s efforts in the sector.
This week, Guyana signed a legally binding trade agreement to promote sustainable trade of legal timber to the European Union (EU) – another significant achievement as the first country from the Amazon Region to secure such an agreement. The agreement will give EU-based buyers assurance that timber products from Guyana are legal, while helping to improve forest governance, and promote trade in verified legal timber products nationally.
Through the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) which is aligned with the expanded Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030, the Centre said Guyana’s forestry sector will see advances that will increase employment opportunities, promote sustainable development and support the livelihoods of Indigenous peoples and local communities.
Iwokrama said it highly commends the Guyana Forestry Commission for its strong leadership throughout the FLEGT VPA preparatory and negotiations process, and for engaging multiple partners to ensure all actors along the supply chain are on board.
CEO of Iwokrama, Dane Gobin noted, “This is another major step for Guyana as it seeks to balance its oil and gas sector with conservation and wise use of its natural assets. Several forest operations in Guyana are already certified under various certification regimes including the 1,000,000-acre Iwokrama Forest which has been internationally certified since 2008. The Centre welcomes this added layer of third-party validation that Guyana’s forests are managed in accordance with social, environmental and ecological best practices.”
The Iwokrama International Centre added that it was pleased to participate in the national working groups and is committed to supporting the successful implementation of the FLEGT VPA.
The Centre has also lauded Government’s stride in securing the innovative carbon credit agreement with Hess Corporation earlier this month.
The Iwokrama International Centre (IIC) was established in 1996 under a joint mandate from the Government of Guyana and the Commonwealth Secretariat to manage the Iwokrama Forest, a unique reserve of 371,000 hectares of rainforest “in a manner that will lead to lasting ecological, economic and social benefits to the people of Guyana and to the world in general.”
The Centre, guided by an international Board of Trustees, is unique, providing a dedicated well managed and researched forest environment. The forest is zoned into a Sustainable Utilisation Area (SUA) and a Wilderness Preserve (WP) in which to test the concept of a truly sustainable forest where conservation, environmental balance and economic use can be mutually reinforcing.
The IIC collaborates with the Government of Guyana, the Commonwealth and other international partners and donors to develop new approaches and forest management models to enable countries with rainforests to market their ecosystem services whilst carefully managing their resources through innovative and creative conservation practices. In more recent years, the Centre has received support from corporate partners such as Exxon Mobil (Guyana) Limited which has funded the development of its Science Programme and continues to provide an annual contribution to the implementation of this programme.
Iwokrama brings together 20 local communities with approximately 7000 people, who are shareholders and participants in the IIC’s sustainable timber, tourism, research operations and forest management activities through complex co-management and benefit sharing arrangements.
Scientists and researchers are engaged in ground-breaking research into the impacts of climate change on the forest and measuring the scope and value of its ecosystem services. (G12)