Iwokrama eyes economic viability
-moves to set up timber harvesting company
By Johann Earle
Stabroek News
June 17, 2004
In another two years, the Iwokrama International Centre hopes to take a quantum leap towards financial autonomy; starting the sustainable harvesting of timber from its forests, its largest commercial venture to date.
The new entity, to be set up with a capital investment of US$1.4M, will be a global model for timber harvesting in keeping with Iwokrama's vision of environmental sustainability, social sensitivity and economic viability.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is the agency bankrolling the new timber-harvesting venture, according to Dr David Singh of Iwokrama. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) disclosed that the proposed partnership is to be called Iwokrama Timber Products (ITP), but that the name may change when the partnership is in effect.
So far, Iwokrama's commercial interests have concentrated on eco-tourism, non-timber forest production, training, and research. However, over the past two years or so, Iwokrama has seen sharp decreases in donor funding and has had to come up with innovative business plans to generate its own funding. Iwokrama has had to cut staff and revise operation policies, with a view to becoming more output oriented. The centre still seeks donor funding and is the recipient of a number of conservation grants from various overseas organisations, like the Audubon Society.
According to the draft EIA report for the venture, Iwokrama will seek the involvement of a private sector partner through open competition and the business arrangements will be in accord with the Iwokrama Act. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made the three-volume EIA public and is now awaiting comments on it so that a decision could be made on the project.
CEA Ltd of Canada and a team of consultants carried out the EIA. The consultants said the impacts to eco-systems from the project will be small and manageable and will not affect the regional ecological integrity provided that measures which the EIA proposes are adopted. They said too that the partnership arrangements will incorporate a shareholding agreement between the private sector partner and a representative body of local communities that are directly involved in the collaborative management of the forest.
Iwokrama currently recognises the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB) as the representative body of the peoples of the North Rupununi. And before it applied for environmental authorisation, there was extensive consultation with stakeholders on social, economic, and environmental matters that could affect the design of the project, the EIA said. After a public announcement on November 12, 2003, that an EIA on the project would be conducted, Iwokrama held EIA scoping meetings in Annai and Georgetown. The NRDDB has been involved in Iwokrama's Wetlands Project and conservation of the Arapaima and other species found in the North Rupununi.
The corporate structure of the new entity will be finalised with the private sector partner, the NRDDB and Iwokrama. But the EIA report said Iwokrama will retain "a golden share" in the company.
The EIA envisaged that a chief executive officer (CEO), who will report to Iwokrama's International Board of Trustees (IBOT), will head the timber entity.
On January 13, 2004, the IBOT made a policy decision to undertake the business of timber production, which would involve harvesting up to 6,000 cubic metres per annum for the first year through a business partnership involving local communities.
The EIA said the Iwokrama Forest has been zoned into a Wilderness Preserve (WP), a Sustainable Utilisation Area (SUA), and within the SUA, a Net Operable Area (NOA). Timber harvesting will be concentrated in the NOA, the EIA said.
Some of the types of wood that Iwokrama will harvest from the forest are mixed greenheart, black kakaralli, wamara, sand baromalli, mora, manicole, wallaba and crabwood.
According to the EIA, the project will conform to the international standards and requirements of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as well as the National Standards for Forest Certification, with the objective of becoming certified at an early date.
The EIA said the entity will employ a polycyclic system that involves felling only a few of the commercial trees in an area, after which the block would be closed to further felling for a period to allow trees to grow back and the stand to recover.
To ensure that sufficient trees are available for future harvests, and that damage to the stand is minimal, there are limits to the minimum size and number of trees that can be felled, the EIA stated.
"ITP will not fell trees below 40 cm DBH and in many cases the limit will be higher. In addition, ITP will adhere to the guidelines in the GFC [Guyana Forestry Commission] Code of Practice and will not fell more than 10 trees/ha," the EIA said. "Once the block has been felled, it will be closed to further felling for a period of no less than 60 years."
According to the EIA, ITP must respect all applicable laws of Guyana and international treaties and agreements to which Guyana is a signatory, and operate in compliance with all FSC Principles and Criteria and/or those developed by the Guyana National Initiative for Forest Certification (GNIFC).
The company must also manage its operations in such a way that all of the rights, interests, skills, and knowledge of the traditional owners are respected and integrated in all of the forest management programmes. In addition to these, the operations of the company must be managed to capture values, goods and services that will be equitably shared among the local, national, and international community in the long term.
According to the EIA, the company will ensure that it honours all intellectual property rights and benefit-sharing protocols that Iwokrama is developing.
The EIA stated that the company will govern its operations to conserve the natural and cultural heritage of the forest, to use it sustainably, and, to provide a model for sustainable forest management. And that it would do so using the national and FSC standards to certify its forestry management.
ITP's operations are to place a high priority on conserving biological diversity and its associated values, water resources, soils, and unique and fragile ecosystems and landscapes, and, by so doing, maintain the ecological functions and the integrity of the Forest, the EIA stated.
The proposed market strategies as envisaged in 2003 - when the marketing report was written - will result in the following market mix for ITP sales: the United States - 41%; Barbados - 27%; the United Kingdom/Europe - 17%; Trinidad & Tobago - 5%; other Caribbean states - 1%; others - 9%. The US market strategy will be based on marine construction, decking and flooring with the possibility of sales to importers of specialty woods for retail and small-scale manufacturing.
Some of the predicted social impacts of the proposed foresting are the increased access to forest resources and the negative effects on the subsistence economy of the North Rupununi. But these would be mitigated if regular monitoring and patrolling routines were maintained.
According to the EIA, there will be a trend towards increasing involvement with the outside world whether the project, or any of its alternative schemes, goes ahead or not. "The potential negative effects are predicted to be minimal because of the institutional mechanisms already in place to respond to threats," it said.
There will be little increase in the malaria incidence since forestry operations would be scaled down in wet months and preventative measures would be instituted. Further, there will be a full-time medic based at Iwokrama's Field Station at Kurupukari.
"Timber harvesting will change ecosystem habitats and thereby potentially detrimentally affect a number of species. These effects are predicted to be of short-term duration and reversible, in terms of forest regeneration time scales," the EIA said.
Apart from potential increases in dust from the transportation of raw lumber or product on roads the effects of gaseous emissions from machinery and vehicles are predicted to be insignificant, the study found.