GOVERNMENT is moving to “nip in the bud” the labelling of Guyana’s Greenheart product by the United Kingdom Environment Agency as unfit for its Government construction due to claims that the local forests is not being sustainably managed.Speaking at a press conference organised by the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and forestry agencies at the PSC head office on Monday, Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman said the advisory, issued by the UK agency in May last year, can result in widespread damage by the tarnishing of Guyana’s reputation, and must be addressed early.

“Interestingly, it only applies to Greenheart, and it is our intention to nip it before it spreads elsewhere, and to ensure that with respect to Greenheart in particular, we address the problem at the (proverbial) root,” Minister Trotman told reporters.

The UK Environment Agency issued an advisory in the UK in May 2015, giving notice to contractors for Government-funded projects to desist from using Guyana’s Greenheart wood. Guyana is a significant commercial supplier of Greenheart to the UK, exporting an overall value of US$27 million of that commodity to the UK over the last four years.

The advisory issued by the UK agency stated that while Greenheart from Guyana is not currently available from category A – certified timber under a Forest Management Certification such as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) – there is also insufficient Category B evidence to prove via documentation and due diligence that there is sustainability in the management of the forests from which the wood is sourced.

This move by the UK agency has created a great impact on the export, logging and forestry industry here, and local stakeholders are calling on the UK agency to withdrawal the advisory it issued.

Minister Trotman said the Government is in solidary with the private sector’s call, and would collaborate in finding a solution to the problem.

“We will link hands together to find a solution, because every problem must have a solution, and we are here to link hands in finding that solution,” he said.

He said Government has already engaged stakeholders and is in the process of developing a plan of action to move forward.

Trotman defended Guyana’s system of verifying the health of its forests, saying that it has been tested, proven, and stands scrutiny, reflecting a standard recognised by Norway and other international supporters of the industry.

PREJUDICIAL ATTACK

Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, sees the advisory as a prejudicial attack on Guyana’s forestry industry, and pledges Government’s support to the sector, which contributes significantly to Guyana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“We fully support (the industry’s) position on this, in that the technical note issued by the UK Environmental Agency is prejudicial to the wellbeing of Greenheart… And if Guyana is the only place in the world where Greenheart is found in commercial quantities, then certainly it is prejudicial to Guyana itself,” Minister Gaskin said.

While calling Greenheart “more than a local industry”, but a product that “is part of our Guyanese identity”, the minister said the new restriction on its export to the UK has a harmful effect on Greenheart producers, and further consultations at Government and stakeholder levels will determine the most appropriate way to approach the issue.

Chairman of the Guyana Manufacturing Association (GMA) Wood Sector Group, Navendra Chand, has called for a complete withdrawal by the UK agency of the technical note, which has for months placed grievous limitations on Guyana’s export of Greenheart to the UK.

“Our recommendation for the next step is to approach this matter in order to have a complete withdrawal of the technical note, and for fair application of the UK procurement policy,” he declared.

FAR-REACHING IMPACT

Highlighting that it can have far-reaching impact, Chand explained that the technical note issued in the UK stated that “a decision has been made that we (the UK) will apply the timber procurement policy rigorously, and that we will only buy timber from legal and sustainable sources. This currently prohibits the purchase of new Greenheart from Guyana, as it does not have sufficient evidence based on the UK Government’s requirement that the forests of origin are sustainably managed.”

Chand told reporters that timber export — in particular Greenheart — has skyrocketed over the past four years, with Guyana breaking free into the industry after the economic downturn of 2008.

“In 2012, after recovering from economic downturn internationally… there was some development over a period of time; and in 2012, we started to penetrate the trade market in the UK. And I would say we reached a very fast rate to the highest point, in 2014, of Greenheart trade,” Chand said.

He said that, in 2014, Guyana experienced the highest rate of export, but in 2015 there was “an immediate nose dive” all the way up to August 2016. “That is the level of impact that Greenheart and the trade overall to the UK has been affected.”

He said Greenheart alone accounted for 90 per cent of the overall trade to the UK; and prior to the issuing of the advisory, the value of the Greenheart trade was some US$3.2M in 2014.

However, it reduced significantly to 1.1 per cent following the decision, resulting in a 65 per cent decline in trade.

The Private Sector and Government will now work collaboratively to break barriers and remove the negative label which has been placed on its forests, restoring its name as one of the best sustained in the tropics.

“But this here is bringing tremendous harm to the image of Guyana, because while they may target a particular species, the main focus here is the forest of origin, (as) they do not believe there is enough evidence to prove sustainable practices. It is directly tarnishing the efforts that Guyana has made so far, and you know that we have been recognised not only under the LCDS (Low Carbon Development Strategy), but under ITTO (International Timber and Trade Organisation) as being one of the best managed forests in the world, in the tropical region.”

He said that with the new restriction, investors are shying away from the industry, and he is displeased that even in determining the sustainability status of Guyana’s forests, the UK agency failed to consult Guyanese stakeholders.