The PPP said that the operations of BaiShanlin, et al are legal. They took multi page ads on Kaiteurnews to highlight their opinion that what is happening has their blessing and is fully in compliance with the regulations as they interpret them.
I am not going to go into the details of these compliance methodology the put forth. It may come out later in this thread by others who care to mention them. My point is that it matters not. The whole scale harvesting of logs by foreign multinationals, namely the Chinese has no history of benefits anywhere. Presently, they are clear cutting massive acreages of our lands, building roads that cut across primal forests and so opening up areas in ways that will inevitably be harmful to the eco system.
Further, Baishanlin notes in their brochure that they have options on these lands in perpetuity! It means they do not intend to leave.They intend to make us their permanent host to their particular brand of parasitism.Yes, this is parasitism. The Chinese has not benefited any place with their presence. They are by nature self centered and concerned only with what profits them. It is why their mode of operations is always involve shady deals with willing and corrupt politicians and never in the light of day with full knowledge of the people. We never knew the extent of their harvesting of our logs!
Back to the point, the PPP can say all they want that this is legal. We do not agree. This is predation in the manner that left Tibet an mess. It is what caused Cameroon to call the Chinese thieves. It is what the Surinamese are reacting to. It is what our own people, especially the Amerindians are objecting to. It is what our people is beginning to be aware of and what we do not want. This has to stop or the people should put a stop to it by any means necessary. They can learn from looking to the groups in the US who stopped the harvesting of redwood.
We do not want jobs merely because they are jobs others offer so they can pillage our natural resources. We do not want menial jobs that make us subjects of these people. We also want to know in verifiable terms what has logging given us in benefits. What for example, o 100 foot piece of giant green heart worth.
If the PPP has granted as Bynoe state, BaiShanLin has the authority to move almost 6000 containers of logs out of the country annually, what does that amount to in terms of damage to our environment, in terms of cutting access roads etc and how much do we get? I dare say, it is not worth it. And we have a long legacy across the planed from Mauritius, to Sarawak, to Papua New Guinea where these people moved through like locusts destroying the environment, cultures and entire state economies.