Barama has made some progress in correcting deficiencies, which led to the suspension of its certification from the Forest Stewardship Council, representative of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Dr Patrick Williams has said.

However, Dr Williams said he would prefer if this newspaper ascertained the details from Barama itself. The company has been silent on the issue for the past few weeks.

Dr Williams had issued a scathing press release on Barama’s status with regard to its certification and outlined a number of requirements that the company had to achieve before it receives the support of the WWF again. The WWF provided part of the funding to Barama for the company to fund the certification process.

Barama’s FSC certification was suspended for three months because of the company’s failure to live up to conditions of the certification and because of failings on the part of the company’s auditor SGS-Qualifor in its certification work.

General Manager at Barama Girwar Lalaram had said on the issuing of the press release from WWF that the company would have been doing what was necessary to correct the situation.

Barama was awarded the certification in February 2006 for 570,000 hectares of its forests in west central Guyana by FSC. WWF provided the financial and technical support to Barama in the process leading up to its successful certification.

The company’s certification was contingent upon its correcting several minor deficiencies for which SGS issued corrective action requests (CARs).

These CARs detailed mandatory improvements in Barama’s performance in the area of workers’ housing, hygiene and safety, road planning and several other issues. They formed the basis of SGS’s monitoring audit in November 2006, according to a statement from Williams back in January.

According to the WWF, during the year since Barama achieved its certification, staff from the WWF Guianas Programme Office visited the company’s operations several times under an ongoing monitoring programme. They met officials to discuss the company’s adherence to responsible forest management practices that the FSC standards mandated.

The WWF said during the process it became increasingly clear to WWF that Barama neither carried out nor gave priority and resources to many of the improvements the company had committed to pursue.

The WWF had written to Lalaram in December 2006 expressing concern and urging the company’s management to solve these problems immediately. According to WWF, Barama’s CEO replied accepting the deficiencies identified to date and pledging to return to full compliance with the provisions of its FSC certification.

According to the WWF, it stands prepared to engage with Barama, local forestry experts, and SGS’s auditors to address all the deficiencies discovered during the audit SGS conducted, provided that Barama renews its commitment to certification.

The organisation called on Barama to make a public statement indicating that the company is serious about attaining and practising responsible forestry according to the rigorous standards of the FSC.

It also called on Barama to commit to a transparent, time-bound action plan to address all the deficiencies as specified by SGS and as required to be compliant with FSC certification.