…as Norway forest deal kicks in
Mining will face increased scrutiny as plans are progressing to greatly increase the number of Mines Officers stationed throughout the hinterland to monitor all operations.
The development comes as Guyana moves to implement the recently signed forest preservation Memoran-dum of Understanding with Norway and President Bharrat Jagdeo on Tuesday challenged miners to be open to, and identify “sustainable changes” in procedures and practices which will minimize avoidable degradation of forests. He was speaking to twenty leading gold and diamond miners at a dinner he hosted for them at State House on Tuesday evening, the Office of the Prime Minister said in a news release.
The statement noted that an issue has existed for many years between the mining and timber sectors about the felling of trees and otherwise degrading forests in the course of mining. It said that this contention has been steadily intensifying in step with the growing need for wood exports to be ‘forest certified’. “The recent agreement with Norway through which Guyana receives payments for avoided deforestation and degradation now puts a significant monetary and moral cost to any unnecessary degradation of forest areas for any purpose”, the statement asserted.
On November 9, Guyana and Norway inked a Memorandum of Understanding that will see Oslo paying US$30 million ($6.2 billion) next year and potentially up to a total of US$250 million ($51.7 billion) by 2015 for this country to preserve its forests. Under the partnership, Guyana will accelerate its efforts to limit forest-based greenhouse gas emissions and protect its rainforest as an asset for the world. Norway will provide financial support to Guyana at a level based on this country’s success in limiting emissions. This will enable Guyana to start implementing its Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) at scale.
According to the statement, Jagdeo assured the miners that he recognized and applauded the contribution of the sector to exports and in providing purposeful work to thousands of persons. “Following recent Cabinet discussions, plans are being drawn up to increase the coordination between the GGMC (Guyana Geology and Mines Commission) and the GFC (Guyana Forestry Commission) and greatly increase the number of officers of the GGMC to be stationed at various locations throughout the hinterland to increase the monitoring of all mining operations”, the statement said. It noted that Jagdeo emphasized that new procedures and practices must not be so bureaucratic as to strangle operations. The statement also said that the non-declaration or under declaration of gold from some operations by illegal direct sale to jewellers and smuggling to neighbouring countries were identified as leakages which could not be tolerated.
The statement said that arising out of the discussions, the miners welcomed the President’s proposal that a joint committee be established to review and elaborate on the current proposals. The committee is to be chaired by Minister of Public Works and Communications, Robeson Benn. The members will include Acting GGMC Head, William Woolford, GFC Commissioner, James Singh, Odinga Lumumba and four representatives from the mining industry including current President of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA), Norman McLean and Executive Secretary, Edward Shields. The committee’s considerations would be presented to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and Jagdeo, the statement said.
The sector had come under increased focus following the launch of the LCDS. Miners have been told that they would have to radically transform their mindset and operations. Jagdeo has said that the strategy would not see the cessation of economic activities in the forest and had assured that no rule will be made to shut down the industry.
However, several miners have expressed concerns that a proposed requirement that miners carry out exploration before they would be allowed to mine will see as much as 80% of small and medium-scale miners being forced out of business. One miner, former President of the GGDMA Patrick Pereira had called for the exemption of 7% of Guyana’s total forested area, amounting to just over one million hectares for small and medium-scale gold and diamond miners to mine under present alluvial conditions.
This, he suggested could be in the wet alluvial old river bed flats “where the natural re-growth of trees after mining is fast and furious.” This exemption cannot in any way stop the LCDS from being a success and it will guarantee the economic survival of almost 100 000 persons while earning hundreds of millions for government organizations, he argued. According to the miner, it is interesting to note that since alluvial mining commenced, only a little over 1% of the forested area has so far been mined, while 50% of that area has seen complete forest regeneration.
Immediate past president of the GGDMA, Afro Alphonso had told Stabroek News too that if the exploration requirement and other regulations are enforced, only the very large miners will remain in business because to comply with the regulations will be very costly.
But under the Norway agreement, preservation of forest is a top priority.
