Guyana eyes bigger forest earnings without cutting more trees

Emphasising the need for Guyana to sustain its forestry sector, Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat on Monday revealed that authorities are expanding ways in which the country can continue generating revenue from its forests without increasing tree harvesting. He made the disclosure during the 30th anniversary celebration marking the passage of the Iwokrama Act, held at the Guyana Marriott Hotel in Georgetown.

According to Bharrat, he has already made it clear to the team at the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) that “we cannot stop logging; we cannot stop the harvesting of trees.”

“We have almost 25,000 Guyanese, mostly from indigenous and riverine communities, that depend on the logging sector in this country. That is a figure, a number, that will never be employed by the oil and gas sector, even if we produce two million or three million barrels of oil, because the sector is not designed in such a way. So, we really, as a country, need to keep our forestry sector alive,” he explained.

Minister noted, however, that the challenge lies in maintaining low deforestation rates while supporting the industry. “How do we do that and keep our forest standing? And the answer to that is the forest economy. The answer to that is value-added. And that is the direction we’ve been heading as a country,” he outlined.

“Today we see many communities engage in ecotourism, in honey production, and in agroforestry, which is a new concept that we’re trying to get a buy-in from communities across the country, because it has proven to be a successful model across the world, among forested countries, to earn from the forest without cutting more trees,” he added. Agroforestry is the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming systems to create environmental, economic, and social benefits. It combines agriculture and forestry to create more sustainable, diverse and productive land-use systems, rather than treating them as separate practices. According to the Natural Resources Minister, the Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development (IIC) has a key role to play in this journey.

“I think the next step forward is for Dane (Gobin, CEO of IIC) and his team to truly examine how we continue earning from the forest without cutting more trees. Or as a matter of fact, how do we continue earning from the forest by cutting fewer trees but making the sector more viable and profitable and expanding opportunities for stakeholders in the sector and employment, whether directly or indirectly? I think that is the way forward,” he said.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, Guyana has an estimated 85 per cent forest cover with one of the lowest deforestation rates in the world. In fact, it said the country has maintained the second-highest percentage of forest cover on earth, with more than 99 per cent of the forest’s 18 million hectares remaining.

According to the GFC, deforestation between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023 is 9353 hectares; this equates to an annualised deforestation rate of 0.053 per cent.