Summary

  • The Guyana Forestry Commission manages 13.8 million ha of forest.
  • Exports have increased by a fifth in the last three years.
  • The UK imports US$9m-worth of timber from Guyana.
  • Less well-known species such as tonka bean are being promoted.

Possibly one of the world’s less well-known countries, Guyana tucks onto the north-eastern coast of South America and is bordered by Venezuela, Surinam, Brazil and the Atlantic Ocean. Nearly 90% of its 21.5 million ha of land mass – an area half the size of Germany – is forested, of which 13.8 million ha is state-owned, coming under the jurisdiction of the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC).

Guyana’s timber industry is primarily concentrated along the main rivers: the Corentyne, Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo. Most of the timber processing facilities are located along the Guyanese coast.

The forestry sector accounts for 6% of GDP and 20,000 jobs, so is vitally important to the economic development of Guyana. The country has a population of about 750,000 and, with 90% living on the coastal belt, the population applies little pressure on forest resources.

Forest industry exports have gone up by one-fifth in the past three years to around US$59.5m, about US$12m of which finds its way to Europe. The UK accounts for US$9m of that, largely in sawn greenheart and plywood.

The future of Guyana’s forest industries sector is inextricably linked to improving earnings from value-added exports and diversification into new markets. To meet these objectives, the industry needs to expand its inventory of marketable species and wood products for export.

New species

However, the successful introduction of new timber species into the market has always challenged the timber supplier and will continue to do so. To help overcome this, GFC has set up a development fund to identify and develop the export potential of lesser-used species (LUS), such as tonka bean, wadara and morabukea, to name but a few. Of particular interest is the desire to widen the Commission’s inventory of timbers suitable for marine and heavy construction and to develop new value-added products for the timber decking and cladding markets.

“Buyers of Guyanese forest products can be assured that these products originate from forests that are being managed sustainably,” said GFC director Luvindra Sukhraj. “The current harvesting rate in the state forests is about 5m3/ha – well below the annual allowable cut of 20m3/ha.”

The Forest Products Marketing Council of Guyana Inc is developing a Legal Verification System (LVS) that would include chain of custody certification as part of its requirements. Among the organisations funding the scheme are the WWF, the United States Agency for International Development and the International Tropical Timber Organisation. Exporters satisfying the LVS requirements will be certified, in keeping with the new EUropean requirement for legality of wood products and the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) system. The LVS would also meet WWF Global Forest and Trade Network requirements.

The GFC has appointed the UK natural resource management company ProForest to develop the system. “We are hoping to complete the system by the end of July, with field testing to be carried out in August or September this year,” added Mr Luvindra.

This feasibility study into Guyanese LUS enjoys support from the wider industry, particularly consumers of tropical hardwood timbers for marine construction. “We are very interested in the outcome of this research,” said Victoria Vaughan-Williams, sustainable procurement adviser at the Environment Agency. “The development of LUS from sustainable forest resources, and confirmation that they are suitable for use in challenging environments around the UK coastline, will enable us to widen the inventory of timber species we use in marine and flood defence construction projects. This is important to ensure long-term, sustained yield of tropical hardwoods and ultimately the least impact/most sustainable marine construction outcome possible.”

Support from organisations like the Environment Agency provides a great opportunity to generate the critical mass needed to gain market acceptance for Guyanese LUS. Preliminary research results are expected in the autumn.

For further information contact John Williams on tel: 01494 569631.