Fact Finding Mission toThree Guiana Shield Countries

Brazil (Amapa)SurinamGuyana

by

Hemmo MuntinghInternational Fund for Animal Welfare

Globe EU

and

Wouter VeeningNetherlands Committee for IUCN

European Working Group on Amazonia

16- 29 November 1996

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"The focus of my ethnobotanical work (...) has been the plants and peoples of thenortheast Amazon, an area that straddles the borders of Brazil, French Guiana,

Suriname and Venezuela. This is one of the last places on the planet where rainforests flourish undisturbed from horizon to horizon; it is home to mountains

that have never been climbed and cut by rivers that have yet to be named byWestern cartographers. Here, until relatively recently, tribal peoples lived

undisturbed by - indeed, unaware of - the outside world."

(Mark J. Plotkin, Tales of Shaman's Apprentice, Penguin, 1994)

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Contents

Part 1 Summary 5Summary 6

The Guiana Shield Approach 6

Amapa, Brazil 7

Suriname 8

Guyana 8

Part 2 The Guiana Shield Approach 11Introduction 12

The Guiana Shield approach 13

Part 3 Amapa 17Data and main threats 18

Contacts 18

Meetings with Governor Capiberibe 19

Waiapa Indians 21

Meeting with FUNAI, IBAMA and TERRAP 22

Serra do Navio and Vila do Cachago 22

IEPA 23

Conclusion 24

Part Suriname 33Data and threats 34

Contacts 34

Meeting with Minister Alibux of Natural Resources 35

Meeting with Mrs. Marijke Djawalapersad, President of the Assembley 35

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Meeting with Mr. K. J. O’Cuneen, Head of Delegation of EU 36

Meeting with Minister Ernie Brunings of Planning andDevelopment Co-operation 37

Meeting with Ambassador van Heemstra and Mr. André Brands of the Dutch Embassy 38

Conservation International 38

Meeting with Mr. Ricardo Catalan 39

NGOs and press conference 40

Survey flight 40

Conclusion 40

Part Guyana 49Data and main threats 50

Contacts 50

Meeting with the Delegate of the EU, Mr. John Caloghirou, and Mr. Alexander Baum 51

Meeting with APA, the Amerindian Peoples Association. 52

Meeting with Dr. Hans ter Steege and Dr. G.L. Walcott, ………. 54

GEMCO 56

Meeting with the NGO community 56

British High Commission 57

Meeting with the Inter-American Development Bank 57

Forestry Commission 59

Meeting with Mr. Lakeram Chatarpaul, Office of the President, Environment Section 60

IWOKRAMA 61

Reception at the Cara Lodge 62

Meeting with President Jagan 62

Fact finding in Guyana’s interior. 63

Conclusion 66

Thanks 66

Part 6 Business Cards 77

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Part 1Summary

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Summary

Between the 16th and 29th of November, 1996, Hemmo Muntingh of TheInternational Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Global LegislatorsOrganisation for a Balanced Enviromnent (GLOBE), and Wouter Veening ofthe Netherlands Committee for IUCN (NC-IUCN) and the European WorkingGroup on Arnazonia (EWGA), embarked on a fact-finding mission to threeGuiana Shield countries - Brazil, Suriname, and Guyana - in order to assessthe feasibility of a 'Guiana Shield approach'. A second fact finding mission willvisit the remaining three Guiana Shield countries - French Guyana,Venezuela, and Colombia - sometime during 1997.

The Guiana Shield is a geographical/geomorphological/ecological entity whichstretches from the North of Brazil (in the province of Amapa), via FrenchGuyana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, and into Colombia, andencompasses perhaps the largest region of undisturbed, pristine tropicalrainforest in the world. However, the latter is under serious threat ofencroachment by poor people in search of land, by Brazilian garimpeiros andother gold miners, by large timber companies, particularly of Asian origin, bymining companies, by infrastructure builders, and by weak governments and,alas, some corrupt politicians and civil servants who stand by and profit whilethe natural resources of their countries are inexorably extracted.

The objectives of the mission were therefore to:• investigate the current situation of the tropical forests in the Guiana Shield

region;• promote a 'Guiana Shield approach' to protect the regional tropical forests;• establish contacts with relevant individuals and organisations active in the

Guiana Shield region;• seek out projects which may enhance the establishment of a network of

tropical forest reserves.

The Guiana Shield ApproachA regional approach is applicable to the countries which together form theGuiana Shield since they share many social, economic and ecologicalproblems. It is clear that ecological issues cannot be addressed efficientlywhile no solutions are found for the inherent economic and social problems ofthe region. A fresh approach is therefore required with the overall objective ofpreserving the natural resources of the region while simultaneously makinguse of sustainable economic, social and cultural instruments.

If governments and international structures, for whatever reasons, activelypromote the extraction of natural resources by the private sector in their owncountries, and are not interested or unable to control and monitor theiroperations effectively, the only remaining option for the conservationmovement is to perhaps become or create a private field actor itself and toompete for concessions against mining and logging companies, preferablyusing alternative means to do so.Potential commercial operations in the concessions thus obtained couldinclude non-timber forest products, bioprospecting, ecotourism, controlled

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logging according to the principles of the Forest Stewardship Council, and,possibly, controlled mining. It is essential that sufficient time is madeavailable to properly consult local communities as to their views, needs andpriorities with respect to the management of the region, to devise complicatedlegal agreements with bioprospectors, to assess whether there are marketsfor non-timber forest products or services, or for FSC timber, and to considerwhether the concession can generate royalty and tax arrangements withgovernments which can then be monitored.

The conservation movement (within this context, 'conservation' includes use ofnatural resources based upon ecological and social sustainability) wouldmanage the concessions while respecting and keeping the ecological, socialand cultural integrity of the regional indigenous communities intact, therebyhelping the relevant countries to fulfil their obligations under the Conventionson Biodiversity, Climate Change, Trade in Endangered Species etc. Thesecountries would then be eligible to receive GEF or GEF-type grants, whichcould be used to pay a certain rent to the government, and to contributetowards the basic protection of the concessions in order to compensate forpossible (temporary) income shortages which may result from preservationmeasures and which cannot be paid by income from private sources in theshort-term. Governments would therefore receive funds up-front from the'rent' being paid and would not have to wait for the concession to startproducing in order to obtain royalties and taxes.

A legal body, such as the 'Guiana Shield Sustainable DevelopmentCorporation' (GSSDC), with a board of directors representing both thecommercial and non commercial objectives, could be established incombination with the setting up of a 'Guiana Shield Sustainable DevelopmentFund' (GSSDF) which may initially draw funds from such sources as the GEF,EU, IADB, and IFC as well as the development budgets of national countries.'Development' would be based upon social, cultural and ecological soundnessand justice. The GSSDC would either compete for concessions to be handedout by governments or could suggest concessions which it would like tomanage due to their strategic locations from an ecological point of view.

Amapa, BrazilHemmo Muntingh and Wouter Veening discussed the promotion of a GuianaShield approach with the Governor of Amapa, Mr. Capiberibe, who indicatedthat he was open to co-operation with other Guiana Shield countries providedhe could do so by implementing his own Sustainable Development Plan. Thelatter was initially devised to cope with the problems posed by an influx ofsquatters who are currently burning the forests alongside the PerimetralNorte. Mining, pulp plantations, and associated infrastructure may alsobecome a problem. The strategy for the international community shouldtherefore be to co-operate with Amapa in the execution of its SustainableDevelopment Plan which could prove to be an example to be promoted by theGSSDC. The latter may provide a valuable means to help Amapa preserve itsabundant and still relatively pristine natural resources,

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SurinameThe Surinamese authorities were also found to be in favour of, and willing toco-operate with, a Guiana Shield approach. However, it was widely felt thatthe initiative should come from the European Union since co-operationbetween the 6 Guiana Shield countries, each with its own historical links toEurope, is rather complex and involves 5 languages. Suriname, is in theprocess of developing its own Institute for Sustainable Development; the lattercould be one of the focal points for the GSSDC.

It seems that the crisis involving Asian logging companies has been avertedbut Suriname needs international support to rebuild its forest services. Theinternational community should therefore co-operate with Suriname topreserve its still relatively undisturbed tropical forests. One of the methodswhich could help Suriname assess the status of its forests is to establish asatellite monitoring system at the CELOS research institute. Adequatefinancing mechanisms for market and non market products and services are,of course, crucial.

GuyanaPresident Jagan expressed his sympathy for the GSSDCIF approach and saidthat the idea of payments for the protection of the global commonscomplemented his New Global Human Order, which seeks to combineeconomic growth with social and ecological justice. He would therefore beglad to co-operate with institutions like the ones proposed. The worldcommunity should help Guyana to overcome its economic and socialproblems and give it a chance to follow the path of sustainable development.

Specific attention should be given to the Kaieteur National Park, the lwokramaregion, and the New River Triangle. Tropenbos and Iwokrama should look forpossibilities for more co-operation and should obtain international support inorder to help the Government to establish a truly sustainable forest policy thatincorporates the needs and priorities of the Amerindians.

Moreover, the President said that he favoured the establishment of a NationalProtected Areas System (NPAS), as proposed by the GEF, as an importantelement of Guyana's sustainable development strategy, and also because itsatisfies one of his conditions 'sine-qua-non', namely that the project wouldentail no increase of the country's foreign debt, since the GEF money comesin the form of grants. He also stressed that the NPAS project as such doesnot generate extra income for Guyana, which the country needs badly.

Muntingh and Veening emphasised the fact that Guyana should qualify forpayments for the ecological services delivered by its intact ecosystems to therest of the world, which, in the case of Guyana, could take the form ofdeductions from its foreign debt. The latter was also briefly discussed with theIMF representative in Guyana.

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A further point discussed with the President was the role of the private sector,which, through the promotion of eco-tourism, bio-prospecting (under strictconditions!) and the development and marketing of products based upon theunique biodiversity in Guyana and especially in the proposed areas, couldcontribute towards the necessary long-term financing of maintaining an NPASin function, and could generate income for the State through royalties andtaxes. Here, the proposed Biodiversity Enterprise Fund for Latin America,which the IFC is currently setting up with GEF resources, could play astimulating role.

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Part 2The Guiana Shield Approach

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Introduction

Tropical Forest Ecosystems are probably the most important and mostthreatened ecosystems in this world. They can be found in Asia, Africa andCentral- and South America.

In South America a large part of the Tropical Forest is to be found in the so-called Guiana Shield. This Guiana Shield is a geographical/geomorphological/ecological entity which stretches from the North of Brazil(the province Amapa), via French Guyana, Surinam, Guyana, Venezuela intoColumbia. Until now it has, perhaps, the largest stretch of undisturbed, pristineTropical Rainforests in the world.

But this may change soon. The area is under serious threat of encroachmentby poor landless people in search of land, by Brazilian garimpeiros and othergold diggers, by ruthless large timber companies from Asian and othercountries, by merciless Canadian- and other mining companies and by manycorrupt politicians and civil servants who are willing to sell out their countries’natural resources for a quick buck.

The ecological values of the area are even under threat by sincere and honestpoliticians who are trying to alleviate poverty and to raise the standard of livingby making use of the natural resources of their countries but not having themeans to do so in a sustainable way.

If the world wants to preserve the Guiana Shield Area and make sustainableuse of its resources, something has to be done quickly.

That is why a few European organisations that work closely together to protectthe last remaining Tropical Forests, decided to co-operate and bring the plightof the Tropical Forests of the Guiana Shield to the attention of the political foraof the World Community. These organisations are: The International Fund forAnimal Welfare (IFAW), the Global Legislators Organisation for a BalancedEnvironment (GLOBE), the European Working Group on Amazonia (EWGA)and the Netherlands Committee for the World Conservation Union (NC-IUCN).

The three organisations decided to start with two fact-finding missions to theGS countries. The first of these missions, which is the subject of this report,took place from 16-29 November 1996 and went to the Brazilian state ofAmapa, Surinam and Guyana. The second will take place sometime in 1997and will go to French Guyana, Venezuela and Colombia. The mission wascarried out by Hemmo Muntingh for the IFAW and GLOBE and WouterVeening for the IUCN-NL and EWGA.

The mission will report, other than to its own organisations, to the WorldCommission on Forests and Sustainable Development (WCFSD), to theCommission of the European Union, to the Governments of the Guiana Shieldcountries, to the multilateral organisations dealing with the region, such as theInter-American Development Bank, the Global Environment

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Facility, the World Bank and the IMF and, of course, to the organisations andNGO’s it contacted for information and advice.

The mission received financial support from the IFAW, the WCFSD and theIUCN-NL and organisational and logistical support from the Governor ofAmapa and the Permanent Representations of the Commission of the EU inSurinam and Guyana, for which it is extremely grateful.

The objectives of the mission were:• to investigate the situation of the Tropical Forests in the GS region;• to promote a Guiana Shield-wide approach to protect the region’s Tropical

Forests;• to establish contacts with individuals and organisations in the GS region;• to look for projects that can enhance the establishment of a network of

Tropical Forest reserves, to be promoted or financed by our organisations.

The Guiana Shield approachIn politics it is often easier to get attention for certain problems when aregional, rather then a local or national approach is taken. (Good) politiciansare used to thinking in broad and general concepts whilst the implementationof their politics can be decentralised according to the principle of subsidiarity.The regional approach emerges everywhere these days. One of the firstexamples is, of course, the EU. Other examples are the Lomé Conventionwhere 70 developing countries together with the EU co-operate to cope withtheir development problems, ASEAN, NAFTA and the Amazon pact.

We promote a regional approach for the Guiana Shield countries, becausethey are part of the same geological/ecological region and face many of thesame social, economic and ecological problems. As yet there is little or no co-operation in the ecological field between the GS countries. And because ourconcern is precisely the ecological problems and we know that these cannotbe tackled efficiently when no solutions are found for the economic and socialproblems of the region, we wanted to investigate a new approach that wouldhave as an objective the preservation of the natural resources of the region,but would make use of sustainable economic, social and cultural instruments.

If governments and international structures, for whatever reasons, promotethe activities of the private sector in their countries and do not wish or are notable to control their operations effectively, the only option for the conservationmovement is to become a private field actor itself and to compete forconcessions like the miners and loggers, but preferably using other means toget them.

The added value or comparative advantage of the conservation movement(‘conservation’ including use, based upon ecological and social sustainability)when doing this is that it would manage the concessions keeping theecological integrity and the social and cultural integrity of the local andindigenous communities in the area intact, and thus help the country to fulfilits obligations under the Conventions on Biodiversity, Climate Change, Tradein Endangered Species, etc.

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They would therefore be eligible to receive GEF or GEF-type grants, whichcould be used to pay a certain rent to the government and to pay for the basicprotection of the concessions, to offset possible (temporary) incomeshortages which result from preservation measures and cannot be paid byincome from private sources in the short run.

This public/private structure would allow for time to search carefully forpossible commercial operations in the field of, for example, non-timber forestproducts, bio-prospecting, nature-tourism, controlled logging of the ForestStewardship Council type and maybe even controlled mining. Finding the timeto carefully consult with the local communities about their views, needs anddesires with respect to the management of the area is essential. By workingout complicated legal agreements with outside bioprospectors, seeingwhether there are markets for the non-timber goods and services or FSCtimbers, the concession can produce and work out monitorable royalty and taxarrangements with the government.

The advantage for the government would be that it would receive money up-front from the rent being paid and would not have to wait for the concession tobe implemented in order to reap some royalties and taxes. The wording ‘someroyalties and taxes’ is being used here deliberately, because there are manyways for foreign companies to evade paying them to the countries ofproduction (see the WRI/CI report on Surinam “Backs against the wall,forestry policies in a country in crisis”).

In the Guiana Shield context one may think of setting up a legal entity, whichcould be called “The Guiana Shield Sustainable Development Corporation(GSSDC)”, which would either compete for concessions to be handed out bythe government or could suggest concessions which it would like to managebecause of their strategic location from an ecological point of view.‘Development’ would mean development based upon social, cultural andecological soundness and justice.

The corporation would have a Board of Directors representing both thecommercial and non-commercial objectives, that the concessions aim toachieve. It will probably be necessary to give the non-commercial interests onthe Board veto power, because they have to guarantee the cultural andecological integrity of the concessions. Most important will be the rightbalance between the local representatives on the Board and thoserepresenting the global and future beneficiaries of maintaining the integrity ofthe concessions. Of course the Board should be as local or regional aspossible and should also have optimal liaison with the governments of thecountries involved.Expertise on the Board or elsewhere in the corporation should includeknowledge of public and private sources of funding, of (collective) intellectualproperty rights and of access to genetic resources, and of (international)markets for sustainable produced goods or services from the concessions.While the corporation should promote profitable commercial operations byothers within the limits of social and ecological sustainability, its own profitsshould be capped and above the cap be re-invested in the corporation, forexample to secure other areas or to raise the level of protection of the existingconcessions.

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Establishment of the GSSDC is certainly not an illusion. In the U.S.conservation organisations both in the North West and the North East arealready buying logging and grazing rights, thus proving the feasibility of suchan approach.

We suggest combining the establishment of the GSSDC with the setting up ofa Guiana Shield Sustainable Development Fund (GSSDF). Initial funding forthis should be raised from such sources as: the GEF, the EU, IADB, IFC anddevelopment budgets of NationalCountries.

The basic rationale behind the above is the following question: If foreignlogging and mining companies can obtain concessions in countries richin natural resources and therefore make a quick profit by destroying theresources and under-paying the government and the populations whilebribing a few officials and their cronies, why should a conservationorganisation not also be able to get a concession. This it would managewell and keep intact for the long term, while paying a periodic rent to thegovernment in a transparent and accountable way, from which thewhole society can profit?

After Rio 92 almost all governments have signed and ratified conventions,which oblige them to manage their natural resources in a sustainable way.High income countries are obliged to assist low-income countries to fulfil theseobligations and governments can no longer use claims of ‘nationalsovereignty’ to go for the destructive path. If a serious new player comesforward with the option of an operation based upon sustainability, it should begiven preference.

Hence our proposal to establish a GSSDC.

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Part 3Amapa

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Data and main threats

AMAPA is the Northernmost State of Brazil. Located on the East Coast ofBrazil, it comprises appr. 140.000 km2, and has a fast growing population ofca. 600.000 inhabitants. About 70% of the State is covered with TropicalForest, the remainder consists of Lowlands, Savannah, and other Foresttypes.

The state of the Tropical Forests is excellent. Only 1% is deforested. 15 % isprotected by law and together with the 4 mln ha. of the three Indian reserves,where appr. 5500 Indians live, about 25% is protected.

The main threat to the forest is encroachment by migrant settlers who,attracted by the relatively good social situation in Amapa, flood the countryfrom other states, Para in particular, via one of the main roads, the PerimetralNorte. This road, which encircles a large part of Amapa, was constructed formilitary reasons, but ends in the middle of one of the major Indian reserves ofthe state.

It is alongside this road that the landless poor “burn” their way into the forest.And not only they, but also the richer people from Macapa, who attracted bylucrative legislation, convert the forest into cattle grazing land or estate. (Thelaw prescribes that 50% of the forest should be left standing).

We traveled by car the whole length of this road and witnessed terrible,heartbreaking destruction. Large parts alongside the road were either alreadyconverted into meadows or small plots with crops like cassave or maize, orstill burning or smoking.

Other threats are illegal logging, mining, fishing and hunting. But, as stated,the main problem is the fast population growth as a result of emigration fromother Brazilian provinces. In 1950 Amapa had a population of appr. 37,000people. In 1995 there were 582,000 people, mainly living in the three cities.

Amapa has a forest industry now dominated by the American pulp and papercompany Champion which has acquired the assets as well as eucalyptus andpine plantations of AMCEL (Amazon Cellulose) located in the savannah belt ofthe state. We also saw the oilpalm plantations of the Japanese firmCOPALMA in the same area.

ContactsDuring our visit we made contacts with a number of people. First of all withGovernor Capiberibe and his wife Janete, who had invited us to visit the state,but also with other State officials such as the State Secretary of theEnvironment: Mr. Alberto Góes, and representatives of the State LandInstitute, the State Research Institute (IEPA) and the State Ecological-Economical Zoning Group.

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We also met with Representatives of the Federal Environmental AgencyIBAMA (Mr. da Silva Benjamin), the Federal Land Institute INCRA and theFederal Institute for Indian Affairs FUNAI (Mr. Ribeiro).

Because our mission took place at the same time as an official visit by EUrepresentatives, we also had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Ritt Bjerrregaard,Commissioner of the EU for the Environment and members of her staff andcabinet (Mr José de Vasconcelos, Mrs. Helena Berends, Mrs. Anne WeisFogh). In addition, we had a short encounter with the Brazilian State Secretaryfor the Environment Mr. José Seixas Lourenço and with the Delegate of theEU in Brazil, Mr. DeThomas.

Other contacts were: Fernando Allegretti, private consultant, and mr.Fernando Guimares Santos, a former Director of the Mining Company CAEMI,now president of the Chamber of International Commerce of the State ofAmapa. We were accompanied by Mr Fabio de Andrade Abdala and Mrs.Shahla Lofti and her husband who performed invaluable services asinterpreters.

Meetings with Governor CapiberibeWe met five times with Governor Capiberibe and discussed a whole range ofissues with him. He shared with us his concern for his re-election which willtake place in two years time. He needs re-election to implement and furtherhis plans for the development of Amapa. This sometimes urges him to takemeasures which he does not like himself. The replacement, for politicalreasons, of his very capable Secretary of the Environment Mary Allegretti,who is now an advisor to the Brazilian Minister of the Environment, GustavoKraus, was mentioned by him as an example.

Governor Capiberibe wants AMAPA to be developed in a sustainable way. Asthe basis for his policy he uses the excellent Amapa Sustainable DevelopmentProgram. This plan has been developed in close co-operation withrepresentatives of the population (cooperations and associations) and will alsobe implemented with the close participation of the population, with the Indians,the small peasants and the fishermen. The implementation is not easy. Thereare bureaucratic impediments and sometimes outright obstruction.

Large areas of the state are in the hands or under the control of federalagencies such as INCRA and IBAMA. Some of the major players in the stateare foreign companies, e.g. the American Champion and the JapaneseCOPALMA. A hydro-electricity facility to be financed by the IFC, theInternational Finance Corporation, the private investment arm of the WorldBank, may make pulp production in Amapa profitable. Champion plans toplant up to 300.000 hectars of eucalyptus in the cerrado, which will of coursereduce the biodiversity in that eco-zone considerably. They are, however,open to discussing ecological corridors and to establishing a reserve in thecerrado. They have created an external council of which Tom Lovejoy of theSmithsonian Institute, Maria Teresa Padua, The Nature Conservancy andother representatives from the conservation community, are members.Agricultural reforms are necessary. A large problem is the hugh immigrationfrom other Brazilian States. The Brazilian population increase is on average2% but in Amapa it is 9%. The development has mainly to take place in the

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coastal areas and the cities. Participation of the population means that thecosts will be halved. The production of energy is another major problem.Because of the huge influx of people the development of the infrastructurehas a high priority. But this induces high imports. Imports have to be paid byproduction. The Governor thinks of producing tropical fruits, Brazil nuts andtimber. Also the fishing industry can be improved. The possibility of a FreeTrade Zone should be studied.

Ecotourism is another opportunity. We spoke with Mr. Carlos Vianna, directorof tourism within SEMA, the State Agency for the Environment. He is veryinterested in cooperation with, for example, Surinamese tourist organisations.

The Governor made us very happy with his remark that he was aware of thedangers of the Asian Connection and that under his rule no Asian loggingcompanies would be allowed to destroy the forests in Amapa.

We discussed the encroachement of the forests alongside the ParimetralNorte with the Governor. According to him there is no easy technical solutionfor this problem. The people are homeless, rootless, poor, without anyknowledge or education. But solutions can only be found in participation withthem. Possibilities are perhaps: small agricultural settlements andagroforestry. The government is willing to discuss the problem with everybodyand anybody to find solutions. There is co-operation with the German GTZ tocope with the problem.

Finally we discussed our plans to promote a GS approach with the Governor.Although he seemed very pre-occupied with a pure statewise approach, hewas open to co-operation with the other GS countries and pointed out hisopening up of relations with French Guyana from where he had just returned.But a conditio sine qua non was that he could co-operate by implementing hisown Sustainable Development Plan. In fact this plan could be an example tobe promoted by the GSSDC.

An important element in the implementation of the Plan will be the loan fromthe Inter-American Development Bank of U$ 60 million, which is now beingprepared, amongst others by experts who are also members of the IUCNCommission on Parks and Protected Areas. The possibilities of State Parkson the islands near Macapa, in the cerrado (savannah) and in theTumucumaque border region with French Guyane and Suriname are beinginvestigated. The combination of ecotourism, biodiversity protection and thefight against malaria will be a prominent feature in the loan agreement. Wespoke with George Georgiadis and Silvana Campello of the Tangara'Environment and Tourism Consultants, who said that the Tumucumaquehighland may have contained the oldest Pleistocene forest from where therest of the Shield became forested and, as such, may also have the highestbiodiversity in the region.The Tumucumaque area is only accessible byhelicopter.

Another issue will be the future of the manganese mining site and the miningtown of Serra do Navio which is linked by rail and road to Macapa and mightbe seen as the Gate to the Guiana Shield. While at the moment themanganese from Serra do Navio is hardly competitive, the mine will officially

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be closed in 2002 and the site, now being replanted with native species, willbe returned to the Federal Ministry of Mining.(See also below.)

Waiapa Indians

The FUNAI is the responsible federal agency for Indian affairs. In AMAPA thedelimitation process is finished and it is thus the first Brazilian state where thistask has been accomplished. Approx. 5500 Indians have landtitles over3,882,330 hectares divided over three reserves and 5 tribes. What rests to bedone is part of the physical demarcation of the reserves and the monitoring ofthe reserves. The monitoring has to be paid for by the FUNAI but until now itcould not raise the money to fulfil this task.

The Indians are still dependent on State support but the objective is to makethem independent. They are supported in the following areas: establishingextractive reserves, goldmining where no mercury is used, handicrafts etc.They are organized via the Centre for Indigenous Work (CTI) and the Waiapivia APINA, their own organisation of Chiefs that looks after education,relations with the outside world, etc.

We visited a village of Waiapa Indians. It was located at the end of theParimetral Norte and therefore easily accessible. Relatives live in the nearbypart of French Guyana. From our discussions with them we learned that wewere very lucky to have the opportunity to visit them because they avoidcontact with Western society and only want contact with the FUNAI. Theirreserve was delimited but they had difficulties with invading garimpeiros. Theydenounced the burning of large areas outside their territory.They needed financial means to provide them with transport facilities,education and healthcare and to buy such things as medicines, knives, petroland outboard motors for the boats they use to guard their reserve againstunwanted invasions by garimpeiros.

It was agreed that they would table, via the CTI, a project to the NC-IUCN’ssmall Tropical Forest projects fund, to provide them with the necessaryfinancial means to guard their reserve.(The NC-IUCN did receive a project, to which it has decided to give a grant ofUS$ 50,000. Part of the project is to mark the borders of Indian territory byplanting fruit trees, which they will visit regularly in order to signal theirpresence along the demarcation).

The Waiapa Indians practise a kind of shifting cultivation. The have three tofour places in the forest that they clear for agriculture. They use the little fieldsfor six years and then leave them to come back after 20-30 years. Theproduce is exclusively for their own use.

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Meeting with FUNAI, IBAMA and TERRAPThe meeting with these organisations was handicapped because of lack ofinterpretation. Nevertheless it was a very useful meeting which gave us a lotof information about the nature reserves of Amapa and their managementproblems. The Executive Director of TERRAP (Instituto de Terras do Amapa),Mrs. Ana Maria Sampaio dos Santos, provided us with a very useful mapindicating the legal status of the land in Amapa.

A disturbing piece of information learned was that it is possible to deforest inAmapa, but that 50% of the area has to be left in tact. In some areas it isnonetheless possible to clear 100%. The rate of deforestation is howevermodest: 0.05% per year.

Amapa covers 14 mln ha. 1.6 mln ha belongs administratively to Amapa. Therest is federal land. The federal land institute INCRA has 9 mln ha bit is notclear which land is private and which land is public. The Brazilian constitutionof 1988 gives the right of registration to the States and the Municipalities. Thequestion now is who does what? The State of Amapa is responsible for themonitoring of its territory.

The organisations have extensive responsibilities. FUNAI deals with theIndian’s Affairs (see above), IBAMA is responsible for the Natural Resources,including the forests and TERRAP registers the land ownership. All threeorganisations suffer from a lack of funding and staff. They are dependent onfederal money and this is a very meager source. IBAMA f.e. has only threestaff and one jeep in Amapa. Consequently it is not in a position to monitor itsextensive area which includes also the area alongside the roads. Because ofthis, squatters have free reign. Hence the destruction of the area alongsidethe Perimetral Norte.

Serra do Navio and Vila do Cachago

In Serra do Navio we visited the manganese mine site. The mine will bedepleted in 2002. This will have serious consequences for the population ofthe town as the mine is the biggest source of employment. Old mine siteshave been replanted in order to restore the damage done to the landscapeand it has to be said that it looked rather succesful. The reforestation wasdone with the help of the mining companie’s own tree nursery, which wevisited and which looked very healthy. It is good to know that it is possible torestore as least part of the damage done to nature. The owner of the mine(CAEMI) is trying to sell it off because it is not profitable anymore. It is alsotrying to find alternative employment for the population for the future - untilnow without succes.

We had a meeting with Mr. Fernando Guimaraes Santos, a former director ofthe company to discuss possible alternatives. Serra do Navio can be seen asthe entry to the Guiana Shield and this potentially gives it a possibility todevelop as a research and touristic facility for this area of the Guiana Shield.

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Vila do Cachago is a little village along the AMAPARI river. It is built within therainforest and provides a place where people can live together in a communityinstead of along the road on their own. The village is 300 ha of which 50 hasalready been cleared of trees. Governor Capiberibe mentioned the building ofthis kind of villages as a possible alternative to the uncontroled deforestationalongside the roads. Provided that there will be a solution for theunemployment problem it might indeed be a good approach to limit thedestruction of the tropical forest.

IEPAAt the the State Research Institute location (IEPA), we attended apresentation by the State Ecological-Economic Zoning Group (EEZ). The EEZstarted in 1995 with financial support from the G-7 Pilot Program for theBrazilian Rainforests (PPG-7) to develop an ecological-economic model forAmapa. Priorities are set by the State Council for the Environment. A conceptmodel has already been developed and they are now in the process of puttinga new infrastructure in place in the office and hiring and training new staff.

According to the EEZ, Amapa belongs completely to the Guiana Shieldbecause of the age of the rock. It is part of the Greenstone belt which is full ofminerals and precious stones. It is completely covered by forest. Thereforemining is the biggest threat to the forests. The EEZ fears the unscrupulousforeign mining companies in the GS, especially the Anglo-American ones.

We had a demonstration of the computerized carthography of Amapa.Unfortunately the underlying satellite images were ten years old and could notshow us the rate of destruction currently taking place along the PerimetralNorte. Satellite images are too expensive to be bought regularly. Wecalculated that a total set for the whole of Amapa would costs approx.$80,000. But it was evident that satellite images are the best way to monitorwhere and how deforestation takes place. In our opinion every GS countryshould receive one complete set of images to work with every year.

We also had a discussion with director Antonio Sergio Monteiro Filocreao andrepresentatives of the IEPA who research the fauna and flora of Amapa.There is an 8 year old centre for medicinal plants that makes use of theIndian’s knowledge. They co-operate with Universities in Brazil and with theUniversity of Hannover to make medicins of the plants. They have a drugstorewith ca.100 medicinal plants. 21 of the plant-based medicines are alreadycommercialized.

The IEPA is afraid that some valuable medicinal plants will disappear becauseof the deforestation. Therefore they propagate cultivation of the plants to beused in pharmacy.

The IEPA would appreciate contacts which can further their work.

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ConclusionAmapa is an extremely valuable part of the Guiana Shield. The overall forestis still in an almost pristine state. The main problem for the preservation of theforests is the influx of squatters who burn the forests alongside the PerimetralNorte. To cope with this problem Amapa has engineered a SustainableDevelopment Plan. Mining, pulp plantations and the associated infrastructuremight become a problem.

On the positive side is the commitment of the present Governor andgovernment to the execution of the Plan, as well as the interest of theinternational community in the region (PPG-7, EU, IADB) and, hopefully, theawareness of the private sector of the need to ‘ecologize’ its operations.

The strategy for the International Community should be to to cooperate withAmapa to implement its Sustainable Development Plan. A GSSDC and aGSSDF could be a valuable means to help Amapa preserve its incredibly richnatural resources.

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Amapa is for seventy percent covered with Tropical Forests

The state of the Tropical Forests is excellent

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Approx. 5500 Indians have landtitles over 3,882,300 hectares

The Waiapas are one of the five tribes divided over three reserves

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Pine plantations along the Perimetral Norte

Degraded forests along the Perimetral Norte

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It is along the Perimetral Norte that the landless poor “burn” their way into the forest

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The main threat to the forest is encroachment by migrant settlers

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Large scale forest burning near Serra do Navio

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The forests are converted into small scale pastural fields

or into large scale pastural estates

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Manganese mine site in Serra do Navio

Tree nursery to replant on mine site

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Part 4Suriname

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Data and threats

Surinam covers 163 820 km2 and has a total population of about 418 000inhabitants. The population is a mixture of Hindustani, Creoles, Javanese,Maroons, Amerindians and Chinese. The country is endowed with a goodnatural resource base, comprising substantial bauxite reserves, gold, granite,kaolin, oil and a potential for hydro-power. The potential for eco-tourism issubstantial. The fish stocks resources are abundant.

Over 80% of the country is covered with pristine tropical forests, inhabited bydifferent indigenous peoples (Bush-Negroes or Maroons and Amerindians).Some 2.4 million ha are leased out to local concessionaires for logging. Theannual deforestation rate is less than 0.1 percent. The economic situation isnot very bright. This was the reason for the former S. government to inviteinterest from logging companies. The Asian Connection was of courseinterested and the Government proposed that the parliament give threeconcessions of 1.1 mln ha. each, to three questionable Asian loggingcompanies. This irresponsible act triggered a flood of international protest.Considerable political pressure was exercised on the S. authorities andparliament which resulted in a stalemate. In the meantime, one of the Asiancompanies (MUSA), which already had a concession of 150.000 ha,committed many illegal activities, thus proving the danger of givingconcessions to members of the Asian Connection.

The concerns expressed led the Surinamese government to have thecontracts analysed by the World Resources Institute and by ConservationInternational. Their report “Backs to the Wall in Suriname: Forest Policy in aCountry in Crisis” was published in April 1995. While much effort had goneinto the contracts, the report showed that, especially considering thecompanies concerned, they would be to the advantage of neither Suriname,its economy nor its forests and their inhabitants.

The main threats for the Surinam forests still come from irresponsible loggingcompanies but also and more so from (illegal) gold mining. Approx. 15,000Brazilian garimpeiros are illegally active in the S. hinterland, causing theinevitable water pollution and river bed destruction that can be found in manySouth-American countries. Besides this there is an increasing number ofsmall-scale miners (Porknokkers) involved in the exploitation of surface gold.Very worrying is the fact that the Anglo-American (especially Canadian)Connection of mining companies, with their extremely bad reputation of naturedestruction, are also interested in the area. Many of them are exploring themineral resources of S., especially gold.

ContactsOur fact finding mission in S. was organised by Mr. Winston Wirht, formermember of the Parliament of S., economist and lecturer at the University of S.He accompanied us all the time during our visit and was an invaluable sourceof information and knowledge.

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Thanks to him we met with many people, amongst whom the ministers ofnatural resources and development cooperation and their advisors, thepresident of the parliament, the EU delegate, the ambassadors of Venezuela,Brazil, France and the Netherlands, representatives from the University of S.,and from many ngo’s, as well as with the press.We were able to discuss our ideas re the GSSDC with all of them.

Meeting with Minister Alibux of Natural ResourcesAccording to Mr. Alibux, the development of Surinam is the first priority for thenew S. government. They will not make the same policy errors which thedeveloped world has made in the past. They aim to develop the econmomy ina sustainable way. Poverty is the biggest threat to the environment. S. notonly knows its national but also its international duties and responsibiities. Mr.Alibux expects the OESO countries to help S. in its development process.

With regard to the Asian Connection, he said that S. intends to take abalanced approach. At the beginning of 1997 S. will decide on the applicationsfor concessions. They will be reconsidered carefully. S. needs foreignassistance to monitor any concessions which it may give out.

Mr. Iwan Krolis, tropical forest advisor to the Minister, argued that thecontracts on which the concessions of Musa, Suri-Atlantica and Berjaya arebased, are excellent contracts, it is rather the companies that were wrong. Heexpressed his opinion that the IDB manner of presenting its offer to finance atransitional period was “verbal violence.” The American State Department andthe Dutch government, however, had given valuable financial assistence. EUaid was for the moment suspended.

Meeting with Mrs. Marijke Djawalapersad, President of theAssembley

The S. assembley has been seriously hampered by the big fire whichcompletely destroyed its parliament building. It is also short of staff andexperts.

The president herself said that she was rather wary of issuing largeconcessions and against the export of logs. She also said that she wasappalled to have heard that a Belgian furniture factory uses timber (bolletrie)illegally exported by Musa. The debate on the Berjaya concession is on theAssembley’s agenda for the beginning of 1997. She thought that consultationbetween the political groups and between the Assemblee and the Governmentwould be necessary. She was not sure about the outcome of the debate. Mr.Djerbandan is President of the parliamentary committee which deals with theconcesssion.

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Meeting with Mr. K. J. O’Cuneen, Head of Delegation of EUOn the evening of the day of our arrival Mr. Kieran J. O’Cuneen had organiseda well-attended reception for us. Amongst the guests were: Minister Bruningsand the ambassadors of Nederland, Brazil, France and Venezuela. Staff fromthe University of Suriname, the Celos Programme, NGOs and governmentadministrators were also present. We both has the opportunity to explain theobjectives of our visit. The reception was a great succes for us and we areextremely grateful to Mr. O’Cuneen for having organised it.

The next day we paid Mr. O’Cuneen a visit. We discussed the objectives ofour fact-finding mission with him and he informed us of relations between S.and the EU.

Asked for his opinion on our proposal for a GSSDI/F, Mr. O’Cuneen repliedthat co-operation between the GS countries is still rather complex. The GSconsists of 6 countries and 5 languages. It is, for example, difficult to organisea ferry over the river Corantine between Suriname and Guyana becauseagreement over the flag and the ownership etc, is hard to obtain. Relationswithin CARICOM are not ideal either.

Furthermore each country has its own historical links. For S. it is Nederland,for Guyana the UK and for French Guyana it is obvious. On the other hand iitis clear that (apart from French Guyana) the countries are all members of theAmazon pact and have ratified the Biodiversity Convention.

Mr. O’Cuneen advised us to look to the ACP model, where the first step wastaken by the EU and the ACP countries were then invited to join. The idea of aGuiana Shield Sustainable Development Fund was of course attractive. Astrong EU involvement would help to secure equitability.

Suriname seems to be on its way, more or less succesfully to implementing itsown SAP. There is only 1 or 2 percent inflation and more confidence withinthe local community. The informal production of gold ( which is accompaniedby a strong pollution of the rivers) seems to have been the trigger. TheCentral Bank could buy some of it but unfortunately much of the goldproduced (Winston Wirht calculated this to be $150 mln per year) disappearsto other countries. The Canadian company Golden Star Resources, (acompany not known for its respect for nature and indigenous communities,HM), is surveying for gold near Nieuw Koffiekamp.

In Lomé-IV/A 4 MECU is earmarked for the development of a Forest Institute.It has been proposed that the Canadian Andrew Howard set up the Institute. 5MECU can be used to develop a Minerals Institute, which is much needed tocope with the environmental pollution that inevitably accompanies mining.

Mr. O’Cuneen was impressed with the activities of the Dutch Embassy. Hementioned the setting up of flying brigades to control illegal logging and theattempt to restore S. forest services which have been reduced to zero overthe past decades. He was also very happy that the S. government had agreedto make use of Environmental Impact Assesments. He told us further morethat the Asian company, Suri-Atlantic, had returned in the form as a Chinese

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company with, a government concession and its own saw mill or plywoodfactory.

We are also very thankful for this meeting with Mr. O’Cuneen.

Meeting with Minister Ernie Brunings of Planning andDevelopmentCo-operation

We had an extensive meeting with Mr. Brunings, who is a cell-biologist andtherefore very aware of the importance of nature. He was very worried aboutthe resurrection of malaria due to the malaria musquitos increasing resistanceto drugs and insecticides. Regional co-operation was necessary to cope withthis plague. For this reason Mr. Bruning thought the idea of GS co-operationto be a good initiative. S. is in the process of developing its own Institute forSustainable Development ( to cope with the recommendations of Agenda 21)and this institute could be one of the focal points for the GSSDC.

But Mr. Brunings also thought it nearly impossible to start a GSSDC/F fromwithin the GS itself. One of the biggest problems as he saw it was Venezuela.This country sees itself as the superior core of the GS and is not inclined toequitable cooperation. The position of France posed another problem as didthe problem of unbalanced co-operation within the Amazonian Pact. It mighttherefore be better to start through the EU.

Mr. Brunings explained that S. has a history in the field of nature protection.The Musa/Berjaya/Suri-Atlantic discussion had triggered a new awareness inS. He wanted to initiate a new Ecological Research Centre where scientistsfrom all over the world could do research into all the aspects of the GS. Thiswould also create more employment. Finances should come from internationalsources, the EU in particular. He had visited DG VIII in the recent past andthey would not have objection to this approach.

According to Mr. Brunings the forests sector was no longer threatened in S.The core problem was now water pollution. The Gold sector should thereforebe reorganised. The earnings in this sector should be plowed back intoschools, hospitals and infrastructure. Forms other than shifting cultivation inthe agricultural sector should be developed. Administrative centers should beestablished in the hinterland to support the younger generation especially.Small industrial centers should be fixed alongside the forests. The necessaryfunds should be generated by the gold sector. Ecotourism, the use ofmedicinal plants, handicrafts made from non-timber forest products werepromising activities.

The minister thought that the request from Berjaya for a concession of 1.15million ha. would not be honoured. Everybody in the interior was against it andthe majority of the political parties would most probably not accept thisconcession. He thought that Berjaya would receive get a concession of150,000 ha. He confirmed that a Chinese company, Lunaprex, had obtained aconcession near Pokigron.Protection of the environment is dependent upon the economic situation of acountry. Consequently logging should be made profitable. Mr. Brunings was

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rather cynical with regard to the possibilities of certification. He thought it to besomething for Western societies which would not work below the forest belt inS. He expected more from the cooperation with the EU based Center for theDevelopment of Industry, to get more added value for the timber industry.

Meeting with Ambassador van Heemstra and Mr. André Brands ofthe Dutch Embassy

Ambassador van Heemstra informed us of the political situation in S. whilst webriefed him on the discussions we hitherto had.

We were impressed by Mr. Brands’ summary of the Netherlands’ activities ofin the field of forestry and nature conservation, amongst them financial andtechnical support for the rehabilitation of several important nature reserves,the Forest Service, several Institutes and the University, aswell as projectsand research. The contribution of the Netherlands is also important for theestablishment of a production control unit (flying brigade) to cope with thesubstantial illegal logging in the country.

It is interesting to know that in 1993 a forest conference took place in Kourou,French Guyana. During this conference it was decided that the secretariatresponsible for implementing the recommendations of this conference shouldbe located in Parimaribo. It was also proposed that via UNAMAZ (theassociation of universities in Amazonia) a CELOS ( Centre of AgriculturalResearch Suriname) model forestry should be established in each of the GScountries

Mr. Brands felt that logging below the forest belt, even for pulp production,was not profitable. There is no infrastructure to transport the products and therivers are unsuitable because of the rapids.

Conservation InternationalAt the office of C.I. we were informed of the projects that C.I. implements inclose co-operation with the local population. Examples are: a medicinal plantsproject in conjunction with the Saramacans, the Shaman apprenticeethnobiological programme to stimulate young people’s interest in theknowledge of the elders, an exchange project between students from townsand students from the countryside, accompanied by environmental education,the sustainable management of sea-turtle and bird populations in coastalareas, political advice to the government by the C.I. policy advisory group andthe training of local groups in the use of Geographical Information Systems.(NC-IUCN will contribute to the funding of this project).

C.I. recently had a difficult time in Surinam because of their resistance to theAsian Connection projects. They have a core funding of appr. $ 70-80,000which is obtained through fund-raising. The rest of the money comes fromproject funding.The former director of C.I., Stanley Malone mentioned recent research to bepublished shortly which might be of importance to the issue of sustainableversus selective logging and could lead to the NGO movement reviewing itsposition on this subject.

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C.I. had two suggestions for Animal Welfare projects which could be ofinterest for IFAW. One dealt with a nature reserve for the Giant Otter in theNorth of Surinam, the other with the protection of the Okopipi, a beautiful littleblue frog which lives in the South-West of S. Researcher Dr. Ouboter pointedto the need to do further research to protect its habitat.

Meeting with Mr. Ricardo CatalanMr. Catalan is Coordinator of the Research Programme Natural Resourcesand Environmental Assessment (NARENA) of the CELOS. 140 people areemplyed at the CELOS. The Centre is concerned with agriculture, fishery andforestry but not with nature conservation. CELOS was established in 1967 andwhen S. became independent in 1975 was handed over to her. It is afoundation that works at the University of S. CELOS is a research institute andis not involved in teaching. It cooperates closely with the universities ofUtrecht and Wageningen in the Netherlands.

The NARENA programme is financed by the EU (former budgeline 946) andhas as an objective the inventory and monitoring of the Amazon region in S.Its staff is a multidisciplinary team of 9 people who make use of a remotesensing network and have state of the art apparatus. There is an activesubgroup in the University of Georgetown in Guyana. Other current activitiesinclude: inputting data on relief in S. into the computer and to interpreting,with the help of satellite images, the vegetation, mining activities etc. It alsoaims to develop a geo-information system.

One of the future projects is an economic interpretation of the interior ofSurinam like that of the PPG-7 project of the IEPA in Amapa. Catalan wouldlike to get funding for this project from the EU.

Another project in which the CELOS would like to be involved is themonitoring of the interior of S. The ministries in S. are not keen to have amonitoring system installed but it would be extremely important for the natureprotection. To set up such a monitoring system a methodology must bedeveloped. The Netherlands has given $30,000 to do this.What is needed are radar images. Landsat images are seldom good, firstlybecause they are extremely expenses and secondly because of the cloudswhich conver the sky nearly the whole year round. The French in Guyanahave already been trying for years to obtain good images but so far they haveonly produced one of 60 by 60 km. One picture costs $4,000. Infra-red imagesdo not work either because they are sensitive to water (clouds).

The ideal solution would be a combination of landsat and radar images fromRussian satellites. There are already military radar satellites whose imagesare cheaper costing $1,200 - $1,400. To cover the whole of S. 50 images areneeded which means $80,000 per year. They can be bought by EUSAT, inCanada, Japan and Russia. In the USA there are private companies who sellthese images.

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NGOs and press conference

Another activity, organised by Winston Wirht, was a meeting with SurinameseNGOs, followed by a press conference. The latter was very well attended andresulted in several front page articles. The meeting with the NGOs, organisedin the Platform Suriname was, because of the very specific way in whichSurinam NGOs discuss things, a somewhat bewildering experience. TheNGOs represented the interests of nature, environment, forestry, humanrights, mining and private enterprise. It gave us a good resumé of theproblems in the country.

Winston Wirht also organised a reception for the NGO community, which wasextremely well attended and which gave us the opportunity to discuss our andtheir ideas concerning the protection of the forests in S, with the peoplepresent.

Survey flightWe spend part of the last day flying over the forest belt from Paramaribo viaBrokopondo to the Raleigh Falls and the Voltzberg then via the forest beltback to Paramaribo. From the air some logging roads and destruction of theforest was visible. Of course Lake Brokopondo, that flooded a large area ofpristine forests after the dam was built, revealed by way of the many deadtrees that were still visible in it, how massive the destruction has been. Butmost of the area we flew over showed vast areas of completely pristine forest.Compared to what we have seen in Asia it was almost a relief. What we sawwas an area still able to be preserved and worth preserving.

We landed for a short visit to the Raleigh falls and the village of the Kwinti.Henk Reichart, our guide on the trip, and one of the best experts on Surinam’snature, showed us the destruction that took place in the area during the civilwar in the interior. But it was good to see that with the help of development aidfrom the Netherlands a start had been made to rehabilitate this splendid areaand make it accessible for eco-tourists.

ConclusionThe S. authorities are in favor of a GS approach and are willing to co-operatewith it. The initiative should however come from the EU. It seems that theAsian Connection crises has been averted but S. needs international supportto rebuild its forest services. The forest in S. is still largely in a pristine stateand the international community should cooperate with S. to preserve itsforests. One of the methods to help S. to monitor its forests would be toestablish a satellite monitoring system at the CELOS institute. Of courseadequate financing mechanisms for the market and non-market goods andservices of the forests as essential elements of the Amazon system, arecrucial.

Over eighty percent of Suriname is covered with, mostly, pristine forest

But deforestation is starting

Small scale illegal logging

Timber, illegally logged and left rotting by the Indonesian company MUSA

Open mine pit

Illegal gold mining is a big problem in Suriname

The Brokopondo Dam

Dead trees in the Brokopondo lake

The Raleigh Falls have excellent opportunities for eco-tourism

Kwinti village near the Raleigh Falls

Tourist lodge, restored with Dutch Development Aid

Suriname has beautiful fauna,

but animals sometimes end their lifes in the market, illegally

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Part 5Guyana

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Data and main threats

Guyana (land of many waters), is the heart of the Guiana Shield. Approx.760.000 people live in this country of which appr. five percent areAmerindians. The official language is English. The total land area of Guyanais 19.6 mln ha of which 16,4 mln are covered with a great diversity of forests :mangroves, marsh forests, dry evergreen forests, seasonal forests, lowlandrainforests and mountain rainforests. They are made up of more than 1000tree species and an enormous amount of other plant and animal species.

Guyana has abundant natural and mineral resources which make the countrypotentially very rich. The economic and social situation is however very bad,although improving. Guyana has one of the biggest national debts per capitain the world. It also has a bad transport infrastructure and the Governmentadministration and the University structure are weak. Institutions like theNatural Resources Commission and the Forestry Commission are verydifficult to staff because of the brain drain from which the country suffers.

A large part of the forests in Guyana, at least 6 mln ha are given over toconcessionaires, a major part of which includes members of the AsianConnection with their questionable environmental and social track record. Thebiggest is Barama with logging rights for1,7 mln ha. There are requests forlogging concessions for appr. another 6 mln ha tabled, mostly from membersof the Asian Connection. According to the WRI, the income for thegovernment from the existing concessions is negligible. In 1995, thegovernment declared a three-year moratorium on new logging concessions torestructure the forestry policy.

The main threats for Guyana’s lush forests come from the logging companies,the Asian connection in particular. Other major threats are the mining sector,especially gold and diamond mining (Good Hope), poaching and theconstruction of a road straight across the country from Boa Vista (Brazil) toGeorgetown.

ContactsDuring our fact finding mission in Guyana we met and spoke with a widevariety of important people amongst whom: President Cheddi Jagan andsome of his most prominent advisors, the head of the EU delegation and hisstaff, the British High Commissioner and his staff, representatives of theAmerindian community and of national and local NGOs , the director ofTropenbos and his counterpart, the director of the Inter-AmericanDevelopment Bank (IAD) and his staff, the deputy-director of the ForestryCommission, the director of the Iwokrama project and, during a splendidreception organised by the EU Delegate, many people of the administration ofGuyana, the Corps Diplomatique and NGOs.

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Meeting with the Delegate of the EU, Mr. John Caloghirou, and Mr.Alexander Baum

On the day of our arrival we met with the Head of the EU delegation inGuyana, Mr. John Caloghirou. He was accompanied by Mr. Baum, who hadbeen instrumental in organising our itinery in Guyana. We are extremelygrateful for the most effective support we got from both Mr. Caloghirou andMr. Baum.Mr. Caloghirou gave us an overview of the situation in Guyana, which will holdelections in the course of 1997. A new element may be a third party led by aformer finance minister with a background in the business community, whomay try to hold the political balance. With the help of the Carter foundation aNational Development Strategy has been drawn up, an 80 cm thick documentof 6 volumes. The Carter foundation, which has an office in Georgetown,where 20-25 people are employed, developed the Strategy during a series of300 meetings, without any governmental input. Now the Ministries must givetheir comments, but this will be a very time consuming process givengovernment staffing problems. For the moment the NDS is a kind of shoppinglist.

The SAP of the IMFseems however to have a better impact. The IMF PolicyFramework Paper gives a very good description and analysis of the situation.

In June 1996 an Environmental Protection Act was passed. This Act requiresan Environmental Protection Agency, meant as a kind of umbrellaorganisation. ( In the past this was a WB project but it is now beingtransferred to the IDB). Finding a director and other staff, again is very difficultbecause so many qualified people have left. It may therefore take a long timebefore the EPA will have any impact.

The EU is currently discussing now the National Indicative Programme (NIP)with the Guyanese authorities. Infrastructure, coastal zone protection andwater supply are the priorities. Because of a weak sea defence, there is astrong erosion which could be a danger for the polderlandscape in and aroundGeorgetown. The approach is now more strucural. There is for example, anEU project in conjunction with the IDB and Canada for regeneration ofmangroves.

The conservation and environmental projects in which the EU is involved arefinanced by the budgetlines B7-5040 and 5041. Mr. Caloghirou said that theimportance of these budgetlines could not be easily overestimated.Funding for these kind of projects comes also comes from the private sectorand from the ODA, although ODA concentrates more on institution building,such as seconding experts to the Forestry Commission.

While the NIP has environmental aspects it is not their main priority. It hashowever donate 1.4 mln ecu for a 4 year project to establish an EnvironmentalStudy Unit. Seventy five procent of this project has been implemented by theUniversity of Utrecht (Mr. Ben ter Welle), but the objective has not beencompletely reached because of the lack of staff ability of the University inGeorgetown.

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Another project, financed by the Tropical Forest budgetline, was a preparatorystudy for the establishment of a system of protected areas, amongst them theHarpey Eagle reserve in the KANUKU mountains which is part of theRupununi area. Here the problems have a legislative and institutionalcharacter. The discussion around the EPA has blocked furtherimplementation. Nature reserves will probably not fall under the jurisdiction ofthe EPA. The GEF project for the establishment of a system of protectedareas is developing proposals for the institutional umbrella of such a system.If the Kanuku mountains fell under the system, then the EU would obviouslyparticipate. The IDB’s Protected Areas System Program (PASP) faces thesame problem. The WB now has a project within the PASP.

The main problem in Guyana is its weak institutional structure. All internationaldonors have to cope with this problem.

Guyana originally had a debt of 2.1 mln dollars, one of the highest per capitaforeign debts in the world. This debt was recently rescheduled during ameeting of the Paris Club, which resulted in a 60-70 percent reduction inbilateral debt. In total, appr. 600 mln. dollars was rescheduled. The biggestremaining bilateral debt now belongs to Trinidad and involves mainly oil bills.Although this debt has been diminished by two-thirds, the remaining one-thirdhas now to be serviced promptly. The rest of Guyana’s debt is nowinternational.

We of course discussed our GSSDC/F concept with Mr. Caloghirou. Like hisSurinamese colleague he was of the opinion that it would be impossible togenerate these institutions from within the GS countries at the moment.Political will to this end still has to be developed. If anything is to happen tobenefit the forests, it must come from abroad. He also mentioned the ferrybetween G. and S. as a negative example.He thought that G. would certainly be eligible for debt for nature swaps,although this would be politically difficult to arrange, since as stated, the debtis owend mostly to the multilateral institutions, whose statutes makecancelling or restructuring of a debt a very complex affair. It would be wise tolink this kind of deal to the idea of global services which the uniqueecosystems of Guyana can deliver to the world. The EU could indeed be thebest channel to start the process.

Meeting with APA, the Amerindian Peoples Association.APA is an advocacy group. In the various communities there are APA units of7-10 people. The Mazaruni area has an APA Council. The units sendrepresentatives to Districts and to the General Assembly, which is held everytwo years. The last one was in April1996.

The Assembly has appointed an Executive Committee of 12, of whome JeanLa Rose is the Director. We were very impressed by the conversation with thePresident, the Treasurer and with Ms La Rose, in which it was explained thatAPA’s basic concern is to secure the land rights of the communities,especially when foreign companies want to begin operations there.Fundamentally, the Amerindians would like more communities. Land propertyis the key issue. Some communities have land titles, others not. Land

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titling/demarcation is essential because many companies come to theAmerindian areas. Ms La Rose cited the example of Golden Star Resourcesworking in conjunction with BHP(Broken Hill Property) and Barama, which hadan exploratory licence in her village and only removed its equipment afterarmed police intervention and after heavy press exposure.

Most of the mining concessions are Canadian. They build roads and airstripson Community lands where there is no demarcation. The NC- IUCN grant fora mapping project to assist APA with demarcation was therefore verywelcome.

To-day request from the communities are more practical, f.e. schoolinventories. But there is little response from the government. TheCommunities are not against protected areas, but they desire participationand involvement especially when the President’s office is handing out permitsto visit the interior.

Botanists come and go without warning or any feed-back on what they do withthe indigenous knowledge they have gathered. There is insufficientconsultation with foreign companies and the World Bank environmental andconservation programme. A protected area project for the Amerindians alsomeans that their land rights are protected. The Communities are unaware ofthis. Awareness and education are necessities.

Guyana has an Amerindian Act, which provides the legal basis for land titling.In that sense the Amerindians are recognised. But no Amerindian is amember of parliament and there is much political disagreement on how theact should be implemented. Guyana has 6 races and they are the only oneswith land titles. Only 5-6 Communities have titles, of which only 1 isdemarcated. The Government in fact obstructs land titling. The BaramaCompany only gave some land back after considerable pressure.

The Mines Commission, when handling leases, is too poorly staffed toeffectively implement the Amerindian Act. Added to the presence of Baramaand Golden Star on titled lands is the influx of Brazilian garimpeiros onAmerindian lands. The Kaieteur Falls area is now severely ravaged by goldmining. As for the Omai company, which caused the cyanide disaster in 1995,Jean La Rose told us that MIGA, the Multilateral Guarantee Agency of theWorld Bank had confirmed that they would no longer insure companieswithout imposing environmental conditions.

The indigenous Communities are involved in some small scale mining. Thereis a mercury problem but the real problems are caused by the big miningcompanies like the Canadian Golden Star, active in the Mazaruni area. Thecoastal areas in particular are affected.

Jean la Rose also informed us of the Gran Krutu held when we were inSuriname, and which we were unable to attend. At this meeting of AmerindianCaptains and Maroon Granmans from the three Guyanas a declaration callingfor the establishment of land rights, a moratorium for handing out concessionsbefore these rights were firmly constituted and proper consultation procedureswere adopted. Of course there were also some mutual suspicions, given the

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fact that some Granmans operate their own concessions and deal with foreigncompanies (Golden Star). In the end, however, there was a strong feeling ofunity. The organisation of this Gran Krutu had improved since the one inAugust 1995.

Finally, the NC-IUCN financed mapping project went technically very well, butthere were administrative problems over granting permission to consultantPeter Poole to visit the mapping area ("not enough information"). So Peterhad to use the maps available in Georgetown. After his return to Canada hereceived a letter saying that by using these maps he may have violated copyright laws. However, he was happy with the results and what he could teachthe communities about the practice of demarcation.

Meeting with Dr. Hans ter Steege and Dr. G.L. Walcott, ProgrammeCoordinators Tropenbos-Guyana

We met Mr. ter Steege and his counterpart in the well organised Tropenbosheadquarters in Georgetown. Tropenbos-Guyana now employs 35 people ofwhom 11 are ex-patriates. Mr. ter Steege is responsible for the administrativeas well as scientific management. Fortunately an office manager has justbeen appointed.

The T-G Programme’s objective is to contribute to the development oftechniques and methods for conservation and sustainable utilization of forestresources in Guyana. It is now in its second phase which lasts until February1999. Even then the Programme will not be completely finished and anextension for some parts of it might be necessary. There are even thoughtsabout a third phase. The Programme has been established on a 250.000 hatimber concession on Mabura Hill in Central Guyana. This concession used tobelong to Demarara Timbers Ltd, but has recently been taken over by theAsian Connection, in casu the Primegroup that is controlled from Singapore.

In 1994 Tropenbos completed a soil map that covered the entire concessionand which now provides a base for the logging experiments and biodiversitystudies, as well as for an interdisciplinary study of the gaps in the forestscaused by logging. The gap study could not be financed from EU sources butMr. ter Steege managed to obtain the necessary money by pulling somestrings and now 24 gaps are being studied with the aim of establishingparameters for sustainable timber harvesting. Mrs. Tinde van Andel is workingon Non-Timber Forest Products together with the Amerindians of the MaburaHill.

A collaborative research programme has also been started in the NorthwestDistrict of Guyana. This multi-disciplinary programme on people’sperspectives and potentials focuses on Carib-speaking people in NW Guyana,who represent 50% of the total indigenous population. Emphasis will beplaced on the traditional and commercial uses of forest resources. The overallaim is to provide policy makers with a comprehensive body of imformation onsustainable development strategies and their positive effect on people’s lives.200 -300 products, their abundacy and their economic value are studied, f.e.game, fish and leaves used for roofing. Some of the natural resources, suchas iguanas and capibiras, have been locally depleted. The quick growth of

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population is probably one of the main causes here. Farming these speciescould be a solution.

An important activity is the biodiversity mapping of the concession. Use isbeing made of Al Gentry's files of the 1970s and the 1986 Forest Inventorybased upon canopy trees.Guyana has three distinct floral areas and it ispossible to say which are the richest in the most endemic species. South G. isparticularly rich because of secondary species not found in the centre of thecountry. This is probably the result of a disruption some 500 years ago. Thismapping is of course essential as a basis for the protected area system.

The richest areas are those where the logging takes place. The Prime Grouphas hired foresters from the UK, Malaysia and Australia and would seriouslylike to qualify for FSC certification. The SGS report, however, is flawed. At themoment Prime is exporting sawn timber and logs (officially prohibited) to, forexample, the UK, for the purpose of sea defence in Eastbourne. In theDemerara concession, the greenheart stands are almost gone. They stillexploit too few species.

Mr. ter Steege thinks that the quality of the University of Guyana could beimproved. It is difficult to get staff. Tropenbos pays for 6 MSc. posts andalthough there is a relatively keen interest in these kind of posts, qualificationsare insufficient. He also thinks that the government’s forest policy is weak andshould be improved.

Tropenbos has in the past discussed the possibility of moving to theIWOKRAMA site, sofar without result. Cooperation with Iwokrama is, however,good.

We asked Mr. ter Steege if he knew of any Animal Welfare activities. Hementioned Mrs. Dian McTurk, who has a farm in Karanambo in Rupununi.She wants to convert her ranch into a reserve. A river diverts her land in whichGiant Otters live. She sometimes cares for these animals when they havebeen orphaned, or become sick or wounded.

Mr. ter Steege thought it worthwile to look into possibilites to protect the NewRiver Trianglem, a disputed area between S. and G.

We were extremely impressed by the Tropenbos Programme which offers akey to the sustainable development of the tropical forests in G. and should besupported and enforced as much as possible.

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GEMCOGEMCO stands for Guyana Environmental Monitoring and ConservationOrganisation. We met the Chairman Mr. K. Mangal, the Secretary Mr.Tamsammy and Mr. Andrew Morrison, Board Member.

GEMCO is both an advocacy group and NGO consisting of worried scientistsand environmentally conscious citizens. It lacks resources however, and hasno staff. It manages to survive on gifts in natura and on a substantialanonymous contribution. It has representatives in the Forestry Commission aswell as all kinds of other Committees, such as the Geology and MinesCommission. It has done a study into the mercury content of a river systemand is of the opinion that the mining issue has got completely out of hand andneeds serious attention. Why, for example, don’t the miners use retorts andthen recycle the mercury? This would be very cost-effective.

We were able to advise GEMCO on fundraising activities and gave theminformation on the Netherlands Committee for IUCN Small Scale TropicalForest Projects Fund.

Meeting with the NGO communityThis meeting was intended to get us acquainted with the NGO community ofGuyana. Some 20 people from 8 NGOs attended, representing tribal peoples,consumers, tourist operators, media, conservationists, youth andAmerindians.

We discussed issues relating to land titling, border conflicts, the problem ofgarimpeiros and education. One of the problems most stressed was the lackof core funding and how to find the means to cover recurring costs ofmanaging, for example, the turtles in the Santa Rosa Amerindian area.Assisting with small community projects, amongst others, for young peoplebetween 18 and 25, and promoting environmental education in the field, werealso mentioned as important activities. Concern was expressed about the lackof formal involvement of the indigenous communities in the Iwokrama project.While the project is meant to promote the use of indigenous knowledge, thereis no Amerindian representative on the Board of Management.

We explained the objectives and possibilities of the NC-IUCN Small TropicalRainforests Project Fund and our ideas re the GSSDC/F to the participants.

We were all of the opinion that an integrated approach for the Guiana Shieldregion would involve dealing with the indigenous land rights issues, the influxof Brazilian garimpeiros and developing standards for eco-tourism asproblems common to the whole region.

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British High Commission

On the morning of 26 November we met Mrs. Kate English, second Secretary.Later, at a reception in the evening organised by Mr. Caloghirou, we met theHigh Commissioner.

Mrs. English told us that there is an exchange between the Surinamese andthe Guyanese people in the form of cross-border migration. In the Burnhamdays Guyana provided cheap labour for Suriname. The Lutheran church alsopromotes interaction between the two countries.

She complained that projects could not be implemented in Guyana because ofpolitical difficulties. A large water purification project financed by the WorldBank has been cancelled, for example, because agreement could not bereached. Protocol is extremely important, people should not be offended andtribute has to be paid to the self respect of the people.

Bribery is not a big issue in G. although some small scale bribery may exist.There is some “socialist” fear of private industry and no skills for dealing withtransnational companies.

The moratorium on new concessions holds. No exploratory permits have beenhanded out.

Meeting with the Inter-American Development BankWe met with Messrs. Charles Greenwood, Director and Christobal Silva,sector specialist, with whom we had a very extensive, interesting andprofound exchange of opinion.

The IDB is now Guyana’s largest donor, having pledged more that all otherdonors put together.

The Guyanese do not have sovereignty over large parts of the country. It israther the Brazilians who are building the road from Boa Vista to Georgetownand have a great deal of influence in South and the South West Brazil andVenezuela. In the Rupununi area all economic links (cattle, rice, gold anddiamond mining) are with Brazil.

The government of Guyana is weak but stable. The President is faithful to hiscomrades but finds it difficult to take decisions. He still wants a socialist state,but knows that this is impossible. He therefore agrees with privatisation, triesto be pragmatic, but contre coeur. The ideological and nationalistic approachis still very strong. It is for this reason that the President wants to keep a 60%control of the "privatised" industries. He is afraid for more debt and allowsextra debt only for infrastructure. After the debacle with the Brazil road,however, the IDB is no longer willing to lend money for roads.

Dr. Jagan does not wish to borrow money to strenghten the institutionalorganisation and so the government stays weak. This aversion to debtincrease is also why the IDB has, with grant money, taken over the projects toestablish an EPA from the World Bank which would otherwise have been

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financed by an IDA loan. (The EPA project well be approved the next weekand co-financing from the Canadian Inernational Development Agency isexpected in 1997).

Dr. Jagan regards timber as his gold, but the reality is that sustainable timberexploitation is not profitable (Barama may fold up...). He is resentful towardsthe UK because of British pressure for the moratorium on new loggingconcessions and is hoping to use the forests in the near future.

The mainstream of the PPP, the president’s party, seems to be in favour ofbusiness, but at the moment it is dominated by Dr. Jagan and a fewideologists. When Dr. Jagan steps down the attitude of the party mightimprove. Rice and sugar cane projects are going well.

The New Global Human Order is the President’s answer. Taxes on oil and aforeign exchange tax. The UN rather than the Bretton Woods Institutionsshould be dominant and provide grants and subsidies and not loans.

The Paris Club’s restructuring of the foreign bilateral debt has alleviatedthings somewhat but the remaining debt has now to be served. Major debt isformed by the "ideological oil bills" of Algeria, Libya and Trinidad from theBurnham days. The multilateral donors like the WB and the IDB are not intoforgiving debts despite the President’s pleas. Of the total debt of $ 1.5 billion $750 million is to the multilateral donors ($ 200 million to the World Bank, $ 300million to the IDB and the rest to the Caribbean Development Bank and theIMF (ESAF).

A major debt-for-nature swap may not be feasible since there is no secondarymarket for the multilateral debt. The IDB, however, has $200 million availableto assist with the debt service, mainly through re-financing hard debt intoconcessional debt. Five countries are eligible for this kind of balance-of-payments support. Eventually 95% of the debt can become concessional.(These countries are Guyana, Haiti, Nicaragua, Honduras and ?)

We thought it would be very useful if the IDB could implement effective policyprogrammes in the fields of agriculture, environmental protection andelectricity in return for this kind of balance-of-payments support, where theIDB is the only player.

The GEF grant for five protected areas - some of which are commerciallyinteresting - covers only the institutional costs of setting up the system anddoes not compensate for the loss of income, which is why Dr. Jagan is not tooenthousiastic about it. We suggeste that it was here that our idea of a GuianaShield Sustainable Development Fund, paying for the ecological services ofthese areas, should come in.

What we all need is a (resource) economist capable of looking at the existingmechanisms and coming up with interesting numbers.

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Mr. Greenwood found our suggestion for a GSSDC/F most interesting. Hethought however that the GS countries were not ready to co-operate.Venezuela wants to dominate the GS and Guyana is afraid of this, sinceVenezuela claims over one third of the country. A start via the EU wouldindeed be a better route, especially of course when substantial grant moneycould also come with it.

Although not from the “ecological age”, President Jagan is in principle, notagainst the protection of the environment and the nature conservation whichthe IDB and the World Bank promote so strongly in Guyana, but only on agrant basis.So the idea of renting the forests might fit in. Grant money for EPAcould come from the IDB for example.

Forestry CommissionWe met Mr. Khalawan, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Forests. Heinformed us that the FC only gives technical advice. It makes no politicaldecisions on, for example, logging concessions to foreign companies. This isdone by the President minister of forests and his advisers.

They have developed a Code of Practice with the help of ODA. It deals withmanagement plans, roads, requirements, and has made good use of thefindings of the Tropenbos programme. The FC, for example, does not advicelogging in watershed areas.

The FC cannot allocate forests to the Amerindians, who are more or less theprivate owners of the forests and who can in principle negotiate with theforeign loggers. In the first instance the FC always respects the Amerindianlands, whether demarcated or not. But they can discuss the borders with theAmerindians although this can becomes difficult during migration. There arealso Amerindians who log themselves, sometimes outside their territories.Demarcation can be done on site. If they log in State forests, however, theyhave to pay royalties.

We put forward the fact that only one indigenous area had been demarcatedso far. Mr. Khalawan said that up until now demarcation took place only whencomplaints are made. From a forestry point of view however, demarcation isdesirable, because a large part of G. has already been handed out inconcession. Demarcation requires finance however. We pointed to the factthat systems of indigenous self-demarcation at low costs as a basis for officialdemarcation are now being developed.(Before we went on our trip we heardthat the GEF has put in U$ 200,000 to train Amerindians in demarcation andprotected area management.)

The idea of renting the forests, which could be one of the tasks of theGSSDC/F would ty in very well with President Jagan’s New Global HumanOrder which advocates sustainable use of natural resources but alsocompensation for loss of opportunity. This is all in the paper which thePresident will present at the Bolivia Summit of the Americas in December.Guyana signed the Amazonia Treaty and is therfore in favour ofinternational co-operation.

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Meeting with Mr. Lakeram Chatarpaul, Office of the President,Environment Section

Mr. Chaterpaul, who had just returned from the Conference of the Parties ofthe Convention on Biological Diversity in Buenos Aires, gave us a permit tovisit the interior of G. These kind of permits are necessary to protect thecountry against theft of its natural resources via bio-prospecting, which in thepast has been the case with Greenheart. Greenheart is endemic to G. andcannot be planted. It is therefore a very important resource for the localcommunity. Guyana is developing a Presidential decree to cope with thisproblem. Samples of bio-material collected should be left at the University.

The National Protected Area System, which was developed with the supportof theWorld Bank, has been tabled with the GEF. US$ 8 mln is needed. Oneshould start with pilot areas such as Iwokrama. Mr. Chaterpaul would like tostart with a Trustfund and would welcome any kind of partner.

As far as the Amazonian Treaty (AT) is concerned, Dr. Chatarpaul has a bittertaste in his mouth. Neither G. nor Surinam benefit much from the AT. Theincremental costs are very high in G. She is willing to co-operate but it shouldbe a partnership. The Multilateral Institutions (MI) do not really co-operate.Their mechanisms of implementation should be tailored to Guana’s needs andcapabilities. A letter has been sent to UNDP telling them that their procedurestogether with their North-American culture do not work in this country. Theoutput reflects the input. There are however some projects in conjunction withthe communities. Multilateral co-operation is desirable because there arecommon problems in the GS, like f.e. the protection of mangroves as animportant element in sea defence.Dr. C. feels that the MI. are getting a little carried away with the Amerindians.The income from the forests should support the whole of the country. He is infavour of alternative production for the forest peoples since at the moment,the profits from ecotourism f.e., do not go to the Amerindians.

Farming and livestock are no problem in G., but mining and timber are.Companies are not allowed to utilise every singel species for the production ofpulp, plywood or chips. A major problem is caused by the small 'native'concession holders, who operate without any resources for sustainableforestry. At the moment the Wallaba tree is very popular and anybody with achainsaw can go into business. On the other hand, the threat to expose badpractices in the press, is effective. If the local population understands thevalue of its ecology, it will not be destroyed.

Unlike Brazil, land in G. is the property of the government, which is anadvantage.

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IWOKRAMA

We met Mr. Henry Tschinkel, the director of Iwokrama, who has worked in thepast as a forester for USAID in Central America.

Iwokrama lies in the centre of G. It covers 360,000 ha and was in 1989donated to the international community by the Guyanese people who nowhope to get something in return for this donation. In May 1996 it became alegal entity as an autonomous international Board of Trustees, now chaired byformer IUCN President Dr. Swaminathan. Maurice Strong is one of thetrustees. In 1993 it received 3 mln. Dollars from the UNDP/GEF. (UNDPcontact person in New York is Nick Remple). The CEO of the GEF,Mohammed El-Ashry, visited Iwokrama last June.

Finding core funding for the future is now the biggest problem for Iwokrama.UNDP, ITTO and the EU are possible sources. A business plan has beendeveloped by an Australian consultancy. According to this plan, Iwokramashould become self-supporting through a combination of activities such assustainable timber production, non timber forest produce, value addedproduction, ecotourism, training, bio-prospecting, carbon sequestration,endowments and windfall profits.

For the coming 5 years, 14 mln dollar is needed. Mr. Tschinkel asked for ourhelp for his fundraising activities.

We mentioned the Tropenbos programme and expressed our opinion thatIwokrama should co-operate with Tropenbos, it only to prevent having to dipinto the same (money) pots.

The GEF is trying to establish a trustfund. We pointed out the possibilities ofthe Latin America Biodiversity Fund, now being set up by the IFC, the privateinvestment arm of the World Bank, which looks for investment possibilitiesand is managed by Terra Capital in Brazil. The EU also has a tropical forestbudget line of 50 million ECU per year until 1998, there are the ACP fundsthrough the National Indicative Programmes and there is a special budget linefor ecological projects in the EU budget.

One difficulty is that nobody wants to go into the hinterland, because it is not avery attractive place. The danger of malaria is very real. Based upon theenvironmental impact assessment of the road carried out by EnvironmentalResources Management (ERM), Mr. Tschinkel was not too worried that theBrazil road would lead to an invasion of colonists in Iwokrama because of thevery poor quality of the soils in the area. Of course, goldminers are a threat aswell as poachers and chain-saw poachers. The latter work with one ortwo chain-saws and a small truck. Iwokrama has trained 20 rangers to copewith this problem. Controlling Iwokrama is relatively easy because the bordersconsist of 90% rivers and creeks. Asked about Amerindian representation onthe Board, Mr. Tschinkel mentioned that representatives of the twelve villagesnear Iwokrama meet monthly in Annai. President Jagan, however, chose tohave Minister de Souza of Amerindian Affairs on the Board.

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Reception at the Cara Lodge

On the evening of November 26th Mr. and Mrs John Caloghirou organised avery pleasant and well-attended reception, where we were able to speak withmany representatives from the government and the diplomatic and NGOcommunities.

We were anxious to meet, amongst many others, Mr. Udaibir Saran Das fromthe IMF and advisor to the Governor of the Bank of Guyana, since we wantedto discuss the possibility of reducing Guyana’s foreign debt by using the valuefrom the ecological services which the intact forests and other ecosystems inGuyana deliver to the rest of the world. So far the grant money from the GEF,for example, has only been for the institutional set up for the protection of theecosystems, but not for the services rendered and not for commercial incomeforegone.

We were extremely grateful for this opportunity to meet so many people whoare relevant to future cooperation with respect to a Guiana Shield wideinternational initiative.

Meeting with President JaganWe also had the honour of meeting with President Jagan, his advisor Dr.Navin Chanderpaul and a representative of his external relations office. Themeeting lasted two hours and was characterised by a frank and opendiscussion on several topics.

President Jagan took the opportunity to explain his ideas on the plan he haddeveloped for a New Global Human Order to us. This plan is linked to theobjective of the Charter of the United Nations to: “achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural orhumanitarian character.” It seeks to reverse the gap between the richest andthe poorest countries. A development strategy should therefore be engineeredin order to eradicate poverty. Financing could be found by way of a “peacedividend” obtained by reducing military expenditures, a global tax on energy,pollution taxes and the taxing of global speculative foreign exchangemovements. The money could be used for debt relief. A maximum of 10% ofBNP should be set aside for debt service.

With regard to the situation of G. the President explained that the country wassympathetic to the idea of sustainable development and was willing to co-operate. The Iwokrama project should become an example for new foreigninvestors. But the overall condition to this policy was that it should becombined with substantial financial aid to releave Guyana’s debt service, theoverriding issue in its development policy.

Although most of G’s bilateral debt was recently restructured during the lastmeeting of the Paris Club, one-third of the huge debt to Trinidad remains G.must pay this debt off.

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The rest of G’s debt, which is one of the biggest per capita debts in the world,is to MI’s. President Jagan was very disappointed that all international aid isbeing cut and that the world is far away from the 0.7 % BNP target for ODAagreed at UNCED in 1992. G. needs cheap loans as well as foreign aid toinvest in its run-down infrastructure. (Since there is no infrastructure totransport food products, farmers turn to the cultivation of marihuana…)

After we explained our ideas with regard to the GSSDC/F to the President, heexpressed his sympathy them and said that the idea of payments for theprotection of the global commons tied fitted in with his New Global HumanOrder, which would combine economic growth with social and ecological Hewould present these proposals at the Summit of the Americas in Bolivia inDecember, where he would also meet with Al Gore to discuss the problems inhis country. He would therefore be glad to cooperate with us.

Fact finding in Guyana’s interior.The trip to the hinterland of Guyana was organised by Dr. Norma Bubier fromthe Foundation for Ethnobiology in Oxford, her assistant Jackie Allicock inGeorgetown and Malcolm and Margaret Chan-A-Sue of Torong Guyana. Weare grateful for their enthusiastic support and friendship.

On the morning of 27 November Wouter Veening flew down to Annai withMessrs George Simon of the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, Vivian Fredericksof the Amerindian support organisation and Sidney Allicock the head of theSurama village on the border of Iwokrama.

At Annai we had a delicious breakfast at Colin Edwards' Rock ViewEcotourism Resort. This resort is located very conveniently near the Annaiairstrip and in the transition zone between the Rupununi savannes, thefoothills of the Pakaraima mountains and on the border of the Iwokramarainforest area. Mr. Edwards works closely with the surrounding communitiesand Rock View is a convincing example of ecotourism as a source of incomefor Guyana, based upon untouched nature and thriving indigenous cultures.

At the resort we met Mrs. Wanda Radzic, who is in charge of women'sprojects in the area, she will become the coordinator of CIDA's women'sprogramme in Guyana, Mr. Fred Allicock, manager of the Iwokrama projectand Mr Terence Boston, information officer of the region.

After breakfast we visited first Annai, where we spoke with the educationalsupervisor, the people from the health post and other communityrepresentatives and where we visited a sewing project, which is assisted byRed Thread, the NGO Wanda Radzic is currently working for.

After Annai we drove to Surama, on the border of Iwokrama, where there wasa meeting with most of the villagers, chaired by the headmaster. It was a verypleasant, stimulating and informative meeting, where everybody spoke andwhere the school children sang the Surama song. Wouter explained thepurpose of the fact finding mission and the crucial role of local communities inthe sustainable management of the Guiana Shield.

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After the meeting the women demonstrated how they cultivate cassava andhow they bake cassava bread. After an excellent lunch with 'pepper pot'Wouter was shown the biodiversity project. In this project school children andvillagers collect (medicinal) plants, record what the older women (still) knowabout the properties of the plants, record where the plants can be found andthen store dried specimens of the plants. It is now very important to consultthe elders and in the original Macuxi language, because otherwise thisknowledge will die out with them.

In conjunction with Conservation International, which also has an active officein Guyana, an Amerindian Committee on Intellectual Property Rights will beset up. The computer for storage and transmission of the data, has brokendown, however. Wouter mentioned here the NC-IUCN’s support for a projectin Colombia to elaborate legal mechanisms in order to regulate the access ofoutsiders to the genetic resources in indigenous territories and to thecollective knowledge of the communities about these resources, so as toprotect the interests of these communities.

After this impressive visit to Surama we drove into the Iwokrama reservealong the Brazil road, where we saw several bridges under repair, becausethey had started to rot away. We came across only one other vehicle (a truckwith logs). In the early evening we arrived at Kurupukari on the Essequibowhere the Iwokrama project facility has been set up.

After a delicious dinner cooked by Mrs. Allicock, Fred’s wife, Fred himselfexplained some of the activities of the project.The southern part of the area,which is difficult to access, will be predominantly a conservation zone, whilethe flatter northern part is designated as a sustainable use zone. One of thereasons for this is that timber from this part can be transported by creeks. Sono trails, which cause erosion, are necessary. The timber would then betransported to Brazil for the furniture assembly industry close to the market.Making the finished furniture in Guyana would entail too much transportdamage before the product reaches the Brazilian consumer. There is only onemining site inside Iwokrama, where mercury is not used.

As to the wildlife, there are quite a few jaguars around, which feed on agoutiand red deer. There are also tapir and capibari. A quantitative assessment ofbiodiversity in the rainforest of Central Guyana was published in 1992 .

The beaches along the Essequibo are excellent for tourism.

It is be important to find a good use for the Parapanema complex near Annai,where the technicians and workers of Parapanema, the Brazilian companywhich built the road, stayed while the road was being constructed. Thiscomplex has been handed over to the regional authorities and could very wellfunction as a cultural/educational centre for Iwokrama. It could also be alaboratory for investigating how to use the savanna for agriculture in order torelieve the pressure on the rainforest. It would be very important to share thisidea with President Jagan. (Fred Allicock also said that the question of thelack of progress with demarcation should be mentioned to the President).

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He stressed the importance of medicinal plants from the protected areas inGuyana: they produce medicines which are much cheaper than "industrial"medicines and without the side-effects of, for example, the malariaprophylactic, Lariam. Because of malaria and the risk of snake bites, workingin Iwokrama is not without its dangers. It is very that there is no riskallowance.

The next morning we drove back to Annai where Hemmo Muntingh joined us,accompanied by Mrs Kate English from the British High Commission. Duringthe flight back we had an excellent overall view of Guyana’s overwhelmingbeauty and the main threats to the forests.

We also had a magnificent overview of the Iwokrama area. 360,000 ha ofpristine forests, mountains, rivers and creeks. The only dissonant was justoutside the area: the road which was supposed to connect Guyana withVenezuela, but which now ends somewhere in the wild. It was very clear thatwe should support every effort to safeguard Iwokrama for present and futuregenerations.

Although, just as in Surinam, the largest part of the area we flew over seemedto be covered with immense, undisturbed tropical forests, it was evident thatlogging had a much bigger impact then in Surinam. The pattern of loggingroads, different composition of the forestcover where logging had taken place,and timber stockpile places were clearly visible in the area given inconcession to the Prime group, although not in such an extreme form as inAsia. In general, however, it can be said that most of the forest seemed in aperfect state.

Clearly a problem were the many areas where surface goldmining took place.Large spots in the forests were covered with small lakes- the creeks andstreams meandering from them towards the larger rivers were completelyyellow. Equally disturbing were the many contraptions which we could see inthe rivers, proof of the goldmining which took place in them and which wererecognisable because of the yellow color of the water downstream of theseboats. Many wore the scars from earlier goldmining activities on theriverbanks. Particularly sad was the destruction in the beautiful Potaro riverwhich streams from the Kaieteur Falls.

But the most horrible view was of the Omai mine. An enormous complex oflakes, buildings, open pits, roads and destroyed patches in the forests. Thebroken dam, which caused the terrible pollution of the Esequibo was clearlyvisible. We took pictures of this most scandalous of monuments to thecriminal neglect of nature in order to disseminated them.

Of course we also took some time to visit one of the most beautiful places onearth: the 228 m high Kaieteur Falls. Kaieteur and its surroundings are sobeautiful that they should be placed on the UNESCO list of World HeritageSights. Unfortunately this is still not possible because the goldmining interestsare so strong that they have prevented this. The Kaieteur area is also worldfamous for its endemic Bromelia species which are truly unique.

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Conclusion

Guyana is a wonderful country of outstanding beauty and natural resourcesthat should at all costs be preserved for present and future generations. Theworld community should help Guyana to overcome its economic and socialproblems and give it a chance to follow the path of sustainable development.Specific attention should be given to the Kaieteur National Park, the Iwokramaarea and the New River Triangle. Tropenbos and Iwokrama should look forpossibilities for more co-operation and rally international support to help theGovernment to establish a truly sustainable forest policy that incorporates theneeds and desires of the Amerindians.

ThanksWe could not end this report on our fact finding mission to the Guina Shieldcountries without a final word of thanks to Anton Ellenbroek who put manyhours into organising this trip. He did an outstanding job which can bedemonstrated by the fact that we never once had any delays and everything

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Iwokrama: 360,000 ha of pristine forest

The Iwokrama Biological Station

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The Barama Timber factory

Former Demarara Timbers Mill, now property of the Prima Group from Singapore

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Logging roads in the former Demara concession

One of the many clearings in the forest

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Goldmining is the main polluting factor of the rivers in the Guyana Shield

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The notorious Omai mine in Guyana

The rupture in the dam that caused the infamous pollution of the Essequibo is clearly visible

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The Indian village of Anai

Sewing project in Annai

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Rock View is a convincing example of ecotourism

The unfinished Brazil roadthat should stay unfinished

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The beautiful Potara river,downstream of the KaieteurFalls, is unfortunately plagued byillegal goldmining

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The Kaieteur Falls, one of the most beautiful places on Earth

The authors: Wouter Veening (r) and Hemmo Muntingh (l)

76

77

Part 6Business Cards

78

Amapa

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Suriname

80

81

Guyana

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International Fund for Animal WelfareEU - Office

Rue Boduognat 13B - 1000 Brussels

Belgiumtel. (32 2) 230 9717fax. (32 2) 231 0402

Globe EU50, rue du TaciturneB - 1040 Brussels

Belgiumtel. (32 2) 230 6589fax. (32 2) 230 9530

Netherlands Committee for IUCN,The World Conservation Union

Plantage Middenlaan 2B1018 DD Amsterdam

the Netherlandstel. (31 20) 626 1732fax. (31 20) 627 9349

European Working Group on Amazoniap.a. Netherlands Committee for IUCN,

Plantage Middenlaan 2B1018 DD Amsterdam

the Netherlandstel. (31 20) 626 1732fax. (31 20) 627 9349