Illegal mining, logging continuing cause for concern in Iwokrama forest
The Iwokrama International Centre, custodian of 371,000 hectares of Guyana’s rainforest, is alarmed at the spate of illegal activities in its forest.
In a release on Tuesday, the Centre stated that it has noted again with serious concern, the “proliferation of illegal activities” in the Iwokrama Forest including but not limited to fishing, hunting, logging and mining. This in spite of the fact that in November 2019 it conducted an education and awareness activity so the public should now be well aware of the boundaries of the Iwokrama Forest and permitted activities in the forest.
The disclosure was made that again, over the past weekend, the Centre’s staff together with teams from the Corps of Wardens under the Ministry of Natural
Resources and the Guyana Police Force, carried out raids in the Iwokrama Forest. Camps with several 4inch dredges were discovered along with “substantive” destruction of the forest floor.
According to Iwokrama, “This was a marked increase in intensity from the usual one-man operation using metal detectors and a spade and is of grave concern to the Centre.” It is of the opinion that these activities are being perpetuated by individuals taking advantage of the current restrictions and lockdown protocols established to combat the COVID-19 virus.
In light of these occurrences, the Centre has seen it fit to remind the public and other stakeholders that these activities are not allowed in the Iwokrama
Forest unless express written permission is granted for any of these activities to be undertaken.
The Centre went on to cite specifically, section 2 of the clause titled “Control of the Programme Site” of the Iwokrama Act which states:
Subject to section 6(1), and notwithstanding anything in any other written law (a) no mining, forestry or other resources utilisation activity shall be carried out on the Programme Site by any person other than the Centre, except with the prior written permission of the Centre; and
(b) no lease of land or permission to use land in the Programme Site shall be issued by any person