Indigenous communities are not yet comfortable with the scheduled signing of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) by the Government of Guyana and the European Union (EU) next March. Stakeholders have proposed that the Agreement be signed at the end of 2016. “From what we have gathered from these workshops is that indigenous communities are not ready for the EU FLEGT. It should not be signed in March 2016, we are simply not prepared,” said Lenox Shuman, Toshao St. Cuthbert’s Mission.
Shuman at the Amerindian People’s Association’s (APA) launch of two reports on the subject Monday at Regency Suites, Hadfield Street said, “Indigenous communities must be involved at every single step of every single policy or agreement that affects indigenous peoples. That should be done from the inception to the end, not in some of these cases where indigenous peoples are coming in only at the last step to be a rubber stamp to some of these documents.”
Before the implementation of the VPA, the St. Cuthbert Mission’s Toshao believes adequate time must be provided for the dissemination of information to the communities. “Give communities enough time so that they can understand and be able to object.”
Michael Mc Garrell, Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Policy Advisor (APA) said there are many concerns by the indigenous people of Guyana. One such concern is that the VPA could lack solid protections for land and other rights. Thus far there have been three sets of negotiations with the fourth scheduled for later this month. Mc Garrell said “Communities feel enough is not being done” to educate the people about the VPA and the benefits that can be derived therefrom.
“Guyana is currently in negotiations with the EU regarding commitments made under its Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) which is expected to lead to a VPA with the EU under their FLEGT initiative. These negotiations have been ongoing since 2012 and are meant to ensure that only legally sourced timber is imported to EU markets.”
Mc Garrell noted that while there has been some level of awareness on the initiative in Amerindian communities by state entities, “inputs into the development of the documents during this period appear to have not captured some of their concerns.”
It is believed that the current governance structure and other systems could be improved and strengthened under the VPA to ensure that long-standing land conflicts do not escalate and that communities do not suffer negatively from a system that is meant to improve the conditions of forest stakeholders.
Issues
It has been observed that many indigenous community members have little or no knowledge about the VPA process and as such those communities must be able to participate in meaningful discussions on the VPA whether through more outreach programmes and consultations done by the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), the APA and the NTWG.
New information resulting from continuous discussions is not being passed on to community members by those who attend workshops. The sharing of information is critical to understanding the VPA.
Another major issue if the communication of information to the respective indigenous communities; the APA and its stakeholders feel that the communication of such important information must be done in the language of the indigenous communities.
In this regard, audiovisual discs have been prepared and are being distributed in the varying indigenous languages to ensure that all stakeholders understand what the VPA intends to do.
“Moving forward, we hope that the communication strategy is clear,” said both Mc Garrell. Mc Garrell like Shuman stressed that not enough consultation has been done to ensure that the product (VPA) is one that is representative of the people of the indigenous communities.
Recommendations
Several recommendations have been put forward to ensure that all stakeholders are properly informed of what the signing of the VPA means for indigenous communities and the benefits that can derive therefrom.
It has been recommended that the criteria and framework for indigenous communities to meet FLEGT approval reflect the particular and unique situations of indigenous communities especially related to land tenure; laws and policies must respect the customary rights of our indigenous peoples in relation to land; all relevant land laws including the Amerindian Act, the Mining Act, the Forest Act must be revised to fully recognise and respect indigenous rights and to avoid conflicts before the implementation of the VPA; the VPA must take into account international laws, especially human rights laws; all rights issues in relation to indigenous peoples land ownership must first be addressed before making any agreement with the EU.
Also, recommendations have been made for there to be a more profound and extensive VPA consultations with indigenous communities while VPA documents should be made available in indigenous languages as well as in simple English to assist in making informed decisions.
Independent legal counsel is a must to ensure that communities are adequately represented. The final draft of the VPA must have the support of all indigenous peoples and a statement endorsing the support must be attached.
Stakeholders are also requesting that there be more independence with respect to forest management for indigenous communities and no logging should be permitted on untitled traditional lands for which communities have applied for title, extension, or which are being occupied or used.
Additionally, it has been recommended that one FLEGT- certified indigenous company cater for all indigenous communities and there be more collaboration between the APA and the National Toshaos Council (NTC) in representing the VPA recommendations.
Under the VPA, a legality assurance system is being developed here to ensure that timber and timber products entering Europe originate from legal sources. Formal negotiations began in December 2012. The reports launched by the APA represent a summary of the outcomes of twelve community workshops carried out by the APA and the Forest Peoples Programme, in Regions 1 and 2 between June 2014 and January 2015. The other report titled, ‘A seminar on essential elements for a legality definition and Legality Assurance System (LAS) in the Guyana- EU FLEGT VPA’ highlights the many issues voiced by representatives of indigenous communities.