GUYANA is among seven rainforest countries likely to be major players for REDD (Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries) in the climate change battle, according to a new report on the issue.

The report `Tenure in REDD – Start-point or afterthought?’ by Lorenzo Cotula and James Mayers was prepared for the Prince’s Rainforest Project (PRP) and for the Forest Governance Learning Group (FGLG). PRP is an initiative set up in 2007 and steered by Britain’s Prince Charles, with 16 major companies on its Steering Group.

It noted that REDD has emerged quickly, with spreading recognition that deforestation and forest degradation account for some 17 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions globally, and that the emission reductions needed to avoid catastrophic climate change are so large that they will not be achieved without reducing forest loss and degradation.

“Given the immediate challenge of negotiating a post-2012 agreement, much debate about REDD has focused on international aspects. But whether REDD will benefit – or marginalise – forest communities ultimately depends on local to national arrangements about the allocation of benefits within countries. So resource tenure is key”, the report found.

President Bharrat Jagdeo has been leading a Guyana lobby internationally for avoided deforestation to be included as a key plank in the new United Nations climate change programme to be agreed at a summit in Copenhagen in December. Guyana tabled its programme in Poznan, Poland last year and this is to be canvassed locally through a series of stakeholders meetings.

Other rainforest countries under focus in the study are Brazil, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.

“It appears evident that many countries are ill-equipped in practice to ensure that REDD schemes benefit local people. Improvements in tenure alone will not achieve this.

“Tackling some of the powerful players behind deforesting activities, like destructive logging, pressures for infrastructure development and conversion of forests to agribusiness, will require concerted action on an unprecedented scale in many countries”, the study says.

It notes that when forests are removed or degraded, by fire for example, emissions are created and carbon sinks are lost.

It says that the annual rate of deforestation in Guyana is estimated to be between 0.1 and 0.3 per cent.

“At present uncontrolled small-scale gold mining is one of the main drivers. However, there are serious concerns that a new highway from Brazil (Manaus) to Georgetown will result in substantial land encroachment by Brazilian ex-road builders and ex-gold miners in previously inaccessible areas”, it says.

According to the study, overall, Guyana has a comprehensive legal framework on forest governance. The forest sector’s contribution to GDP has ranged from 3.2 per cent to 4.2 per cent in the period 1998 to 2008.

A major challenge, it says, is regulatory capture, the consequence of which is that 98 per cent of large-scale forest concessions are controlled by Asian loggers.

“Also, there is little relation between national laws, policies and procedures relating to the forest sector, and the practices of that sector”, it says.

The study says the export of unprocessed logs to Asian markets is a major issue – the national industry would benefit from increased investment in local processing facilities.

It notes that a new Guyana Forestry Commission Act was passed in 2007 and a revised Forests Act was drafted in 1995–96.

In 2008 Guyana offered to place its rainforest under the control of an international body in return for development aid and technical help from the British government although this seems to have no significant effects on the continuation of existing patterns of resource use.

“Indeed, the government also stated that log exports will continue to comprise the lion’s share (67 per cent) of the forestry sector”, it says.