THE Environmental Community Health Organisation (ECHO) has said that it welcomes the recent announcement of an investigation into the operations of Bai Shan Lin and the mining sector, specifically as it relates to the deaths of miners.In a press release, ECHO said that for quite some time now it has been calling for this level of Government interest in the local extractive sector, and the way those involved in this sector have been exploiting Guyana’s natural resources in a crude and unsustainable manner, unmindful about the current state of global and local ecologies, unprecedented environmental events, and the future of Guyana’s wider society.

With reference to Bai Shan Lin, ECHO said that it hopes the investigation will be sufficiently in-depth, “to unravel very subtle but harmful details of its contract with Guyana, and the impact it has had on the natural environment and the economy, particularly since the company is shipping raw logs from Guyana with no value-added interest.”

Noting that the natural assets of Guyana belong to all Guyanese, the environmental organisation asserted that Guyanese have a right to know how these assets are being exploited, by whom, and who are benefiting from the revenues. ECHO added: “It is quite wrong for any Government to disperse of the patrimony of Guyanese without proper consultations, and effective systems to facilitate transparency, accountability, and, in this case, environmental integrity.”

Emphasising that it welcomes the move by Government, the body said that it “hopes that the process and substance of the investigation would positively re-shape the contours of the extractive sector, raise environmental awareness, and promote high standards, environmental ethics, and great economic benefits to us and future generations.”