AN INTER-MINISTERIAL team has been working to reverse the UK ban on greenheart lumber from Guyana.

Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman has said that the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MNRE) is working along with the ministries of Business and Foreign Affairs to seek a reversal of the ban.

“Greenheart is literally at the heart and soul of Guyana’s timber industry. It represents, in a sense, the strength of Guyana; and to us, we have a reputation to protect, and we have to ensure that those who produce logs for use in marine construction and for lumber that we give them what they desire, and that is markets in the United Kingdom,” Trotman said on Friday at a press briefing held at Cara Lodge in Georgetown.

A ministerial delegation will travel to the UK early next year to press Guyana’s case. “We’re very interested in restoring the smooth trade and (in) lifting the ban. We’ve had communication with the British High Commission,” Trotman said.

The ban on greenheart lumber came in May, 2015. Minister Trotman said he believed it was a “combination of us being, I believe, outmanoeuvred,” that led to the ban.

The ban on greenheart exports to the UK saw a dramatic slump in exports to that country, moving from US$3.2 million in 2014 to US$1 million last year.

In a statement two Saturdays ago, the Guyana Manufacturers and Services Association (GMSA) and other stakeholders blamed the ban on incorrect labelling of Guyana’s forest management practices by activists.

“Given that markets for tropical forest products are declining and challenging, incorrect labelling of our forest management practices in this negative way can only be detrimental to the future lives and livelihoods of the 25,000 people directly employed in this industry,” the GMSA and other stakeholders have stated.

The ban, imposed by the UK Environment Agency with effect from May 2015, came as a surprise to the local industry, especially since the private sector and Government were in communication with CPET, the Central Point for Expertise on Timber, which advises UK Government agencies on timber procurement policies for over four years previous to the “note to provide evidence of legality and sustainable timber practices.”

The GMSA and other stakeholders noted that, because of the need to prove legality and sustainability and meet certification standards, the industry had entered into negotiations under the European Union Programme for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT), which aims to reduce illegal logging by strengthening sustainable and legal forest management, improving governance, and promoting trade in legally produced timber.