The Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development has announced plans to develop a sawmilling operations in its reserves along with a new partner, Farfan and Mendes Limited.According to the centre, it is about to embark on the second phase in the development of its model sustainable timber operation in the Iwokrama Forest.Iwokrama has entered a critical partnership with Farfan and Mendes Limited that will allow the latter to conduct sawmilling activities on part of its forest reserves.Farfan and Mendes Limited (FML) will conduct the sawmilling operations while the centre will maintain control of harvesting operations.The Iwokrama International Centre (IIC) was established in 1996 under a joint mandate from the Government of Guyana and the Commonwealth Secretariat to manage the Iwokrama forest, a unique reserve of 371,000 hectares of rainforest “in a manner that will lead to lasting ecological, economic and social benefits to the people of Guyana and to the world in general”.According to the centre, a complex and extensive zoning exercise was conducted on the Iwokrama Forest resulting in the division of the Iwokrama Forest into a Wilderness Preserve and a Sustainable Utilization Area (SUA).The SUA was demarcated as the area where development work for the Centre’s experimental timber model and all of its other business models, including tourism and training services, are undertaken.“All of Iwokrama’s models are designed to follow international economic, social and environmental best practices and employ innovative governance systems involving various stakeholders,” the centre explained in a statement yesterday.FML was selected from amongst four companies which submitted proposals after advertisements were advertised in November 2013.“Techniques for improving logging and processing efficiences and the production of value added products will be the main tools of the second phase. The Centre will employ a 60-year cutting cycle, harvesting a maximum of 1,800 ha per year (which is less than 0.5% of the Iwokrama Forest) under a very selective harvesting regime which will result in only a few stems per ha (hectare) being removed and no large gaps in the forest canopy.”The centre stressed that the timber operations will also be the subject of important research topics such as harvesting impacts on natural forests, including the effect on flora and fauna and impacts on local communities. Local communities, particularly through the North Rupununi District Development Board, at both the strategic and operational levels of the business, will be involved.The centre collaborates with the Government of Guyana, the Commonwealth and other international partners, developing new approaches to enable countries with rainforests to market their ecosystem services whilst carefully managing their resources through creative conservation practices.Some ?16 local communities, of approximately 7,000 people, are shareholders and participants in the IIC’s sustainable timber,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, tourism and research operations through co-management of the forest and benefit-sharing arrangements. It also involves scientists engaged in groundbreaking research into the impacts of climate change on the forest and measuring the scope and value of its ecosystem services.Farfan and Mendes Ltd has been in business in Guyana for 50 years. Originally, FML was set up as a joint venture company with FT Farfan and Sons Ltd of Trinidad and Tobago, a company that had its start in sawmilling in the Twin Island Republic and grew into the sawmill supply business there. FML has brought many new technologies and practices to the local industry, including but not limited to, the introduction of chainsaws and chainsaw milling to Guyana in 1967 and band-mill technology in the early 1970’s. The company is the agent for Woodmizer mills and Stihl chainsaws and equipment, amongst other products.
