EPA workshop sensitises on best practices
[youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaeFj2cih7o” width=”100%” height=”315″]
─ seeks to ensure persons apply and receive environmental authorisation
By Kipenie Jordan
DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, May 21, 2019
A capacity building workshop on logging best practices was hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on May 20 at Caria Caria, Region 3. The workshop was aimed at educating the participants on the requirements to comply with the EPA and its regulations, for environment authorisation.
Everton Gibson of King William Dam, Region 3 commended the EPA for hosting the capacity building workshop. He is now in an informed position to share his knowledge with his fellow residents to be compliant and do what is right. “I never knew that as loggers, we are supposed to apply to the EPA for a license to do our harvesting before going to the Guyana Forestry Commission. I learned that today, also, how to go about applying for an EPA license and the rules and procedures we should take.”
Leslie Jones of Saxacali, Region 3 shared similar sentiments.
Previously, residents of the Saxacali community had suffered at the hands of miners who were mining in the Mazaruni Region for years, contaminating their water supply. As such, a workshop of this nature was needed to inform residents of best practices.
Senior Environmental Officer at the EPA, Candacie Thompson explained, there are many offences which include, and are not limited to, pollution of water, air, and proper solid waste disposal, that are committed in areas where logging is concerned.
The EPA is implementing a Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (EU FLEGT) project which seeks to build capacity for Community Forest Organisation (CFO) for environmental authorisation. What this does is sensitise CFOs of what EPA is, why it is important for environmental authorisation, and what is required of them to become and remain compliant.
Thompson explained, “when the CFOs become authorised, and we conduct our inspections, and if there is a breach, we recommend corrective actions on how they can mitigate those breaches and a time frame of when to have those measures implemented.”
She added, for persons who are ‘delinquent’, fines, prosecutions, imprisonment and, or but not limited to, suspension or revocation of licences will be applied where necessary. Fines can be charged as low as $15,000 or as high as $750,000.
One of the issues raised at the workshop was that of large-scale loggers who are not being compliant (delinquent) and committing offences where the persons logging on a small scale are feeling the brunt of it.
This workshop is the final of 12 hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency. The project, which is funded by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), had a target of 69 Community Forest Organisations (CFOs) but has only met 48.
Images: Karime Peters.