Taking Guyana's environmental vision to market

Guyana’s vast forests are still largely untouched, making the country attractive to timber buyers and eco-tourists alike. To ensure that exports to the former don’t endanger the market for the latter—as well as other livelihoods that rely on intact forests—Guyana’s government has developed a Low-Carbon Development Strategy, which includes sustainable management of timber resources. USAID's Guyana Trade and Investment Support project (managed by CARANA) is helping make this a reality, working with public and private partners in the forestry sector (as well as the U.S. Forest Service, due to visit Guyana later this month) to implement national standards that lay the foundation for timber certification.

At the same time, GTIS is assisting individual firms to gain other forms of certification, such as Verified Legal Origin (VLO), that will allow them to access more markets. The demand for certified wood is rising, as representatives from Guyana’s forestry sector discovered in November at the North American Wholesale Lumber Association’s Trader’s Market exhibition in Chicago. The GTIS-sponsored booth drew several buyers interested in purchasing certified wood. “You get a sense [from the show] that the demand for third-party verification in the North American market is increasing,” said Luvindra Sukhraj, General Manager of Toolsie Persaud, Ltd, one of the firms pursuing independent certification.

Published January 2010