Saxakali Magazine 2:2 PPP-CIVIC on Trial: Guyana's Environment in `95

Saxakali Magazine V2N2
Environmental Issues:

PPP-CIVIC on Trial:
Guyana's Environment - '95 Year in Review

Development or Underdevelopment?

Given persistent racial tensions and poverty, it seems that the problems facing Guyana's people and development are social and not economic (see map). This observation aside, many Guyanese now have to add environmental problems to their list of issues to deal with under the Indian PPP-CIVIC regime.

In 1995, almost all Guyanese were shocked to learn that Omai really means 'Oh my, the Omai river is dead!' The negligent killing of a river implies that the vast majority of people have lost access to, and control over, decisions regarding their clean natural resources. The killing of the Essequibo continues...

To say that 1995 was the worst year ever for Guyana's environment and people would be a gross understatement. Indeed, 1995 surpassed legacies of colonialism and African PNC dictatorship as the Indian supported PPP-CIVIC set new boundaries in betrayal of the peoples's consent to rule, political-economic corruption and environmental negligence.

From the largest cyanide disaster in history, to the selling-off of most of the country's forest, to the US$38 million a year gold smuggling operation linking top Guyanese businessmen to South American drug-laundering - 1995 will be recorded as one of the darkest by future generations of Guyanese children.

This past year, the capital intensive, rapid exploitation, "economic" development policy of the regimes in Guyana and Suriname, in collaboration with Asian regimes, had even the World Bank scrambling to save some of the region's forests for future Western exploitation. The strengthening of ties between the ruling Indian regime in Guyana and the Malaysian dictatorship continued despite the threat of cut-off of development aid if any further forest leases were granted.

With continued strong support from the Indian community, businessmen and "human rights" organizations in Guyana and abroad, the racist Indian PPP-CIVIC leadership went ahead and gave out a majority of the people's land without their consultation, by ignoring their participation, by suppressing protest and resistance of concerned citizens, and by conducting negotiations in secret (i.e. under the table).

The failure of the World Bank and Western capitalists to stop the sale of third world people's land to Asian capitalists in 1995 means that, for one, the majority of the people, forests, rivers, and wildlife face continued rapid exploitation and environmental destruction in the future.

Guyana's Forests and Malaysian Capitalists

On the surface, it seems only natural for the Indian regime in Guyana to strengthen ties with the Malaysian regime. But who exactly are these Malaysians? These individuals represent a close association of the Malaysian military and the Malaysian logging industry in a brutal dictatorship reinforced by connections between the ruling families of the political and business elites.

The recent history of Malaysian logging companies in Malaysia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) is exceptional for its severity in environmental devastation, and political manipulation of local politicians and people. Many logged areas in PNG resemble moonscapes, with so much of the vegetation and topsoil stripped away that the forests may never grow back. The run-off further pollute creeks and rivers once used for drinking water. The once lush, tropical capital of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby, is presently barren and in chaos, with flourishing barbed wire to keep out roving gangs of unemployed youth.

Yun Bun, the Executive Director of Foundation of the People of the South Pacific said in an interview, "most of the logging is done illegally - without payment of taxes, royalties, and other benefits such as employment because of massive corruption in the issue of timber permits and failure to monitor exports." These accusations were also publicly repeated by Mr. Chavi Konabe, Deputy Director of PNG Forestry Department during the 14th Commonwealth Forestry Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tos Barnett, a judge and chief investigator of a recent PNG Government commission, is among others who were attacked and forced to flee the country.

(For more information on PNG, see Gaia Link)

In the name of the people and economic development of these nations, a myth of sustainable forest management is maintained by both the local political regimes and the Malaysian dictatorship as entire ecosystems are destroyed, biodiversity extinguished, and the land left bare for local people to scrape out an existence. All this to satisfy cheap export markets for timber and benefit of a few transnational capitalists and local bureaucrats.

In Guyana, the Malaysian-South Korean joint venture, Barama, continue to renegotiate with the PPP-CIVIC government for more territory, and the company now have control over 5.2 million acres in the Northwest Essequibo region. As in PNG, the company negotiates in secret with Guyana's government for the purchase of traditional land rights of indigenous Guyanese peoples, whose claims are ignored and who are subsequently displaced without adequate compensation. The company enjoys a ten-year tax holiday and pays almost no royalties, and also avoids even the scant monitoring of environmental laws by buying logs from outside the concession, where there is absolutely no monitoring.

This trend is continued with the recent PPP-CIVIC negotiated US$20 million deal with the UNAMCO joint venture between Malaysian investors and Case Timbers Limited, a local logger, which controls over 237,000 acres in Lower Berbice region and will employ a mere 550 people. Another PPP-CIVIC negotiated US$16 million deal with Malaysian capitalists to exploit Eastern Berbice was announced in early November, but the name of the company was undisclosed. The illegal selling of the people's forests in PNG, Guyana and Suriname to the Malaysians continue despite worldwide protests.

Save Guyana's Forests