Min. of Natural Resources comments on logging
One license is still in effect but the other must be renegotiated. These were the findings of a committee appointed to review logging practices in the Columbia Forest Reserve. The committee report found that the felling being carried out by the Toledo Atlantic International Limited was having a negative impact on various rural communities. It also found that the license granted to TAIL had been issued in a manner they describe as “clandestine” and which deliberately ignored the expertise of professionals in the Ministry of Natural Resources and other government offices. As it stands now only Atlantic Industries Limited has permission to cut mahogany in this southern reserve. News Five spoke with Minister of Natural Resources Johnny Briceño about the committee’s findings and why the government has invited Toledo Atlantic International to reapply for a license.
Johnny Briceño, Minister of Natural Resources
“Presently, there are two companies, one that you call AIL and the other TAIL. The first company AIL, the review committee found were operating on a sustainable management system setup by the British. So the committee recommended that they should continue under close supervision. And we’ll go one step further, they want to include the indigenous people, the Toledo Maya Cultural Council to be involved in the monitoring of that particular license.
In the second one, TAIL the committee found several inconsistencies in the way that license was issued. It was given to one person and it kept bouncing back from one company to another company, to another trying to confuse people. We found that they were not logging in a sustainable manner. And the committee felt that they have to renegotiate the license that was given to them. It was wrongly given by the Minister and also the Chief Forest Officer at that time.”
Q: “Why not cut it off completely? Why allow them to renegotiate it?”
Johnny Briceño
“We need to act as a responsible government. We recognized that the company has invested quite a large amount of money. The committee, which includes also members from the Toledo Maya Cultural Council and members from N.G.O.s, they are the ones that are recommending that. Let’s give them another opportunity, let’s sit down with them and address the issues of concern especially for the indigenous people in the Toledo District.”
Briceño says the government had no choice but to suspend logging in the Colombia Forest Reserve late last year in the face of serious violations of the terms of the licenses and unsustainable practices. Minister Briceño says the government is committed to including the indigenous people in all aspects of the monitoring of the industry and that they must have a say in the granting of future licenses. The Malaysian Logging Review Committee has also recommended that the government establish an independent unit to monitor all long-term licenses in the Toledo District. The Forestry Department’s presence in Toledo should also be given the resources necessary to function effectively.
