The European Union (EU) has contributed $600M as part of the co-financing of the ongoing chainsaw and milling project, which is being undertaken by Guyana.Yesterday, a two-day workshop on chainsaw lumbering in the Guiana Shield/Caribbean begun at the Regency Suites with participants from several regional countries, inclusive of Trinidad, Suriname, Belize and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.Also participating in the workshop were representatives from Ghana and Bolivia.Within the framework of the project: ‘Developing alternatives for illegal chainsaw lumbering through multi-stakeholder dialogue in Ghana and Guyana’, the EU is making available significant resources for the improvement of forest governance, both in Guyana and Ghana.During the opening ceremony for the two-day forum, EU Ambassador to Guyana, Geert Heikens, said that the support for the initiative is part of a global support towards the preservation of the sustainable use of the environment.The $600M that was contributed by the EU to the project covers about 80 percent of the venture’s total cost.The project, ‘Towards sustainable chainsaw milling in Ghana and Guyana’ aims to reduce the level of conflict and illegality associated with chainsaw milling.This project focuses on the role of multi-stakeholder dialogue as a mechanism to reduce conflict, adjust perceptions of the nature of the problems and create shared views of solutions among stakeholders.Minister of Agriculture with responsibility for Forestry, Robert Persaud, during the opening ceremony yesterday, said that chainsaw milling has been an activity, which has been addressed at several levels, in terms of policy and operational aspects.He pointed out that it is a matter that has been, and remains, very important to forest resources planning and utilization,China Jerseys Free Shipping, especially at the level of small and medium-sized operators, particularly community logging associations.Chainsaw milling, at the policy level, is allowed in Guyana, and its existence is supported by the necessary institutional framework to permit and regulate its use. This framework will continue to be reviewed, the Minister pointed out.He explained that this dialogue on chainsaw milling is even more important now given Guyana’s thrust of finalizing a Low-Carbon Development Strategy.This type of forest activity, Persaud stressed, has significant bearing on the strategy since it supports rural and hinterland livelihoods for many, and at the same time, can have various environmental and social impacts.Chainsaw lumber production in Guyana is a significant part of forestry sector production, increasing from 28,800m3 in 2000 to 67,000m3 in 2008.It is an activity that generally presents economic, social and environmental benefits,NFL Jerseys Authentic, and also provides substantial forestry sector employment.An important part of the small and medium-sized operators, who are allocated leases, are community-logging associations, of which 27 have been established to date and support thousands of persons, directly, the Minister notedPersaud explained to the participants that the policy objective of chainsaw milling is to ensure a working framework where the goal of attaining economic and social benefits does not lead to environmental sustainability and sound forest management being compromised.“We cannot ignore the fact that our chainsaw milling sector faces several challenges.? Recovery is overall lower than expected. There is still an identified need for capacity building in the use and maintenance of chainsaws.”While some efforts have been made in the past involving the use of guides to enhance recovery, he added, more still needs to be done to increase recovery, execute better practices and decrease the level of wastage generated.“And much more needs to be done in implementing effective health and safety standards to protect operators.”At the same time, Persaud said, despite the small size of the operation, more can be done in shifting the existing marketing paradigm to forward plan conversion activities so that milling is done to specific orders,Cheap NFL Jerseys, thereby enabling maximum benefits to be gained.“From the operational perspective, we cannot ignore the fact that chainsaw milling offers additional advantages of decreased transportation cost owing to the fact that semi finished products are brought to markets directly from the forest.”This practice, he explained, often offers a level of versatility, since chainsaw milling,Cheap Jerseys From China, once done properly, allows for defects to be avoided and for optimal cuts to be taken from a log, despite low recovery.These benefits support the low capital, low investment characteristic of chainsaw milling operators, to yield maximum ben