Guyanese plywood producer Barama Company Ltd’s 570,000ha of forests in the north-west of the country have been certified to become the world’s largest FSC-certified tropical natural forest.
And in a separate development in Africa, logging company Congolaise Industrielle du Bois (CIB), part of the tt Timber Group, has had its Kabo Forest Management Plan approved by the Congolese authorities – which brings it one step nearer FSC certification.
Girwar Lalaram, Barama’s general manager, said: “The FSC certification enables Barama not only to retain access to its current markets in the US but it opens the door to new buyers in Europe and North America that demand forest products from well managed forests.”
Meanwhile, CIB is confident it has already dealt with one remaining corrective action request (CAR), relating to the involvement of communities in decision-making, identified during an FSC assessment last October.
Independent FSC certifier SGS will now re-examine CAR adherence before submitting a report for peer review.
CIB is also being assessed for chain of custody certification at its processing facilities. If both certification bids are approved, the company expects to be selling FSC-certified products from its Kabo concession within two months.
