Guyana grants 1 million acres of Amazon rainforest to U.S. logging firm
mongabay.com
January 9, 2008
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Guyana has awarded a 988,4000-acre logging concession to a U.S. forestry company, reports the Associated Press.
Simon & Shock International, a company based in South Haven, Michigan, will spend $26 million developing the concession, which lies in the near the Brazilian border. Timber harvesting will commence once the first completes an environmental impact study and a tree inventory.
The announcement comes just two months after Guyana’s President, Bharrat Jagdeo, offered up the country’s forests as a giant carbon offset to counter climate change.
At the time, President Jagdeo told The Independent, “We can deploy the forest against global warming and, through the UK’s help, it wouldn’t have to stymie development in Guyana. We are a country with the political will and a large tract of standing forest. I’m not a mercenary, this is not blackmail and I realize there’s no such thing as a free lunch. I’m not just doing this just because I’m a good man and want to save the world, I need the assistance.”
Globally, deforestation and land use change accounts for 15-20 percent of total emissions, a larger source of greenhouse gases than the entire transportation sector.