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BOS The Guyana Shield Recent Developments and Alternatives for Sustainable Development Journal on Tropical Forests and Forestry for Sustainable Development ETTER Volume 15 (2), Number 34, September 1996 The BOS Foundation On December 16th 1981, a group of Dutch tropical foresters founded the Stichting BOS, the Dutch abbreviation for Foundation for Forestry Development Cooperation. Concern for the problems of tropical forests' - and land use led them to formulate the need for a professional response and a commitment to mobilize action and increase international forestry cooperation. Since 1995 the BOS Foundation is known as Organization for International Forestry Cooperation. Key concepts to indicate the Foundation's main endeavours are ecosystem management, sustainability, multifunctionality, social equity and partnership. Objectives of BOS The main objectives of the BOS Foundation are: * to increase attention for and action on behalf of forests, forestry and land use in the tropics within the context of sustainable development; * to improve the quality and enlarge the scale of international forestry cooperation, stimulated from The Netherlands; * To promote and facilitate the exchange of information between tropical foresters, other experts and organizations involved. The BOS Foundation supports field workers and other specialists in the field by combining forces and promoting their interests. The BOS NiEuWSLETTER The BOS NiEuWSLETTER is the four-monthly journal of the BOS Foundation on tropical forests, forestry and land use within the context of sustainable development and international cooperation. Each issue has articles, book reviews, announcements of meetings, symposia and courses, all related to tropical forests, forestry and land use. In 1994 Michael Pilarski wrote in his book "Restoration Forestry, an international guide to sustainable forestry practices" about the BOS NiEuWSLETTER: this newsletter is one of the best ways to keep abreast of tropical forestry developments. You are invited to send information on subjects related to tropical forests, forestry and land use. Announcements of meetings, symposia and courses, book reviews, and comments (on articles in the NiEuWSLETTER) are most welcome. For guidelines for articles and comments/opinions see back cover. Reproduction (partial) or translation is permitted, provided the author(s), publisher and source are acknowledged. The editor would appreciate receipt of a copy. ISSN: 0923-7488. Cover design: Roelof A.A. Oldeman. Colour design: Peter Sips. Contents Editorial. 4- Peter Sips The Guyana Shield. Recent Developments and Alternatives for Sustainable Development. Biological and Cultural Values-, Recent Developments and Threats. The Fate of the Forests of the Guianas. 5. Mark J. Plotkin Rainforests of the Guyana Shield: Evergreen or Forever Gone? 7. Anton Ellenbroek Botanical Richness of a part of the Guyana Shield: the Guianas. 13. Renske Ek Asian Forest Plunder in the Guyana Shield: The Case of an Indonesian Forestry Investment in Suriname. 18. Hasjrul Junaid Species Diversity in a Neotopical Rainforest: Amphibians of Nouragues, a Nature Reserve in French Guiana. 25. Marga Born Logging in Suriname: the Biters Bit. 34. Bas Linders BOS NiEuWSLETTER / Vol. 15 (2) / No. 34 / September 1996 / Threats to Cultural Values in the Guyana Shield: The Right to Self-Determination and Cultural Integrity. 40. Fergus MacKay Suriname on the Brink of... 45. Nico C. Waagmeester & Sean F. Taylor The Serrania de la Macarena in Danger.Territorial conflicts and conservation in the most western part of the Guyana Shield. 51. Willem Ferwerda Initiatives for the Protection of Biological and Cultural Values and Alternatives for Sustainable Use and Management of the Tropical Rainforest and Natural Resources. Aquasilviculture: Raising Fish in the Amazon Flood Forests. 57. Ramon Gerrits & Hendrik Baas Forest Management in the Guianas: Ecological and Evolutionary Constraints on Timber Production. 62. Hans ter Steege & David S. Hammond Helping the Suriname Economy with Sustainable Forestry. 70. Nigel Sizer Some Conditions and Possibilities for Successful Application of the CELOS Management System. 74. Reitze de Graaf, David Koning and Mirjam Spierings A Model Forest Management Unit as an Implementing Tool for the CELOS Management System. 84. P. Schmidt & J. Hendrison 2 / BOS NiEuWSLETTER / Vol. 15 (2) / No. 34 / September 1996 Management Systems for Natural Tropical Forests: the Practical Value of the CELOS Management System. 89. A. Schotveld & P. Schmidt CELOS, CMS and UNAMAZ: their importance for and Contribution to Sustainable Management of the Amazonian Tropical Rainforests. 93. G.J. Zondervan International Cooperation and Biodiversity in the Guyana Shield. 97. Wouter Veening & Anton Ellenbroek BOS News. Subscription fees. 101. Publication Fund "Forests and Forestry for Developing Countries". 101. Short News: - Meetings, 102. - Courses, 104. - Publications. 106. Acknowledgments. 108. Artistic Biodiversity. 109. Advertisements. 110. Advertising in the BOS NiEuWSLETTER and BOS Consultancies. ill. Changing Personal Circumstances? 112. BOS NiEuWSLETTER / Vol. 15 (2) / No. 34 / September 1996 / 3 companies include for example Berjaya, MUSA and Suri- Atlantic in Suriname, Belize and Guyana, Porodisa and Editorial. SAWI in Suriname, WTK Company and Sam Ling Company in Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador and Guyana, and Peter Sips Buchanan Forest Products Limited in Guyana Apart from logging activities, South America seems to be The worldwide concern for tropical forests is being the land of honey for mining and oil companies. translated into initiatives to establish a wiser use of these natural resources. However, the demand for tropical timber The Guyana Shield, covering North-East Brazil (the state remains. In this light restrictions are imposed to forest Amapa), French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela exploitation and logging companies are more and more and Colombia (up to the Andes) is a unique region in the confronted with guidelines and control in order to promote world. It is characterized by enormous biological, often sustainable forest management and exploitation. endemic, and a great cultural diversity. It seems also to become characterized by plunder and rape In South-East Asia these developments are reported to result in a shift in attention and activities of Asian logging Given the national and local developments in the field of companies to countries like Laos, Cambodia and the agriculture, mining, road building, dam construction, cattle Solomon Islands and to the last large and pristine tropical ranching, hunting, smuggling and logging the pressure on forest area in the world; the Amazon tropical rainforests. the regions natural resources and indigenous peoples is growing. These developments are reported to be enhanced In the last few years several countries have taken a strong by socio-economic problems, ruthless business men, interest in this part of the world, as is argued, fed by short- corruption and governmental interests or impotence. term financial interests and political motives. Fact is that several logging companies, backed by either Brazilian, Although the situation seems most ideal to plunder and rape Canadian, Chinese, Indonesian, Malaysian, Surinamese, the natural resources of the Guyana Shield, many South Korean and/or Taiwanese investors, have been trying alternatives are at hand for a wise and sustainable to acquire, to a different degree of success, huge logging development. concessions in South and Central America. These Development based on both natural and human integrity. 4 / BOS NiEuWSLETTER / Vol. 15 (2) / No. 34 / September 1996 The Fate of the Forests of the Guianas. -I believe that conservation is first and foremost a moral issue and that we have no right to destroy cultures, ecosystems, or species through our greed. - Of course it would - but why should it? If you know the history of the Guianas, you know that it was the Macushi Indians of the Brazil-Guyana border region who taught the eccentric British naturalist Charles Waterton how to make curare, the famous arrow poison of 1 MarkJ. Plotkin the Amazon. And it was Waterton who brought this curare back to England and succeeded in getting the British July 21, 1996. medical establishment excited about the therapeutic Today the New York Times, the world's most influential potential of this seemingly miraculous substance. newspaper, ran a cover story on the Macushi Indians whose culture, forests and waters are being despoiled by Even now, over 150 years after the Macushis showed Brazilian goldminers. This is the second article on this Waterton which plant served as the basis for their arrow topic that they have run in the past three months. poison, semisynthetic compounds based on an alkaloid extracted from this plant are used in hospitals throughout And what will the response be? Will the Brazilian the developed world and make complex operations like government step in and protect the rights of the people who open heart surgery possible. How many lives have been have lived on this land for tens of thousands of years? Will saved by this plant and by the wisdom of the Macushis who the European Economic Commission threaten an economic first taught it to us? And how many lives have been saved boycott unless the local government moves illegal settlers by Picasso's paintings? who bring disease and death out of the area? Or will the United Nations issue a stirring appeal to protect the human There is yet another
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