ABSTRACT
Guyana is one of the few countries in the world whose tropical forest is virtually intact. The Guyana Forestry Commission, institutionally under the Guyana Natural Resources Agency, has responsibility for the 9.1 million ha of declared state forest. The globally unique biodiversity wealth of Guyana is inextricably tied up with its forest areas. The opening up of the forest resource to the outside world poses a threat of widespread deforestation. New road and infrastructure construction programmes will open up additional areas of forest for exploitation as is the case with the road to Brazil. The Tropenbos project funded by the Dutch government is researching the sustainability of tropical forest resource exploitation and comprises a series of sub-projects. In the areas delineated for commercial logging establish sustainable yields for the various forest types and zones. Ensure that these are written into all logging agreements.
