– Guyana’s mangrove forest takes on a new lookBy Neil MarksFrom being cut down for firewood and garden fences to serving as pasture ground for goats, mangroves have never really been seen as a legitimate member of the forest family.Further, mangrove swamps are seen as wasteland and breathing grounds for mosquitoes. As a result, those who live on the coast don’t stop to think twice before dumping garbage in the mangrove forest and setting it alight.“We got permission from the local authority,” claims Carlos Cummings who has been cutting down the black mangroves to burn mud to sell as “brunt bricks.” He started his business at the beginning of this year, just about the same time the Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, approved new regulations to protect mangroves.“It’s a lie,” argues Bissasar Chintamani, a research scientist who now heads an ambitious project to protect and restore forests. He didn’t believe that the local authority would give approval. Cummings says he has “the papers” to prove it.But all Chintamani can really do is drive by with the huge pile of burnt bricks staring at him; unless he can stop it himself. No rangers with the power to make arrests are yet in place to patrol the expansive coastland, and the Police have no mandate to make arrests.“The Police are not involved in that. We have not been asked by the Commissioner to do this. That is for the local and regional government,” explains Steve Merai, the Commander of the Berbice Division of the Guyana Police Force.Ironically, while the government is now in a race to protect mangroves, it is the same burnt bricks manufactured from the destruction of the mangrove forest that goes back into government-funded road projects.“We have spoken with the Ministry of Local Government to get them to stop that,” Chintamani counters. But he will have to do much more.The man who manufactures bricks by burning mangroves says he only recently received a huge order from a nearby local authority, and the government-run rice research centre also put in an order. Cummings knows it is now illegal to cut down mangroves.“I don’t think we would continue,” Cummings says, on learning that it is illegal to cut down mangrove trees. Chintamani hopes he keeps his word.Convincing the local population that there is a need to protect and restore the mangrove forest is the biggest challenge facing Chintamani’s multi-million-dollar project,Cheap Jerseys, but he is seeing some success.In his home village of Novar, Mahaicony, an estimated 39 miles from the capital Georgetown, Chintamani received a “citizen alert” and was able to stop a man from using the black mangroves to produce brunt bricks even if that was after the mangroves were already cut down and piled up.According to the Sea Defence Act, anyone caught cutting mangroves can be fined $12, 000 and be imprisoned for twelve months. But there is no stringent enforcement; rather a tip-toe approach is still being taken, seeing further destruction of the mangrove forest.A few miles from Novar, at No.6 Village in Berbice, a farmer takes his sheep and goats to the seashore to graze; what they chew on is the young mangroves. And this is just around where a huge billboard was placed warning about the penalty of destroying mangroves.“We don’t want to cause conflict. We have to take things step by step,” Chintamani asserts. In the meantime, the goats chew on. Chintamani’s caution might be well placed. In the absence of pasture grounds,Cheap Authentic NFL Jerseys, where would the farmer graze his animals?“We have engaged the Ministry of Agriculture to look at alternative grazing areas for these farmers,” he says. It looks unlikely that that will happen in a month or so, when Chintamni hopes to start a project to restore a portion of the coast with mangroves.He finds consolation in the fact that the support of local communities is gradually improving. In fact, restoring mangroves means a livelihood for a group of single mothers in the community of Trafalgar, further up the coast.They are being paid to go to the foreshore, pick up mangrove plants that were germinated at sea, and grow them in a small shed in the village. Once they reach a certain stage, the young mangrove plants will be transferred to the National Agricultural Research Institute, where they will be allowed to grow to a “hardened” stage before being planted back on the coast.“It gives the women a little livelihood, and we hope they can later go on to get ranger jobs,” says Lloyda Angus, the president of the Trafalgar Community Development Committee. So far,Wholesale Jerseys From China, an estimated 6,000 mangrove plants are being nurtured.This is creating quite a buzz in the community and Angus says the school children are getting to know of the importance of mangroves in protecting t