Forestry Department Takes Action to Protect Forest Reserves

Over the past two years, the Forestry Department took action against 12 persons who committed offences under the Forestry Act.

The breaches included conducting commercial activities in forest management and protected areas without having the proper licences and permits, as well as felling trees and attempting to remove lumber from a forest reserve or forest estate.

In an interview with JIS News, Principal Director of the Department’s Legal and Forest Enforcement Services Division, Philip Cross, said, “We had some guilty pleas with respect to some of the offences, which involved some persons [being caught] in the act of cutting down some trees, and we took them to court.”

He indicated that while “some of them pleaded guilty at an early stage, the remainder had absconded and the process is ongoing to finalise those sentences”.

One of the ongoing cases, he said, involves an issue where trees were planted in a forest reserve, and someone decided that they were going to graze their cattle there, which destroyed the entire block of planted seedlings.

Outlining how offences such as these are handled, Mr. Cross explained that “when the Forestry Department prosecutes a matter, we’re really doing so under the fiat – a legally binding command or decision entered on the court record (as if issued by a court or judge) – and with the blessing of the Director of Public Prosecutions”.

He further added that the fiat essentially allows them to engage actively with the Clerk of Courts and the court system to prosecute the offence. In this, the Forestry Department would conduct the trial with the assistance of the Clerk.

“What that would look like is we would simply conduct the trial and the Clerk would be there to provide assistance, but because it is still a fiat, the Clerk may take more or less involvement in the matter, based on the [extent] of the prosecution,” Mr. Cross said.

A person may be fined up to $500,000.00 and or face imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years if they are found guilty of cutting down trees in a forest reserve without having a timber licence.

Meanwhile, a person may be fined up to $200,000.00 for broader offences, which include felling, girdling or marking a tree within forest management areas and protected areas, and up to $100,000.00 if they assault a Forest Officer or Constable.

Mr. Cross further mentioned that “there are a lot of offences when it comes to forest management that speak to things that you must not do within or near to a forest estate or protected area. Once you’ve committed one of those offences or violated one of those prohibitions, there are actual steps to be taken”.

“I think once the public can appreciate the importance of trees, climate change and biodiversity, then they would respect the value of nature and what we’re trying to achieve at the Forestry Department,” the Principal Director said.