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This report identified several important information gaps, which will need to be filled if the region’spolicymakers are to make informed decisions about the future of the Guayana region’s forests. Themost critical data gaps included the following:• Accurate and reliable base maps: Venezuela does not have a cartographic standard, andimportant basic information is either not publicly available or restricted in geographic scope.Accurate topographic and hydrological maps are especially lacking for the Guayana regionand southern Amazonas specifically. Three years ago, the government revived the Cartosurproject (an effort led by the official cartographic office to map the Guayana region using radarand satellite imagery), with the objective of providing such important basic information. Todate, no maps have been published.• Accurate, geo-referenced land-use maps: Maps of logging and mining concessions,agricultural production, and protected areas need to be standardized and corrected. To date,there is no digital, geo-referenced database of logging and mining concessions for theGuayana region that can be publicly accessed. In addition, there is no geo-referenced map ofprotected areas at a national scale. Some of this information may be accessed separatelythrough various entities (CVG, Ministry of Energy and Mines, Ministry of Environment), butthe quality and reliability of the data are not consistent.• An up-to-date vegetation map showing actual forest cover: Venezuela has not conducted aforest inventory and the most recent, publicly available vegetation map at a national scalerepresents vegetation circa 1977. Publication of a new vegetation map reflecting forest coverat a national scale should be a high priority.• Data on wildlife and the use of non-timber forest products: Certain parts of the Guayanaregion have been relatively well researched, while others (especially the Imataca ForestReserve and Delta Amacuro State) have not. Research on the abundance, use, and economicvalue of species found in lowland forests is particularly lacking.• Data on the impacts of logging on forests of the Guayana region: The proportion of biomassleft in the forest versus the volume transported to sawmills, the area of forest affected byskidder trails and secondary roads, and the regeneration of replanted species are all criticaldata gaps in knowledge about the effects of logging on forests of the region. These data areimportant for developing adaptive techniques for forest management.GFW’s aim is to help fill these information gaps. In this report, we have attempted to collect the bestavailable information on the Guayana region’s forests to make data available to the public. In thefuture GFW Venezuela will seek to focus its monitoring activities at a finer scale, providing a moreaccurate assessment of forest trends in specific parts of the Guayana region so that sound planningand forest management can be implemented before these forests undergo widespread clearing anddegradation (see Box 9).72