Guyana is well endowed with natural resources. Tropical high forests cover some 16.4 million ha or about 76% of the total land area, making the country one of the most forested nations worldwide. Guyana's commercial forests are characterised by high species diversity but the main commercial species have a low standing volume per unit area which results in low volume extraction per unit area. According to FAO's global forest assessment survey results deforestation rates in Guyana are low (less than 0.1% land area per annum), largely since logging practice is selective and relatively low intensity.

Small loggers have always been a component of the forestry sector in Guyana. The technology used by small loggers has, however, evolved over the years from the utilization of labour intensive hand axes to chainsaws due to the obvious advantages with the chainsaw. The chainsaw was introduced to the local forest sector in 1967 and by 1972 a few loggers had already started using it for ripping logs. Apart from the rapidity with which trees may be felled, one significant advantage of the chainsaw when introduced was the ease with which the logger/operator could salvage timber from defective trees. Suddenly small loggers found that with a relatively small capital (around US$1,000) they could produce lumber at stump and market their lumber directly to consumers. The simplicity and lucrative nature of chainsaw lumbering within State forests was soon noticed by holders of private lands, communal lands, and agricultural leases, respectively. In addition, other entrepreneurs perceived the business opportunity and simply bought chainsaws which they contracted out to loggers.

The number of people engaged in chainsaw lumbering increased significantly after the massive retrenchment in the public sector in the late seventies and early eighties and the severe contraction of the bauxite mining industry during the same period. Further, the development of new agricultural schemes in rural areas led to the conversion of large tracts of forest resources for agricultural purposes, and in effect providing large stocks of timber for immediate harvest. The capacity of the chainsaw lumbering industry to absorb ‘people' and the sustained market for rough sawn timber put enormous pressure on policy makers in the forestry sector in the early eighties and soon the Guyana Forestry Commission began to allocate prime areas (not just lightly logged over areas, but also virgin forests in the near interior) for chainsaw lumbering.

Most chainsaw operations occur in the accessible logged over forests just south of the coastal belt. Chainsaw operations occur in areas targeted for agricultural development, in areas characterized by open-pit bauxite mining, on communal lands held Amerindian communities and in logged over areas where there are existing roads. In a few cases, chainsaw operations have occurred in pockets of primary virgin forests, in areas neglected or avoided by traditional loggers. Chainsawn lumber production is also common on private lands especially Amerindian reservations. In these cases, also, an annual sawpit licence is required to cover all chainsaws operating within the private land boundaries.

The majority of legal chainsawn lumber production on State forest occurs on the relatively small-area (22% of total allocated production area in 2006) and two-year leased SFPs. This section of sub-sector is thus quite well regulated. However, since a licence is not required to purchase or own a chainsaw, there is also a section that is largely informal and difficult to regulate. This group consists of persons who are often quite mobile and may operate only on a part time basis.