Guyana made commendable progress in forest monitoring

– report commissioned by Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation finds

A MID-TERM Review (MTR) has found that Guyana, in the past decade, has made much progress and has developed solid systems for monitoring forest area and forest carbon monitoring – as well as for promoting its applications.

The report commissioned by Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) was prepared by LTS International Limited (LTS, part of the NIRAS Group).

According to the report, Guyana has become a laboratory for other countries and has been instrumental in helping Suriname and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to get the right REDD+ multiyear imagery. Guyana has also developed the system of hotspots to follow up on the ground, which is now being replicated in other countries.
However, the MTR report cautioned that “the need for climate change mitigation will not go away and Guyana’s forest will continue to be a precious asset both for its own needs and for those of others”.

Importantly, it acknowledged the expanding role of the Monitoring Report and Verification System (MRVS) and pointed out that “an increasing range of institutions within Guyana have started to use MRV data, and this, in the long run, is likely to prove the strongest argument of all for maintaining the ability to keep the MRVS in place.”
Within the country, “there has been a tremendous evolution in recognising the value of the MRVS, over the last decade.”

In discussing the efficiencies of the MRVS in informing natural resources management in Guyana, the MTR highlighted “the reliability and credibility of the Guyana forest monitoring system is not in doubt.

All of the international consultants who have worked on the forest monitoring system with Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) have been struck by the excellence of the data generated and by the commitment of the GFC MRVS team, a release from the forestry commission said.

NO PROBLEMS
“Seven audit reports for financial years 2011-2017, became available in 2019. They were all conducted by Edwin Aalders, (DNV-GL) and his team. He was the architect of the original auditing protocol. No problems were found with any of the reports, and the audits were unqualified. Indeed, as the auditor said, after three audits, the GFC team was working to about 98 per cent accuracy and was so focused on high quality that he was suggesting that a lower accuracy level would be quite adequate,” the release said.
The GFC said for use in reporting beyond the Norwegian agreement, it was pointed out that while more effort is needed, “the MRVS is on the cusp of becoming of much greater value to many other bodies”.

It identified the need for the data to be made more publicly available, as well as the need for more persons to be trained in the use of the MRVS’ data.

With regards to the efficiency (both cost-efficiency and time-efficiency) of Conservation International, Guyana’s performance in administering the project funds, the MTR’s assessment found that “…the background of the senior staff members in the department are well qualified and experienced. It also noted that the CI Guyana finance and banking systems appear to work well in practice. Overall, CI Guyana seems to have been proven an effective partner,” the release said.

WELL EMBEDDED
On the issue of institutionalisation of the MRVS, the MTR observed that the MRVS is well embedded within Guyana’s institutions and plans. It noted that among the policy documents that the MRVS have been formally embedded is the Revised National Forest Policy Statement 2018.

In Annex 3, it is stated that “GFC is responsible for enforcement of forest laws and regulations, monitoring and control of social and environmental impacts of operations within the State Forest Estate, collection of revenues from forestry activities and implementation of the national Monitoring Reporting and Verification System for country-level land-use and forest change monitoring”.

More importantly, the MRT highlighted a key aspect that “…must not be squandered, is the way in which it has linked indigenous people and the national level.”

The MRVS has allowed for the training of communities in Monitoring, Reporting and Verification at the community level, called CMRV.

The report noted that CMRV has “…created a link between remote communities and the capital which is very important. The opportunity provided by the CMRV for people to demarcate their own territories and to report on the kinds of land use within them along with other local data, has been symbolically extremely important. Local people have been involved, for the first time, in linking their own natural resource management practices to what goes on nationally. Some have had the opportunity, as well, to learn more about sustainable forest management, reduced impact logging and conservation.”

BACKGROUND
The climate and forest partnership between the Government of Guyana and the Government of the Kingdom of Norway was initiated in 2009. It is one of the first national-scale initiatives to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, as well as conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+) in the world. Norway agreed to provide up to US$250 million in performance-based payments to help Guyana transition to a low-carbon green development path. As a follow- up to the Norway-Guyana agreement, Norway has supported Guyana through the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) in developing a Monitoring Reporting and Verification System (MRVS) for REDD+. This support covers the period 2016 to 2020 (Years 6- 9 of the MRVS).

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