NARI (National Agriculture Research Institute) and Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) signed a $22M Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) last Friday. Under the agreement, the Government of Guyana, through NARI, will provide GFC with funding for the implementation of the Mangrove Species Inventory Programme.
The undertaking is to inventorise approximately 470 kilometres of mangrove forest coastline in Guyana, annually, for an initial period of three years.
NARI Director, Dr. Oudho Homenauth signed on behalf his institution and Deputy Commissioner, Forest Resource Management, Mr. Jagdesh Singh affixed his signature for GFC, in the presence of Agriculture Minister, Mr. Robert Persaud, at his Regent and Vlissengen Roads ministry.
According to the MOU, GFC shall be responsible for providing all staffing, travel, overheads and supplies for the inventory to see:

* the development and operation of a computerised geographic information system (GIS) for the mangrove forest along the coastline and river bank areas of this country, using appropriate software;

* spatial analysis of the data collected, including interpretation of any available up-to-date digital satellite images;

* production of map products and services, related to prioritisation of requests for such services;

* identification, gathering and incorporation of external datasets into the Guyana coastline spatial data repository;

* maintenance and expansion of the data repository and related metadata base and

* analysis and relation of separate datasets to create analytical products as needed.
GFC is also expected to deliver to NARI all reports or maps related to the programme.
The inventory is one of the components of the National Mangrove Action Plan 2010, which was also handed over to the Minister on the same Friday occasion.
It was developed as part of the $100M, Government funded, Guyana Mangrove Restoration Project (GMRP).