– OCC
GUYANA has fulfilled its commitment for the first tranche of funds under the Guyana-Norway Agreement, according to the office of Climate Change (OCC) based at the Presidential Complex in Georgetown.

The first installment of US$30M of the US$250M pledged under the Agreement has been deposited at the World Bank, which will serve as the Trustee for the transfer of funds provided under the Agreement between the governments of Norway and Guyana, to support the delivery of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

The Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) was established on 9th October, 2010 under an Administration Agreement between the Government of Norway and the World Bank to serve as the mechanism for managing the payments pledged by Norway for the projects and activities to be implemented under the LCDS.

The OCC said the independent verifications are currently being done for the second tranche of funds which is expected to be approximately US$40 million.

It has taken almost a year of negotiations between the Governments of Norway and Guyana and the World Bank to agree on this innovative model which could serve as a global model for managing funds transferred from developed to developing nations as part of the international community’s efforts to address climate change by supporting developing country actions.

After the year of negotiations, a Steering Committee was established in November 2010 to oversee the activities of the GRIF.
The Committee will approve the allocation of the funds provided to the GRIF for specific projects and authorize requests for the release of the funds to Partner Entities drawn from multilateral donor agencies, including the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The Committee is chaired by Guyana and its members comprise representatives of Guyana, Norway, the World Bank, the IDB, UNDP, other possible contributors and observers from the Multi Stakeholders Steering Committee (MSSC) of Guyana and observers appointed by Norway.
Each Partner Entity will provide operational services and oversight and ensure sound fiduciary management, and environmental and social safeguards in partnership with the relevant government ministry or agency executing the project.
The Partner Entities for the first projects to be approved will be the IDB and UNDP. The World Bank and the IDB and UNDP are currently working to establish Transfer Agreements for funds to be transferred to the Partner Entities. Once this is in place, the Steering Committee can enable the transfer of funds to the first projects.
In preparation, the OCC said Guyana outlined the first wave of priority projects being prepared for implementation and funding from the GRIF at the first Steering Committee held on 24th November, 2010. These projects were identified during the national consultation on the LCDS:
** Amerindian Land Titling and demarcation.
** The Hinterland Electrification Programme.
** Institutional strengthening of key agencies involved in the LCDS and Guyana’s
REDD+ initiatives.
** The establishing of the Amerindian Development Fund.
** Amaila Falls Hydro Project.
The OCC & the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee (MSSC) continue to meet regularly to provide oversight for the implementation of the LCDS.
The OCC and MSSC are inviting person(s) to visit the LCDS website or make contact with the Office of Climate Change to obtain information or to gain a better understanding of the GRIF & LCDS.