THE Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) is anticipating government’s approval of its proposal, so that it can implement the national sustainable land management and development project by the end of July 2017.

Policy Analyst at the GLSC, Durwin Humphrey, told the Guyana Chronicle in a recent interview that the commission had held consultations with several key stakeholders in the land management and development process during a sustainable land management and development workshop, which concluded March 2 at the Guyana Marriott Hotel.
The ‘Sensitisation and Validation Workshop on Sustainable Land Management and Development Project Concept’ organised by government through the Commission in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), also concentrated on land desertification.

The GLSC is the guardian of public lands in Guyana and the National Focal Point Agency to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), with an obligation of preparing an aligned national action plan to serve as the guiding framework for implementing action to combat desertification/land degradation and promote sustainable land management.

The commission, FAO of the United Nations, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and several other agencies and institutions met at the workshop and combined recommendations into a detailed project proposal document which is under review.
GLSC is in constant communication with consultants to forge a cooperative effort and ensure the process is being made expedient, Humphrey said.
“What we have now is a consolidated document to be finalised. That’s the project document. We have consultants which have been contracted to work on this document and when the document is completed, it will be posted to the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) site for additional review,” Humphrey noted.

According to Humphrey, comments by the consultants will be taken into consideration and will be consolidated with the document for a complete proposal. It will then be submitted to the GRIF steering committee and if approval is granted, the project will be implemented.
In its bid to accomplish sustainable management and development of Guyana’s lands, the GLSC has embarked upon several projects, including improving public land administration, alleviating poverty and promoting national development, according to the guidelines outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs).

The workshop looked at drafting a policy to govern land use and management, and it is expected that recommendations will be made for one collective land-law document combining several land acts.
During his speech at the opening of the workshop earlier this month, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo had called for the harmonization of several laws addressing lands to be incorporated into one comprehensive legal document for the effective and sustainable management and development of lands in Guyana.

The prime minister explained that he had read through several national legal documents and realised that more than 15 of the Acts addressed land management in Guyana. He believes a comprehensive version of these laws is necessary through a land management commission or committee, and advised the gathering at the workshop that they consider his recommendations in making land laws easier to understand.

“And so one of the functions I believe should be a challenge to those in this workshop and beyond this workshop would be to harmonize our laws, bring them together. Make Guyana appear that we have one set of laws that address our national asset which is our land resource,” Nagamootoo said.
Meanwhile, Humphrey told the Guyana Chronicle that the Lands and Surveys Commission will certainly make an effort to make such recommendations a reality.

“… We will be lobbying for the change in legislation which will offer some sort of solution to the fragmented approach that we’ve witnessed to land management in Guyana. It’s all about information- sharing and policy cohesion. These are things that we will be championing through this project and in the long term, through the Lands and Surveys Commission,” Humphrey said.