THE Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC) on Saturday said that land degradation here is very low. In a statement to the media, the commission estimates a total of 0.003 per cent of land in Guyana is degraded.

“Land degradation has been occurring because of, among other things, resource utilisation and natural disasters dated as far back as 1916, which led to degradation in some areas,” the statement said.

The statement from the GLSC came days after the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) issued a statement on the subject. According to the statement, team leader Sally Bunning, who recently visited Guyana expressed amazement at the extent of land degradation here, particularly in Region 10, due to sand-mining and the loss of agricultural land.
A team of representatives of the FAO visited Guyana recently for consultations with the GLSC with respect to the US$14.8M Mainstreaming Sustainable Land Development and Management (SLDM) project here.

That project is geared at incrementally improving land administration, policy and planning, to promote sustainable land-use as well as reclamation of degraded lands.
But, on Saturday, the GLSC made it clear that Guyana’s coastline is prone to erosion and saltwater intrusion, as flooding continues to be a challenge with lands used for farming and other activities losing viability.

“Mining, agriculture and forestry are historically key to the Guyanese economy; however, they also contribute to the overall land-degradation processes in Guyana, in particular, in

Regions One, Four, Seven, Eight, Nine and 10,” the commission stated.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has defined land degradation as, “The process whereby the value and productivity of land is reduced as a result of a combination of human- induced and natural processes acting upon the land. In other words, land degradation is the reduction and loss of the biological and economic productive capacity of the land.

“Although the level of land degradation in Guyana is extremely low, Guyana continues to implement measures, the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission as the National Focal Point, continues to take actions to curb land degradation.”

The commission noted that in April 1996, Guyana voluntarily opted to undertake the Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Programme (LDN TSP) aimed at strengthening the implementation of the UNCCD and improve land management as the world strives to achieve a land-degradation neutral world by 2030.

Preceding the finalisation of the LDN-TSP Report was the completion of Guyana’s Aligned National Action Plan to Combat Land Degradation. Moreover, the GLSC made it clear that the development of Guyana’s first ever, National Land Policy will also address this issue.

“This project will provide considerable benefits to Guyanese and to the country’s green state national development trajectory by strengthening capacity-building in the GLSC and other key stakeholder agencies. As a nation, Guyana remains committed to achieving land-degradation neutrality,” the statement added.