A team from Oslo is here to meet with government and civil society representatives as part of the Guyana-Norway forest protection agreement.
Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud said that the visit is “routine” as part of the Joint Concept Note of the agreement between the two countries. The visit will be field-related, he said.
This newspaper understands that the team has asked to meet a number of identified representatives of civil society in addition to government officials as well as Partner Entities of the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF). The team, this newspaper was told, includes Tove Stub of the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, Alf Frisoe and Ingrid Dana of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Giske Lillehammer, a governance advisor.
An official at the Project Management Office told Stabroek News that the team is a “working level” team that will oversee implementation of the GRIF on the Norwegian side. The visit, the official said, is for the team to meet their counterparts on the Guyana side and also a “meet and greet” with other stakeholders.
The team went to Surama in Region Nine yesterday and is expected to begin meeting other representatives from today until Thursday evening, before leaving on Friday.
The GRIF is the financial mechanism for the ongoing cooperation on climate change between Guyana and Norway, in which Oslo will pay up to US$250M for Guyana’s performance on limiting greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and for progress made against governance-related indicators. Guyana will invest the payments it receives, and any income earned on them, in its Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
US$30M has already been disbursed to the GRIF and an additional US$40M is expected this year. It is expected that soon money will be released for the first wave of projects under the LCDS. The concept notes for several of these projects are expected to be submitted to the Steering Committee of the GRIF for approval.
The projects are: the Hinterland Electrification project, the Institutional strengthening of key agencies involved in the LCDS and Guyana’s REDD+ initiatives, the Amerindian Land Titling and Demarcation project, the Village Economy Develop-ment project, the Infrastruc-ture for Development project and support for the Amaila Falls Hydro project.
The Project Management Office in the Office of the President plays the role of project coordinator, lending support to the planning, execution and implementation of all GRIF-funded projects and acting as a liaison between the Partner Entity, Implemen-ting Entity, Ministry of Finance and the GRIF Steering Committee through the Secretariat.
