The Norwegian team that was here on a visit related to the Guyana-Norway forest agreement departed on Friday having met government and civil society representatives.
Members of the team oversee implementation of the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) on the Norwegian side and it was their first visit here. 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$250 million 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).
Among, other Amerindian organisations, the team met a delegation from the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) and Programme Coordinator Jean La Rose told Stabroek News that issues they have been raising all along were again spoken of with the Norwegians.
She said these include the fact that the Amerindian Act, in relation to land issues, does not cover traditional lands. Other issues raised were the lack of transparency in granting land titles, the absence of a means of redress if communities are not satisfied, the granting of mining concessions on Amerindian lands and the demarcation of lands. La Rose said the APA recommended an independent body to deal with indigenous issues.
Also discussed, she said, was “what passes for consultation” with the APA highlighting their concerns on this issue.
She said the team members said they have noted their concerns and mentioned that they have received the project concept notes for the land titling and demarcation project, which is one of the projects to be funded from the first set of forest funds from Norway.
While the APA was satisfied to the extent that the team listened and they were able to get their concerns heard, La Rose said, “we got no guarantees that anything would be instituted”.
The team also met the Partner Entities of the GRIF including the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme.
