The governments of Guyana and Norway recently took “significant action” to accelerate the disbursement of funds from the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) after expressing their belief that the intermediation of GRIF funds is taking longer than it should, the Office of Climate Change announced Tuesday.
President Bharrat Jagdeo has severely criticised the GRIF’s trustee–the World Bank–in the past for what he said was its sloth in making funds available. The World Bank has rejected this and said that any delay is with the GRIF Steering Committee, which has to approve projects for funding. Guyana chairs the GRIF Steering Committee, which met recently but no project was yet given final approval so that funds could be disbursed. Norway is partnering with Guyana in a deal worth potentially up to US$250M by 2015 to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. So far it has paid US$30M into the GRIF and announced another US$40M for this year.
The OCC did not say what “significant action” was taken but said that as Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) moves beyond its start-up phase, the government is leading efforts to advance work on the six priority investments for this year.
The six investments will accelerate Guyana’s transition to a low carbon economy by deploying the US$70M earned by Guyana for the provision of Forestry Climate Services under the Guyana/ Norway Agreement, it said.
For 2011, the investments include the Amerindian Land Titling project, for which US$3.9M has been budgeted and the Hinterland Electrification Project for which US$4.25M was budgeted.
The latter project will involve installing solar home systems in every Amerindian household that has not yet received one through a previous initiative – approximately 10,500 households. “The tendering process has begun, and it is anticipated that bids for the provision of the solar systems will be open shortly after the deadline of May 31st,” the OCC said. It is not clear whether the tendering process for this project was previously announced.
The other projects are the Amerindian Development Fund for Village Economy Development, for which US$4M has been budgeted; the Small and Micro Enterprise Development, for which US$3M has been budgeted; the Amaila Falls Hydroelectricity Project, for which US$45M has been budgeted; and the Strengthening of the key institutions involved in the implementation of the LCDS, for which US$7M was budgeted.
Implementation of each of the six priorities is being led by the relevant government agency, after multi-stakeholder consultations, the OCC said.
It noted that the release of funds is contingent on the approval of the GRIF Steering Committee, which consists of Guyana and Norway.
The GRIF Steering Committee was established as part of the governments’ joint work to explore how a future UNFCCC REDD+ mechanism might combine nationally-led investment plans with meeting globally accepted financial, social and environmental standards.
Further details about each of the six 2011 investments will be issued over the upcoming weeks, the OCC said.
