A team from the forest consulting company Indufor will be in Guyana this week to engage with stakeholders as part of the independent verification for Guyana’s fourth year’s performance under the forests partnership with Norway. Government says that overall Guyana’s performance against the requirements of the Joint Concept Note (JCN), which sets out indicators to be met, has been strong and the country has fully implemented the majority of actions which the JCN targeted for completion during this reporting period. However, government has complained again of delays in accessing funding through the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) mechanism and said that this demonstrates the need for further investigation into the functioning of the GRIF and options for its improvement.
The Office of Climate Change recently released the fourth annual progress report on REDD+ Enabling Activities, which covers the period July 1st, 2012 to June 15th, 2013. The report was prepared by the Government of Guyana (GoG) to reflect its progress over the reporting period. Since the end of 2009, the GoG has published an annual report documenting progress in completing the enabling activities, as these are described, and on an annual basis updated, in the JCN. This is required under Guyana’s forests partnership with Norway, under which the country will receive up to US$250 million from Oslo in performance-based payments for the period up until 2017, based on an independent verification of Guyana’s deforestation and forest degradation rates and progress on REDD+ enabling activities.
The enabling activities reported on are grouped under five indicators; namely, the strategic framework; continuous multi-stakeholder consultation process; governance; the rights of indigenous people and other forest communities as regards REDD+; and integrated land-use planning and management. The report said that progress was assessed through gathering and review of documentary evidence and through stakeholder interviews. The stakeholder interview process focused on the Multi-Stake-holder Steering Committee (MSSC) members and Partner Entities (PE). In total, 49 individuals were interviewed (individually, or in groups).
In stating that overall Guyana’s performance against the requirements of the JCN has been strong, the report cited significant developments such as the publication of the first update of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) in March 2013, statutory monthly meetings of the MSSC, the formation of an inter-agency communications team and the kick-off of formal Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA) negotiations with the EU under the EU FLEGT and the drafting of an interim definition of legality.
Also cited were the preparation of a Draft Costed Strategic Framework for the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MNRE) 2013-2018, submission of the Amerindian Land Titling project to the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) Steering Committee Observers, the drafting of an Opt-In Mechanism options paper, following extensive consultation, as well as the selection of 27 pilot communities for the Amerindian Development Fund and the disbursement of payments to 19 of these to support implementation of their community development plans.
“These successes were achieved despite delays in accessing funding through the GRIF mechanism that were beyond the control of the Government of Guyana. Where actions have not been fully met, this can as in the case of the LCDS outreach and awareness project concept note, be attributed to funding delays,” the report said. “This demonstrates the need for further investigation into the functioning of the GRIF mechanism and options for its improvement. In addition, further work will be required next year in cementing inter-agency collaborations over land-use planning and management, with a particular focus on the extractives sector,” it added.
Challenges
The report identified constraints and challenges which impact performance. These were grouped into two broad groups: inherent challenges surrounding financing, with support from the GRIF and non-related GRIF Partners and communications and outreach.
In relation to financing through the GRIF, government said that the payments for forest climate services that Guyana receives under the Guyana/Norway Partnership, and which are channelled through the GRIF, are treated by partner entities (multilateral finance institutions) in essentially the same manner as project grant funds that flow through their institutions.
“As such, the institutions are limited in the mechanisms that they are enabled to use for intermediating the money between Norway and Guyana. Guyana and Norway have always intended that the use of funds is subject to all appropriate internal controls, approval processes and safeguards of the multilateral finance institutions (MFIs) selected as GRIF partner entities. However, the limitations in the current structure have made GRIF unwieldy, expensive and insufficiently effective,” government said.
“Consequently, the development of project concept notes/project documents and the approval and release of funds can be prolonged. It is suggested that an independent review of the GRIF mechanism takes place, the results of which will feed into the GRIF reform process…” the report added. It also noted that the implementation of LCDS activities has also been severely restricted by the budgetary cuts applied by the Parliamentary Opposition, which holds a one seat majority.
In relation to delays in non-GRIF related partnerships, the report said that in order to deliver the LCDS and some of the actions under the LCDS, it is necessary for the GoG to partner with and receive funds from partners outside of the GRIF mechanisms, such as the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), with which the GoG has been working closely with the Inter-American Development Bank to advance.
“In some cases work has progressed relatively smoothly, such as with EU FLEGT. However, in others such as FCPF, the processes involved have caused delays that have significantly blunted the ability of GoG to deliver under the actions. To some extent this is due to the similar constraints that face the GRIF where lengthy internal controls procedures, approval processes and other such matters at the level of Multilateral Finan-cial Institutions, slow down progress in advancing further. However GoG is also working closely with partners to explore ways to increase their flexibility and speed up procedures,” the report said.
In relation to the challenges with communications and outreach, government said that the geographic dispersion of forest people communities is a key challenge for the implementation of several actions under the JCN. “One the principal challenges of working in Guyana is that vast forested areas separate coastal communities from forest communities, and in turn forest communities from one another. The geographic dispersion and restricted access to many hinterland communities/villages result in extensive logistical arrangements and high costs in chartering special land, riverine and air transportation,” the report said.
“Infrastructure, in terms of transport and connectivity (phone and internet), is sparse. Overall this means that distributing up to date information on the LCDS, GRIF and other Government activities is challenging. This issue is compounded by delays to planned timelines of project implementation, which can lead to confusion and potentially disengagement of those in distant communities. It can also take considerable time to gather feedback from the village level. Therefore expectations regarding speedy implementation and thorough consultation/feedback processes need to continue to be carefully managed,” the report added.
It said that while the high costs associated with outreach and consultation are budgeted for in outreach and project activities, the costs and time involved in hinterland travel will likely continue to be a challenge. The report said that government is exploring the use of non-governmental organisations and strengthening the National Toshaos Council as ways of cost effectively spreading messages and receiving feedback going forward.
Meantime, the report said that in the fourth year of its partnership, Norway and Guyana continue to show their commitment to the vision of their agreement. “With each year, the partnership contributes lessons learned on how REDD+ policies may be implemented. As the Governments move into the final years of their current partnership, there is a sense of invigoration to see the goals through,” the report said. It added that government is working to achieve those goals through sustained commitment to the coordination of government resources, communication with constituencies, and through innovative proposals to improve the financial mechanism.
