Guyana lost US$22.7 million as a result of increased deforestation in 2012 as well as for its sloth in moving to join a transparency initiative under its forest protection agreement with Norway.
Last Friday, Oslo announced that it would contribute US$35 million to Guyana for Year 3 of the five-year agreement. Although the figure represents an expected drop in earnings, President Donald Ramotar in an address to the nation had characterised the announcement as “a strong rebuttal” to those who tried to “kill” government’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and the Guyana-Norway partnership. Guyana and Norway have a five-year pact under which Oslo will pay up to US$250 million based on Guyana’s efforts in protecting its forest and meeting enabling indicators.
In explaining the performance-based payments to Guyana for 2012, Norway calculated the value of “avoided emissions from deforestation” to be US$66.5 million.
However, due to loss of intact forest landscapes, which was calculated to be 174 hectares, this was reduced by US$957,870. According to the Technical Note provided, Guyana and Norway have agreed that this indicator might be phased out in the future, in parallel with a process initiated by Guyana to ensure more permanent status of varying degrees of protection to significant amounts of the intact forest landscape areas.
Guyana also lost US$18.8 million for the increased deforestation in 2012. The two countries had agreed that for any deforestation rate above 0.056%, payment will be gradually reduced and eventually cease if the rate in any given year is above 0.1%. For 2012, the deforestation level was 0.079 % amounting to a reduction in payment by 28.66 %, which amounts to US$18,797,637.
Further, for slower than anticipated progress in moving to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), there was a reduction of 6.5%, amounting to US$3.04 million, of the sum that remained after the loss for deforestation was applied. The total amount deducted was US$22.7 million.
As a result, the maximum amount payable to Guyana based on the performance indicators for Year 3 was US$43.7 million.
However, Guyana and Norway had agreed that for there to be an incentive for other donors to join the partnership, Norway will not in any given year pay the full amount Guyana has “earned” according to this model. Moreover, Norway’s total support for the 2010-2015 period is limited to US$250 million.
Therefore, Norway announced that it would pay US$35 million to Guyana based on the 2012 results. The announcement brings to US$150 million the total earned from Norway to Guyana since the partnership started.
In terms of future payments, the statement by Oslo noted that in the coming months, Guyana’s eligibility for a fifth payment under the partnership will be assessed. As in previous years, the payment will be calculated on the basis of two sets of indicators, the deforestation and degradation indicators and the enabling indicators.
The statement noted that the Guyana Forestry Commission has produced its report covering 2013 deforestation and in the coming months, this report will undergo independent verification. Guyana’s maximum payment will be calculated based on the independently verified data.
In terms of the enabling indicators, to fulfil the terms of the next (fifth) payment, Guyana will have to continue with the process to apply to join the EITI. “By the end of November 2014, the inception report from the EITI Scoping Study will be published, and Guyana will be listed as an “interested country” on the EITI Website. These are milestones on the way to Guyana’s strong commitment to applying for EITI candidacy by June 2015,” the statement said.
Guyana will also have to advance its policy of enabling Amerindian communities to “opt in” to REDD+ payments. “By the end of November 2014, the Government of Guyana will publish the draft opt-in strategy, which will be submitted to the National Toshaos Council (NTC) and the MSSC for review. The Government of Guyana will also request the NTC to select – by December 2014 – a pilot community from the candidate communities identified by the NTC in 2013,” the statement said.
It added that the Government of Guyana is planning to hire a consultant to assist with the further development of the opt-in strategy. The Terms of Reference for this consultancy will be submitted to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) by the end of November 2014 and subsequently be made publicly available through an international competitive procurement process, the statement said.
Another indicator that Guyana will have to meet is to improve REDD+ and LCDS-related communications in hinterland communities. “Continued efforts have been extended over the past year to further enhance outreach and awareness on the LCDS. The Government of Guyana will provide a publicly available overview of these activities, including, but not limited to outreach and awareness sessions to hinterland regions, and development and dissemination of information to Amerindian communities through various channels, such as Indigenous NGOs of the LCDS Multi Stakeholder Steering Committee,” the statement said.
It noted that the Government of Guyana, with the support of Conservation International, is about to start implementing an LCDS outreach project which will among other things focus on the tailored needs for information in the hinterland communities. The statement said that the project is somewhat delayed, and the Government of Guyana will by the end of November 2014 publish an outline and indicative timeline for the main deliverables of this project.
Norway said that the sixth (and final) payment under the current Guyana-Norway partnership will be considered after June 2015. “This payment will be based on independent verification of 2014 deforestation and degradation, coupled with performance against the indicators set out in the next version of the Guyana-Norway JCN, which is to be published by the end of October 2014,” the statement said.
“As the two countries enter the final stages of their current partnership, the Governments of Guyana and Norway are discussing continued collaboration to identify and solve many issues that are essential to the global fight against climate change. The two Governments will consider continuing working together to maintain the world’s vital tropical forests, to show that national development and combatting climate change can be compatible, and to demonstrate how a national-scale transition to a low carbon development pathway is possible,” the statement said.
