Guyana finally appears to be moving forward to receive funds under the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), more than five years after a US$200 000 ($40 million) grant was initially announced.
In a Joint Outline Plan for the Advancement of the FCPF by the Government of Guyana (GoG) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), it was stated that the GoG released its final version of its Readiness Preparation Proposal (RPP) in December 2012. This followed from the earlier RPP approval of Guyana’s RPP at the third Participants’ Committee Meeting (PC 3) of the FCPF held in Montreux, Switzerland.
Since then, Guyana made several revisions to the RPP to include and address continuous stakeholder feedback. The IDB was identified as the delivery partner for the FCPF programme in Guyana. “As part of the process moving forward with the FCPF through the IDB structure (meaning initially that the Guyana RPP needs to be shaped into an IDB Project document to be considered by the IDB Board and to formally move through the IDB Project Cycle), a Mission was executed in February – March 2013, to advance next steps in the IDB Project Cycle,” it was noted.
The IDB mission took place in Guyana from February 26 to March 1, with the objective of analyzing the project and consolidating the Technical Cooperation Document (TC) in consultation with local authorities, especially the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC). The mission also focused on planning the next steps for the implementation of the R-PP and developing the Results Based Framework. As of June 2013, this process is being advanced through discussions and sharing of comments on various proposals by both the IDB and the GoG.
It said that as a tentative timeline, it was envisaged that by August 4th, there would have been final approval by the Board. It is not clear if this has happened. “This timeline is contingent on the advancement of discussions between the IDB and the GoG on areas including the results-based framework. This is a precursor to the formal start the project approval cycle that has become a prerequisite of the RPP to move through the IDB’s structure,” the document said.
It added that discussions were ongoing between the IDB and GoG on the holding of various types of meetings and exchanges to further advance the preparation of the IDB Project Document.
The US$200,000 grant, when it was officially announced in July 2008, was to aid in preparing Guyana’s Readiness Plan (R-Plan) for combating tropical deforestation. Guyana was one of 14 developing countries selected as the first states to receive money but Guyana’s case was long-delayed. US$70,000 from the grant was supposed to go to the National Toshao’s Council for consultations in indigenous villages with interpretation in the relevant local dialect.
The FCPF is a World Bank fund to pay for protecting forests. The FCPF assists developing countries in their efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) by providing value to standing forests. By creating economic value for tropical forests, the facility seeks to help developing countries generate new revenue for poverty alleviation while maintaining the natural benefits such as fresh water, food and medicines that the forests provide local populations.
