No significant progress has been made in the Mainstreaming Sustainable Land Development and Management (MSLDM) project since its launch in January and head of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC), Trevor Benn, has again blamed the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for the delay.
“Let me be very blunt. The situation has not improved…We are having, as we speak, very contentious conversations with the FAO in relation to the implementation of this project. The funds which were received from the GRIF (Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund) process was handed over to the FAO, I believe, in December 2017. We are in December of 2018 and less than quarter of one percent of what we are supposed to be implementing, has been implemented,” Benn told reporters at the GLSC’s end-of-year news conference on Monday.
His comments come months after the Commission lambasted the pace at which the FAO was implementing the project. Among other components, the US$14.8 million project includes land reclamation and development, implementation of a land classification system, and other requirements to facilitate optimal land utilisation and sustainable land development and management. The funds were earned by Guyana for protecting its forests under a deal with Norway.
