The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a US$34.1 million Biodiversity Mainstreaming project that is expected to improve the environmental management of small-scale gold mining in Guyana.
According to an EPA press statement, the project, titled “Strengthening the enabling framework for biodiversity mainstreaming and mercury reduction in small-scale gold mining operations,” is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and will be implemented within two mining districts in Guyana – Mahdia/Konawaru area in Region Eight and Puruni in Region Seven.
GEF is putting US$4.5 million towards the project, which is expected to last for 84 months. The implementation and execution of this project will also be seeing parallel co-financing from the EPA, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs (MoA), the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), and the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC), at a cost of US$29.6 million.
The project was officially launched on July 1 in the boardroom of the EPA and was attended by representatives of collaborating agencies as well as from the World Wildlife Fund Guyana and Conservation International. The EPA explained that the objective of the proposed project is to strengthen the regulatory framework and institutional capacity for the management of small-scale gold mining. In addition it is expected that the project will promote greater adoption of environmentally-responsible mining techniques in Guyana in order to protect globally significant biodiversity, reduce mercury contamination, and enhance local livelihoods and human health. The project also seeks to improve the environmental management of small-scale gold mining in Guyana as it is the largest driver of deforestation and degradation in the country which contributes to biodiversity loss, land degradation and contamination.
The project has been divided into four outcomes – a policy and regulatory framework strengthened and supported for oversight of the environmental impacts of the small-scale gold mining sector; increased institutional capacity and inter-institutional coordination to mitigate and manage the impacts of small-scale gold mining; increased adoption of more environmentally-responsible gold mining practices; and implementation of knowledge management, monitoring and evaluation to support learning and upscaling.
According to the EPA’s statement, the UNDP-Guyana Resident Representative, Jairo Valvedre Bermudez, noted that the mining sector in Guyana has been of great concern due to mercury usage and its impact on the environment and human health. He said he is glad that the project supports the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Minamata Convention, and also factors in Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy.
Deputy Executive Director of the EPA Sharifah Razack echoed that gold mining has been identified as a major driver of deforestation, forest degradation, and associated biodiversity loss, and contended that the proposed long-terms solutions need to have strong policies and regulations, including financial instruments, institutional capacity and coordination, the ability to adequately enforce the framework, and monitoring of the impacts of mining on different environmental parameters, in place.
It is expected that 6,500,000 hectares of forests in the greenstone belt within the six mining districts of Guyana will be under improved management to protect significant biodiversity through the support of the implementation of the National Mineral Sector Policy Framework and Actions, which seek to balance mineral development with other priorities such as biodiversity conservation, protection of watersheds and freshwater, preservation of carbon stocks, and socioeconomic development;
Additionally, the implementation of the project is expected to see the phasing out of 10.2 metric tonnes of mercury in project intervention areas.
Further, the EPA pointed out that some 1,235 miners, 10% of whom are women, are expected to implement environmentally-responsible mining practices to reduce mercury use, deforestation, and safety and occupational threats, while increasing gold recovery and incomes. In addition, 1,209 hectares of high conservation-value forests will be conserved in project intervention areas through improved prospecting and 445 hectares of forests and forest land will be restored in areas degraded by mining in demonstration project sites.
A total of 8,032 persons have already benefitted through awareness raising, training and reduced exposure to mercury, namely, 1,499 miners (10% women), 2,178 Mahdia residents (42% women), and 4,355 Indigenous peoples (50% women). It was stated that these benefits will translate into direct benefits for various species, many of which are globally significant, including endemic and endangered species as well as species of economic importance to local communities and Indigenous peoples.
Razack stated that the project will entail substantial training opportunities for miners to be able to put best practices in place suitable to their needs.
According to the EPA, the successful implementation of this project will also lend support to current projects that are being implemented by the Government of Guyana, Conservation International and World Wildlife Fund Guianas.
