UNDP | Guyana

Guyana’s principle asset is the relative intactness of its natural resources. This offers the country an opportunity to develop solid, long-term initiatives, programmes and policies and to build capacities to utilise these resources on a sustainable basis for the political, economic and social benefit of the country.

The Amerindian communities require particular consideration as so many depend on natural resources for their livelihoods. To quote the Minister of Amerindian Affairs “Amerindian communities are facing huge challenges in terms of managing their natural resources.”

In 2004, initial ‘scoping’ meetings were held with national stakeholders, including the Guyana Forestry Commission, Lands and Surveys Commission, Wildlife Division, Guyana Water Authority and the Ministry of Agriculture, key NGO’s, and representatives of several communities. The purpose of these meetings was to identify challenges, on-going activities, and the critical gaps requiring attention to facilitate the management and sustainable use of Guyana’s natural resources.

The main objectives of this project are focused around the thematic areas of the sustainable use of biodiversity and pollution prevention and control. Specific Objectives are:

To develop knowledge and skills for policy and planning in the sustainable use of biodiversity.
To promote Guyana’s international reputation as caretaker of its natural resources – a global public good – and its capacities as a global contributor of natural resource-based solutions.
To develop knowledge and skills for policy and planning toward pollution prevention and control
To increase and promote Guyana’s participation in international efforts to reduce global pollutants.
To catalyse related natural-resource projects and complement on-going projects and activities of various donors, private sector and the government.

Key achievements have been in those areas where critical gaps were noted – the development of national policy and legislative instruments and community level management instruments. To date the following has been achieved:

An assessment of the 1999 - 2004 National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP). The plan was found to be overly ambitious and it was recommended it should be more focused and achievable. Consequently, the WWF is now assisting Guyana to revise the NBAP.
A Strategic Plan for the Environmental Protection Agency 2006 – 2010. The plan is critical to the successful operation of the EPA and provided the basis for determining the EPA’s 2007 budget requirements and mobilising resources
A new web-based system to manage biodiversity research requests and report results has been designed and, following testing, should become operational by the third quarter of 2007.
A National Policy and accompanying regulations on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing (ABS) has been drafted and approved by the Board of the EPA.
An updated draft of the national land use policy has been completed. This policy and a national land use plan were viewed by stakeholders as the most critical elements in the management and sustainable use of Guyana’s natural resources. UNDP will continue to support efforts to finalise this policy.

The instruments and training provided through this project have provided a foundation for Amerindian communities to better manage their resources, including the following:

A community natural resources management plan has been completed for 13 Amerindian communities in the North Rupununi, through an intense 12 month participatory process. In December 2006, it was announced that those 13 communities will be given the titles to the land, paving the way for the plan to become the by-laws, as requested by the community leaders. The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs is negotiating with USAID to begin training members for the implementation of the plans.
Forestry concessions were granted and training in sustainable forestry management provided for several communities. Each participant received manuals and videos of the training sessions which can now be used to train other community members.
A community management plan has been prepared, which will enable indigenous communities to manage their crab wood forests in a sustainable way.
The finalisation of the Wildlife Management and Conservation regulations is included in the work plan for 2007.

Currently there is no established infrastructure for promoting and sustaining environmental performance of businesses in Guyana. Towards remedying this:

Assistance was provided to the Guyana National Bureau of Standards to train a cadre of persons to perform Environmental Management System audits. All nine candidates passed the first phase of Environmental auditing examinations and are expected to provide support to industries which have expressed interest in becoming ISO 14000 certified.
Activities are continuing in 2007 to build the capacity of regulators, community and regional representatives to implement the new mining regulations. These activities will target small miners in particular.
A Hazardous Waste Strategy is expected to be completed in 2007.

Training in Monitoring and Evaluation was conducted for all stakeholders and the initial development of the Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the project was drafted by the stakeholders/beneficiaries and subsequently completed by the project staff.

PROJECT INFORMATION

Project name: Capacity Building in Environmental Management and sustainable use of natural resources