Guyana not listed for initial Climate Fund assistance

Jul 02, 2010 Letters

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“Guyana did not signal an interest as we are further advanced than these countries…Remember we are part of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and Kingdom of Norway project.”
This was the response of Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud when asked to comment on the fact that the Multilateral Climate Investment Fund (CIF) has approved some 15 countries to receive initial support as it relates to advancing transformational climate change action.
The multilateral CIF met recently and the governing bodies approved the assistance for three groups of low income and developing countries to receive support to engage in climate action that will transform their approach to development and poverty reduction.
Persaud explained that Guyana has gone beyond the small pilots that are going to be supported by the CIF now.
“We have developed a national scale model that has been accepted and commitments made to support by bilateral and multilateral partners such as the MoU with the Kingdom of Norway.
He explained that Guyana’s climate change initiatives are far advanced and in fact, Guyana is being used as a model.
The three groups were selected under the target programs of the CIF Strategic Climate Fund (SCF).
Ethiopia, Honduras, Kenya, Maldives, Mali, and Nepal were all chosen to undertake pilot programs to scale up renewable energy, transform their energy sectors and shift the market toward renewables.
According to the CIF, these low income countries are the first to be selected as pilots by the Program for Scaling Up Renewable Energy in Low Income Countries (SREP).
CIF explained that those countries were chosen on recommendation of an independent Expert Group, on the basis of their willingness to undertake a transformational program for renewable energy development, their potential capacity for implementation, and suitable conditions for scaling-up renewable energy.
“We are very pleased that the SREP Sub-Committee has recommended these countries as the first pilots for the SREP,” stated Mafalda Duarte, African Development Bank representative. “These countries have an abundance of renewable resources but – at the very time when they are in dire need of such energy services for their development – they do not have the means or the capacity to develop them into a real source of sustainable energy. With their commitment to undertake these pilots, they are taking on a bold challenge, and we believe the SREP support to these low income countries is central to their success. Furthermore, we will welcome the momentum toward building a global knowledge base which these countries’ work will generate.”
Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Mexico also got the go-ahead to serve as pilots for the Forest Investment Program (FIP), to reduce deforestation and forest degradation and promote sustainable management of their forests.
They join Burkina Faso, Ghana, Indonesia, Lao PDR, and Peru as pilots already selected by a FIP independent expert group, because of their potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to deforestation or forest degradation (REDD), or to lead to further conservation, sustainable forest management or enhanced forest carbon stocks.
Bolivia, Cambodia, Mozambique, Tajikistan, and Yemen which are already undertaking
activities under the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) were each awarded US$1.5M to begin preparation of their national-level Strategic Programs for Climate Resilience (SPCR) and build capacity for implementing them.
The SPCR will define the needed portfolio of investments for each country to undertake integration of climate risk and resilience into their core development planning and implementation, scale up climate action, and initiate transformational change toward climate resilient development.
“The combined set of endorsements during these CIF meetings sends a powerful signal that climate action is truly getting underway in low income countries through the CIF,” said Christoffer Bertelsen, Denmark, co-chair of the PPCR Sub-Committee. “The momentum is shifting now away from the conference room table and toward project implementation, which is also strongly needed.
The Climate Investment Funds are a unique pair of financing instruments designed to support low-carbon and climate-resilient development through scaled-up financing channeled  through the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Inter-American Development Bank, and World Bank Group.
The two CIF funds are the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) and the Clean Technology Fund (CTF).
Head of State Bharrat Jagdeo has in recent times been advocating in several different fora for vulnerable and developing countries to be paid to assist in the fight in adaption and mitigation against the climate change phenomenon, of which Guyana is one such country.
He has even won one of the United Nations’ ‘Champion of the Earth’ Awards for his efforts.
Jagdeo has been pushing also for countries to adopt a Low Carbon Development Strategy.
Guyana has already adopted the model following what the government called extensive consultations countrywide.

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