$110M contract inked to monitor mangrove planting

Jan 23, 2012 News

Guyana will over the next two years expend some $110,117,966.87 (€419,000) to pay for overseas help in the form of technical support for its Mangrove Restoration Programme.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon on Thursday last announced that Cabinet had a no objection in awarding the contract.
The funds have found their way to the Guyana Government from the European Union under the restoration programme aimed at improving the country’s adaption and mitigation as it relates to climate change.

Some volunteers planting mangroves on the Guyana coastline.

While Dr Luncheon did not divulge who the contract went to, this publication understands that it is an overseas company given that no local company with the requisite expertise tendered for the project.
According to a source close to the mangrove project, the consultancy contract is generally for the continued monitoring of the programmme.
It was explained that while there is the ongoing planting of mangroves by the restoration committee the adequate expertise isn’t available here to monitor and provide feed-back and make recommendations for the programme.
The consultant, among others things, will also be required to provide information to ensure that the re-planting exercise is successful.
The bidders had to reportedly satisfy a EU set criteria before being awarded the contract and will be on call to provide the specialist when required.
The project manager, who is expected to be in the country shortly to lay the groundwork for his team, will be on call for the mangrove restoration committee.
The total area of mangrove forest in Guyana is estimated at 80,432 hectares. The Management plan seeks to protect the mangrove forest from destruction and also to regenerate the forest in areas where it has been destroyed.
According to the Sea Defence Act, anyone caught cutting mangroves can be fined $12, 000 and be imprisoned for twelve months. The protection and restoration of the mangrove forest has become a key focus of the sea defence sector given global climate change.
Guyana, with its low-lying coastal plain and a crumbling and under-resourced sea and river defence system is at exceptional risk with sea level rise being one of the more certain outcomes of global warming.
Mangroves protect the coast through stabilisation of the shoreline by controlling erosion from waves. Mangroves are also the first line of defence against wave actions and storms, helping to protect the seawall or embankment and reduce damage of sea defence systems.
The European Union is putting 4.165 million Euros into the project.