Forestry notes 3x fewer hectares destroyed by fires 2017

Dec 04, 2018 News

Fire is known as an anthropogenic factor that contributes to both deforestation and degradation. Throughout last year, 502 ha (hectares) of Guyana’s forest was destroyed by fire.
This marked a significant decrease, over three times less than the forest destroyed in the previous year 2016 by fires.
This decrease was highlighted in a report released on November 21, last, by the Guyana Forestry Commission (GTC) titled “Guyana REDD+ Monitoring Reporting &Verification System (MRVS), Year 7 MRVS Report, Version 1.”
The report stated, “Fire events have declined relative to the spike noted in the previous year (1 509 ha) with an area of 502 ha mapped.” This marked a 67% decrease and the forest change driver with the highest deduction from previous years.
The effect of fires was so small that the role of forest fires was deemed immaterial to the change of the forest cover by the report as it noted that almost all the fires occurred within non-forest/grassland landscapes.
“Spatially, (the fires) follow historic trends, where events occur in the white sand forest area surrounding Linden and extend towards the eastern border of Guyana.” In the south it will burn along the Brazilian border and closer to Georgetown on the coastal fringe which is considered the main non-forested area in Guyana.
The report also highlighted that there is a possibility that the fires may be related to agricultural events in the area and that the experience of large fires is likely tied to the long dry seasons experienced in Guyana.
“It is possible that burning events may be a precursor to agricultural development or related to other clearance activities. Large fires are linked to a prolonged dry spell and are most commonly observed on the drier sand and grassland areas.”
However, from the 502 ha of land affected by fires, 245ha was state forest areas (areas generally protected by some agency of a sovereign or federated state, or territory), while 127ha derived from Amerindian lands (inclusive of newly titled lands.)
The remaining 130ha affected by fires were in state lands and protected areas with 124ha and 6ha affected respectively.
In November 2009 Guyana signed an agreement with Norway. This agreement established the pathway of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+).
The President of Guyana and the Norwegian Minister of Environment signed an MOU for funding up to USD 250 million over five years, 2010-2015, for ex-post-delivery of results measured on two sets of indicators.
The indicators were enabling activities and REDD+ performance and that finance be channeled through the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF), which was launched in October 2010 and is a vehicle to fund Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy.
Under this framework, several forest-based interim measures have been established and require Guyana to submit reports on the development, progression, and changes in the forest.
The activities are undertaken, as summarised in the mentioned report, are part of the three-phase Road Map developed for Guyana’s Monitoring Reporting & Verification System (MRVS).

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