Guyana assessing targets for Rio Conventions

Jan 27, 2019 News

Twenty-seven years ago, Guyana became a signatory to three conventions which has to do with the proper management of the environment. Known as the Rio Conventions, they are the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD).
According to the Chairman of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Patrick Williams, Guyana signed onto these conventions at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in June 1992, and has certain obligations to meet in relation to the management of its environment.
He said that Guyana has to report to the United Nations next year on its accomplishments with respect to each of the conventions. He said that a project called the National Capacity Self-Assessment is assisting Guyana with evaluating what it has accomplish, and the gaps that need to be fulfilled for the conventions.
To aid with reaching the obligations of these conventions, the government is looking to launch, this year, the Environmental Information Management and Monitoring System (EIMMS), which is a part of a larger project called the Strengthening Capacity for mainstreaming Rio Conventions into Environmental Management.
Rather than create a new database, the EIMMS will set out to network existing databases, reconciling their content (in particular indicators) that serve to inform planners and decision-makers about trends in meeting and sustaining global environmental outcomes.

EPA Chairman Patrick Williams

The EIMMS will strengthen the collection and management of data and information for improved monitoring. This includes the technical capacities to use data and information to create knowledge at both the national and sub-national level, with particular attention to decentralized planning and decision-making.
According to Williams, each of the three conventions has a focal point agency which has overall responsibilities for its implementation. For example, the EPA is responsible for the implementation of UNCDB, the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC) is in charge for the implementation of UNCCD, while the Office of Climate Change (OCC) is responsible for implementing UNFCC.
“Those three agencies have overall responsibility for ensuring that Guyana work towards meeting its obligations to those conventions,” Williams added.
Dr. Williams disclosed that the kind of setup being touted for the EIMMS is one whereby it will be accessible by a username and password and one will only be able to retrieve highly confidential information with authorization from the head of respective agencies.
It is also being touted that a small subscription fee will be charged to offset maintenance of the database. He went on to explain that the central system will be within the Department of Environment, and the other agencies that have their own data systems, will be sub-systems.
It was disclosed by the Board Chairman that the Department of Environment will be responsible for storage, retrieval, updating and management of the data system. Right now, the Department of Environment is working on legislature so that it will be able to collect certain information, as is being done by the Bureau of Statistics and the National Data Management Authority (NDMA).

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