Little word on next forest deal as Guyana set to collect final US$50M.

Sep 26, 2019 News

Almost a decade after a five-year ground-breaking forest conservation deal was signed between Guyana and Norway, its end is near.

Both teams after fruitful discussions on the Guyana-Norway partnership. Fifth and sixth from right are Minister Hastings-Williams and Minister Elvestuen. From left Mr. Nikolaus Oudkerk, Coordinator of the Project Management Office (PMO); Ambassador Troy Torrington; Head Office of Climate Change Guyana, Ms. Janelle Christian; Dr. Marlon Bristol, Head of PMO; Ms. Vedis Vik, Senior Advisor Nicfi; Mr. Andreas Dahl-Jorgensen, Director of Nicfi; Ms. Ragnhild Eikenes, Nicfi’s Communication Adviser.

There is no immediate word whether another one is likely.
In the meantime, Norway is making preparation to release US$50M that is outstanding.
On Tuesday, Minister of State, Dawn Hastings-Williams and Norway’s Minister for Climate and Environment, Ola Elvestuen, met on the margins of the UN Climate Summit in New York.
The two ministers, in a joint statement, said they welcomed successes and results achieved under the partnership between Guyana and Norway.
Guyana has met the commitments as agreed on, it was disclosed.
“In accordance with the bilateral agreement between the two countries, the two ministers agreed that Guyana has met its commitments and therefore Norway would disburse all final payments totaling approximately US$50 million, equivalent to the remainder of the pledge made in 2009. The disbursement of the monies will be made to the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund, GRIF, administered by the World Bank.”
According to Minister Hastings-Williams, at this juncture both countries indeed would have met their responsibilities with the final release.
She also highlighted important successes of the partnership and how it yielded enhanced forest governance; that Guyana is better placed through institutional strengthening to deliver the GSDS. With the final payment, Minister Hastings-Williams has pledged to significantly increase the resources for the Opt-In project.
Minister Elvestuen emphasized at the meeting that Norway is most impressed with the continued low deforestation rates in Guyana over many years, and also with the substantive progress made on forest governance.
“The world looks to Guyana for what sustainable development in forest rich countries can be,” Minister Elvestuen said.
Under the groundbreaking agreement first signed in 2009 between Guyana and Norway, this country was supposed to have received up to US$250M over a period of five years to protect its forests.
However, there were delays and difficulties in meeting some of the stringent verifiable checks that were introduced to ensure the forests are kept intact.
In fact, Guyana reportedly lost US$18M because of penalties.
Almost US$80M has been sitting with the IDB, earmarked for the Amaila Falls hydro project.
It appears that it is this set of funds that Guyana wants released to pursue alternative energy projects.
Norway had agreed to extend the deal for Guyana to meet the benchmarks set.
As of mid-2016, it was reported that Guyana collected more than US$150M from the deal. Some of the monies were used in land demarcation for Amerindian villages.

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