Guyana to benefit from additional funding to support forest management efforts

Jul 24, 2024 News

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat (far left), during the signing of the agreement between the EU and IICA

Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana is set to benefit from additional funding under the European Union (EU) Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the signing of an agreement between the EU and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

The signing of the agreement was witnessed on Monday by Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources, the agreement will see the provision of additional funds to assist with the implementation of the VPA. It is expected that the first VPA implementation licence will be issued in 2026, a phase that will be funded by the EU.

In November 2023, EU Ambassador to Guyana Rene Van Nes announced at the Joint Monitoring and Review Committee (JMRC) meeting that the EU would provide additional funds for the VPA implementation.

The main objective of the agreement is to improve compliance of the Guyana forest sector governance system with the EU Forest Law Governance and Trade (EU FLEGT) requirements including the implementation of the Guyana Timber Legality Assurance System.

The agreement also provides for strengthened participation and improved compliance of stakeholders in the VPA process. Enhanced information exchange for FLEGT compliance between the EU and Guyana partners and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the FLEGT VPA are also goals of the agreement. Further, the agreement will also support capacities at the GFC and Forest sector level.

Meanwhile, the EU support is in addition to other support given for the FLEGT VPA process which includes support for the Digitization of the Timber Legality Assurance System.

The EU FLEGT is supported by an Action Plan that sets out a range of measures to address forest governance and law enforcement challenges in the sector. A key element of the FLEGT Action Plan is the VPA, a bilateral agreement between the EU and a timber-producing (partner) country.

The VPAs aim to support governance reform and strengthen enforcement activities in the partner countries with commitments to improve transparency, accountability, legislative clarity and other aspects of governance.

When a country becomes a VPA Partner, it is empowered to issue FLEGT licences to exporters under national FLEGT Licensing Schemes based on a Legality Assurance System (LAS). This system ensures that only legally produced timber products are exported to the EU.

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European Union (EU), Forest Law Enforcement, forest management, funding, Governance and Trade (FLEGT)

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