Other countries seek Guyana’s help, guidance on REDD+
Georgetown, GINA, August 7, 2012 -- Source - GINA
Guyana shared its information and experiences on climate policies, strategy and stakeholder engagement processes during a two-day climate change and REDD+ workshop in neighbouring Suriname which a Government team, headed by Shyam Nokta, Presidential Adviser and Head of the Office of Climate Change is currently attending.
The workshop is part of collaboration between the two countries on climate change and REDD+.
Guyana-Suriname collaboration on climate change and REDD+.
During the visit, the Guyanese team which also includes Andrew Bishop, Presidential Adviser and Nasheta Dewnath, Tehnical Officer from the GFC’s REDD Secretariat held meetings with representatives of key Surinamese Agencies and Ministries to discuss areas of collaboration.
Among these include the preparation of the Readiness Preparation Plan (RPP) under the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) for which Guyana was one of the first countries to have its RPP approved, the Monitoring Reporting and Verification System (MRVS) being established under the LCDS and Guyana-Norway Partnership and the sharing of information and experience on climate polices, strategy and stakeholder engagement processes.
Suriname, like Guyana, is also formulating policies to counter the impact of climate change and has developed its own Strategy to position the country to tap into REDD+ Programs.
This visit is part of a series of bilateral engagements being undertaken as part of an enhanced bilateral assistance framework agreed to by former President Bharrat Jagdeo and Suriname’s President Desi Bouterse when the latter came to Guyana in September 2010.
Earlier this year, a Suriname team led by John Goedschalk, Director of the Climate Compatible Development Agency visited Guyana and held discussions with the Office of Climate Change and the Guyana Forestry Commission.
Guyana’s climate initiatives and its LCDS continue to receive international recognition. At the recently held Rio+20 Conference, the LCDS was presented by Guyana and Norway as the 2nd largest interim REDD+ mechanism in operation and the 1st national scale model for REDD+, providing a practical demonstration of green growth and moving towards a low-carbon economy.
Currently, as part of the agreement with Norway, independent audits are taking place to facilitate the 3rd tranche of Norway payments. National-wide projects identified under the LCDS and to be supported by the Norway funds are now moving to implementation.