REDD+ AND INDIGENOUS PARTICIPATION IN GUYANA
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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 REDD+ AND INDIGENOUS PARTICIPATION IN GUYANA
Guyana is country with high forest cover and low deforestation rates. Its forest area covers approximately 85 of its total territory
i
, totalling about 18.5 million hectares. This is distributed across State Forest Area, State Lands, Protected Areas and titled Amerindian villages, and a deforestation rate of between 0.02 and 0.079 per annum
ii
. However, there is an increasing risk facing Guyana’s forests, due to large- and small-scale mining activities, which cause
93 of deforestation in the country
iii
, as well as the extraction of timber, and infrastructure developments associated with these industries: the majority of forest change has occurred around existing roads and navigable rivers. Meanwhile,
due to market integration and increasing trade with Brazil, the agricultural sector is a source of growing pressure. While deforestation rates are lower in Amerindian titled lands 0.04 in 2012, mining is again the primary driver of
deforestation, accounting for 95 of forest change
iv
. To avoid further deforestation, Guyana has, since 2006, actively pursued REDD+, the international policy mechanism
to ‘reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, plus the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks’. In 2009, Guyana and Norway signed a Memorandum of
Understanding MoU on implementing Guyana’s plan to shift towards more sustainable extractive industries and forest management, known as the Low Carbon Development Strategy LCDS. Through this MoU, the two countries established
a framework for implementation, with up to USD 250 million in performance-related inance over ive years, ending in 2015. The three main pillars of this strategy are: 1 avoiding deforestation, 2 promoting low carbon development, and 3
adapting to climate change.
There are two components in the LCDS that are critical in order to achieve effectiveness and equity: 1. The development of a system for monitoring, reporting and veriication, in order to measure and track changes in
Guyana’s forest carbon stocks and determine performance-related payments under the MoU; and 2. The recognition of the importance of multi-stakeholder participation – in particular the participation of indigenous
communities dependent on forests - in designing and implementing the LCDS. Amerindians currently hold legal title to 13.9 of the land in Guyana, and therefore the engagement of forest-dependent
communities is particularly relevant
v
. Although Amerindian and private land are initially excluded from the LCDS which only covers State Forest Land, the Government of Guyana intends to give titled Amerindian communities the option to
participate in the LCDS and opt into an agreement on REDD+. This would be in return for a pro-rata share, in future, of compensation payments received by Guyana. Guyana’s Ofice of Climate Change OCC is currently leading a process,
along with the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs MAA and the National Toshaos Council NTC, of public participation and consultation for the development of the opt-in mechanism. A beneit-sharing structure is not yet in place, but payments
could be made to communities directly or via an Amerindian Development Fund.