The Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development is taking the lead in a European Union-funded research and capacity building project in forestry and sustainable development.
At a press conference held at Iwokrama’s offices on Monday, a project update was provided for the media by Iwokrama and project financier the European Commission.
The total project cost is 7.3 million euros and it encompasses research in Guyana and Suriname for the Guianas and countries in Central Africa and in the Pacific.
Director of Resource Management and Training at Iwokrama Dr Raquel Thomas said that one of the key mechanisms of the project is the facilitation of research through networking with various institutions, civil society and Governments across the project regions.
The project is to play a key role in the conservation and sustainable management of the forests in the selected regions.
The project covers countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) bloc and will be supported by the EU, the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and an organisation responsible for sustainable forestry in Suriname.
The project – EU-ACP Forestry Research Network in the Guianas – will look at climate change mitigation and adaptation and during the feasibility study in 2005, a number of focal points across the regions were identified. Iwokrama was identified as the focal point based on its record and experience in conservation and sustainable development.
Final approval was given in 2007 and further to that, there was an inception meeting on the project and its implementation in January this year.
At the end of the project it is expected that capacity among the identified stakeholders will be strengthened, training will be completed and networking and information dissemination enhanced.
CEO of Iwokrama, Dane Gobin said that the project was being executed at an opportune time when the country is focusing its attention on ecosystem services that the forests provide with a view to garnering compensation for them. Iwokrama itself has signed an agreement with Canopy Capital, a UK company which seeks to pay Iwokrama for the managing of the forests in exchange for the rights to trade on any future carbon market.
Ambassador to the European Commission Geert Heikens remarked on the role that Guyana was playing in the area of forestry in the fight against climate change. He said that countries and the EU have to integrate the environment as part of the development thrust. “We are active in helping the developing world [to live up to their commitments to the Kyoto Protocol and the Convention on Biological Diversity],” said Heikens.
Speaking at the press conference, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud said that he was happy that Guyana was chosen as one of the countries to be a part of the project. He noted that climate change is very topical at the moment since deforestation accounts for about 25 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the Minister, the administration is placing emphasis on value-adding in the forestry sector and with this note, he said that the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) will be funding the setting up of three kilns for processing of timber, one for each of the three counties of Guyana.
Persaud said that the EU-ACP project’s research will be in keeping with national policies, but he urged Iwokrama to seek to bring research findings to solve current problems in the project countries.
Project Coordinator Vanessa Benn said that the project has three main expected outputs: research, training and small projects.
She said that within the next two weeks, advertisements will be placed in the local press inviting proposals for small projects aimed at promoting sustainable development and climate change mitigation. She said that in September, it will be decided which projects get the go ahead and funding.
