Non-governmental organisation, Conservation Interna-tional (CI) has set up a fund to ensure financial sustainability of protected areas in Guyana which will be kick-started by $2 billion in endowments.
CI has committed to US$5 million ($1 billion) in funding for the Conservation Trust Fund and has already raised US$3.5 million while the German Development Bank (KfW) has committed €4 million ($1.07 billion). The ‘interim’ trust will manage the funds until the Protected Areas Trust Fund is established. The Conservation Trust will then merge into the Protected Areas Trust Fund. The establishment of a Protected Areas Trust Fund is mandated by the Protected Areas Bill which was passed by the National Assembly last year.
The establishment of the fund is a continuation of the work that CI has done in partnership with the government in protected areas, the head of the NGO’s local office, Dr David Singh told Stabroek News. “It is geared towards providing funds for the management of protected areas,” he said. Dr Singh said the trust has already been registered under the Friendly Societies Act and guidelines for the management and investment of the funds are being set up.
He explained that the endowments will not be drawn down on but will be invested in bonds, different financial institutions and in various ways and the interest earned will be used to fund activities. Focus will be on management of protected areas, research and capacity building and local communities involved in management of their respective protected areas.
Dr Singh said similar funds have been established in other countries where CI has worked in protected areas, including Suriname. It helps with the financial sustainability associated with conservation work, he said. He pointed out that the Suriname Conservation Fund has been able to raise a “fair amount” of revenue on an annual basis.
The conservationist said CI hopes to transfer the funds into the trust by the middle of this year. He said this fund and the Protected Areas Trust Fund are set up in a way that they are independent. “They are not controlled by any one entity,” he stated. The Conservation Trust Fund is governed by a six-person board of trustees which includes two representatives from the government, one from the private sector through the Private Sector Commission, a representative from the indigenous communities through the National Toshaos Council, a representative from the University of Guyana and a representative from the major donors.
Questioned as to who can tap into the funds, Singh said any entity that has some relationship to any of the protected areas identified in Guyana’s Protected Areas System (GPAS), once the project is related to protected areas. The exact guidelines for the management and investment of the funds are yet to be sorted out, he noted. The investment guidelines will determine how the funds will be used, he said.
Last December, the German government committed US$6.5 million to the GPAS. The funds are to be disbursed in two tranches. The first tranche of over €1 million will be to support the establishment of the Protected Areas Commission and develop infrastructure for management of individual National Protected Areas, particularly Kaieteur National Park and the Shell Beach Protected Area. The second tranche of €4 million will be used as an endowment for the establishment of the Protected Areas Trust Fund, a press release from the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment said at the time.
Singh said yesterday that CI’s initiative has also been informed by the value of protected areas in assisting in the global response to climate change. Sustainable management of forests, which form a large part of protected areas, represents the lowest cost solution to mitigate climate change, he noted adding that protected areas represent one of the most verifiable means for carbon storage and this is an important feature of the GPAS.
