-confirms Guyana will lose US$20M
Systems are in place for measuring forest protection but insufficient action has been taken to reduce the mining operations that are the main cause of deforestation, the Norwegian government agency through which funds are channelled to pay Guyana for protecting its forests, has said.
The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) in its latest report released on Monday, confirmed that Guyana will lose US$20 million as a result of increased deforestation in Year 3 (2012) of the Guyana-Norway forest protection partnership. NORAD is a directorate under the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and since 2010, it has been monitoring Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) the programme under which Guyana is paid to protect its forest.
Guyana has established the necessary systems for measuring forest protection but insufficient action has been taken to reduce the mining operations that are the main cause of deforestation in the country, NORAD said. The agency confirmed that payments from Norway for 2012 were reduced by approximately US$20 million. Guyana’s deforestation rate rose to 0.079% in 2012, an increase over the