Guyana has recorded a decrease in the rate of deforestation for last year and the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment is crediting new technology and more responsible and low-impact mining practices.
The Ministry yesterday announced that the deforestation rate fell from 0.079% for 2012 to 0.068% for 2013, according to interim results from the 4th Annual Assessment of Deforestation and Forest Degradation under the Monitoring Reporting and Verification System (MRVS) for REDD+.
Due to the deforestation rate that was confirmed for 2012, which represented an increase over the previous year, Guyana was expected to lose around US$20 million under the forests protection partnership with Norway.
Under the updated Joint Concept Note (JCN) of the Guyana-Norway partnership, Guyana is eligible for full payment if the deforestation rate does not exceed 0.056%. For deforestation rates between 0.056% and 0.1%, eligibility for payments would be calculated as a gradually decreasing percentage of the payments that would be due.
According to the Ministry, total deforestation was 12,702 hectares for 2013. “The main reason for this decrease in deforestation rate is on account of a decrease in deforestation from mining activities, which dropped to 11,487 hectares from the 2012 total of 13,664 hectares, a decline of 2,177 hectares,” the Ministry said in a statement issued yesterday.
“The decrease may be on account of new technology and more responsible and low-impact mining practices. A significant fact influencing this decline in deforestation in mining has also been the intensified monitoring activities by the natural resources sector and its agencies in working with operators in the sector,” it further said, while adding that forest sector deforestation continues to be at a very low level of 330 hectares and justifies the assertions that forest harvest has had, and continues to have a very low impact on deforestation.
According to the Ministry, the interim results are being finalised at this stage and will be incorporated into the MRVS Year 4 Report, which is expected to be released shortly.
The findings and methods of the assessment, it explained, will be open to two layers of independent assessment: the first by a team of accuracy assessors, who will be working to establish the statistical accuracy, uncertainty levels and precision of the reported results, including the deforestation rate; and the second by an independent third party verification, conducted by a company contracted by the government of Norway.
The Ministry noted that the rate of deforestation over the past 23 years has remained fairly stable between the range of 0.02% and 0.08%, and stands to compare quite favourably with the global average deforestation rate, which is recorded at 0.52%. “This rate also compares very favourably with Guyana’s Reference Level as agreed under the Guyana Norway Bilateral Agreement on Forest and Climate, which is set at 0.275% (computed as the mean between Guyana’s historic rate of 0.03% and the global rate of 0.52%),” it added.
Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment summary of the main findings in the 2013 assessment:
