The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment has announced that it has recently concluded discussions with the German Development Bank (KfW) that will pave the way for the launching of the €4.8 million (US$6 million) third phase of the Guyana Protected Areas System (GPAS) Project.
Minister Robert Persaud said the GPAS Phase III is a major step in addressing the needs of the country’s new National Protected Areas System, a press release from the ministry said. Under the agreement the funds will be utilised in activities in selected protected areas and surrounding buffer zones. The project will commence in 2015 and focus primarily on infrastructure for the effective management of Shell Beach, Kaieteur National Park and the Kanuku Mountains.
The funding will also support sustainable livelihood projects in communities adjacent to these protected areas, visitor facilities, biodiversity assessments and the strengthening of the Environmental Protection Agency as the ministry increases the enforcement of environmental safeguards in the buffer areas surrounding the parks, he said.
This latest initiative continues a long history of cooperation between Guyana and Germany. In 2004, the two countries implemented the €2.56 million GPAS Project – Phase I which supported sustainable livelihood projects in over 30 Amerindian communities, the drafting of the National Protected Areas Act, delineation plans for both the Kanuku Mountains and Shell Beach Protected Areas and a draft Kanuku Mountains Management Plan.
The successful implementation of the first phase of the project led to the approval of an additional €5 million for GPAS Phase II, which is currently in its final stages of implementation. Phase II saw the provision of €4 million as an endowment to the Protected Areas Trust Fund and over €1 million in support for the establishment of the Protected Areas Commission main office, the completion of the Tukeit Guest house in the Kaieteur Falls gorge, new staff quarters for the Kaieteur rangers and the drafting of the first Management Plan for the Shell Beach Protected Area.
A detailed separate agreement for the GPAS Phase III is to be developed shortly, which government aims to use to buttress support efforts to conserve Guyana’s forests through the National Protected Areas System, and ultimately the Low Carbon Development Strategy.
