Guyana’s deforestation rate dropped to 0.065% last year compared to the 0.068% in 2013 with mining continuing to be the major driver, according to the latest report on deforestation rates for the Guyana-Norway forests partnership.
The fifth performance report on Interim Measures for Reducing Emissions for Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus (REDD+), under Guyana’s Monitoring Reporting and Verification System (MRVS) says that change of forest to non-forest excluding degradation between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2014 is estimated at 11 964 hectares.
Over the Year 5 reporting period, this equates to a total deforestation rate of 0.065%. This rate of change is lower than the previous Year 4 period which was reported as 0.068%. In Year 5, as in previous years, an independent map accuracy assessment has been undertaken by a team from the University of Durham. According to the report, the Year 5 accuracy assessment has independently determined a deforestation rate of 0.062% with a standard error of 0.008% at the 95% confidence interval.
The report says that the main deforestation driver for Year 5 is mining sites and roads which accounts for 85% of the deforestation in this period. The majority, 83%, of the deforestation is observed in the State Forest Area.
According to the report, the temporal analysis of forest change post- 1990 indicates that most of the change is clustered around existing road infrastructure and navigable rivers. In Year 5 the change has continued primarily near the footprint of historical change.
Meantime, degradation for Year 5 is reported at 4231 hectares which is in line with Year 4 values and represents a slight decrease.
“These fluctuations are due to a consolidation of mining operations around existing infrastructure,” the report says.
Since its first year of assessment (Year 2), forest degradation has fluctuated; from 5467 hectares in Year 2, to 1963 hectares in Year 3 and 4352 hectares in Year 4.
Version 1 of the full report was released last week for a one-month period ending November7th for feedback. Following the period of public review, a revised version, Version 2, of the Report will be completed.
This version integrates stakeholder feedback and responses. This version is subject to independent third party verification by Det Norske Veritas (DNV), an independent verification firm contracted by the Government of Norway. This final version (Version 3) of the Report, will be made public and will integrate findings and recommendations from the independent verification exercise, as well as all elements of Version 2, including stakeholder feedback and responses.
