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Guyana, Germany ink deal to protect Amazon


Guyana inked a 5-million-euro ($6.5-million) deal Thursday with Germany to help the South American country develop and sustain biodiversity in several Amazon protected areas.

Environment Minister Robert Persaud said some of the money would be used to establish the legally-required Protected Areas Commission that would establish goals and priorities and identify threats to conservation.

The money would also help Guyana efficiently manage the protected areas in keeping with provisions of the Protected Areas legislation approved in July.

But Persaud, who is responsible for the mining and forestry sectors, was also quick to stress that the move would not prevent Guyana from extracting its natural resources.

"What we do here would not in any way impinge or reduce or affect our ability to utilize the natural resources that our forest and other areas possess but will in fact give us greater capacity in terms of proper utilization, all consistent with the sustainable development thrust," said Persaud.

International and local mining companies have been rushing to Guyana in search of gold. Drilling operations are also underway for uranium and manganese.

Persaud's assurances came as Guyana hopes to reach an agreement with Norway for minimal felling of tropical rainforests in exchange for $250 million up to 2015.

Germany's latest environmental financing to Guyana would see the allocation of more than one million euros ($1.3 million) toward the development of the Protected Areas Commission and infrastructure to manage national protected areas, particularly Kaieteur National Park (center) and Shell Beach (north).

The second tranche is due to be used as an endowment to establish the Protected Areas Trust Fund.

There are three legally designated protected areas, making up more than six percent of Guyana's 83,000-square-mile (214,970-square-kilometer) landmass.

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Germany releasing $1.3B for Kaieteur Park, Shell Beach protection -regulatory body will also be established

December 30, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under News
Source - Kaieteur News

Ben ter Welle, Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany, shakes hands with Natural Resources Minister, Robert Persaud, yesterday, during an announcement that Germany will release $1.3B for protected areas in the country.

Guyana’s move to declare several areas as protected zones is paying off with Germany yesterday announcing its intentions to release 5M Euros ($1.3B) to help establish a Protected Areas Commission and a Trust Fund.

The areas, particularly Kaieteur National Park and the Shell Beach Protected Area, are to benefit from infrastructural works from the program which is expected to last for two years.

It will also see the revamping of the National Parks Commission to make its work more in line with the conservation efforts.

The announcement of the program was made yesterday during a press conference hosted by the newly established Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, at the Office of the President.

At the press conference were Minister Robert Persaud; Ben ter Welle, Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany; Dr. Indarjit Ramdass. Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and representatives of the National Parks Commission, among others.

It was explained that the funding will be channeled through the German Development Bank KreditanstaltthrWiederaufbau (KfW), with the EPA, under the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, functioning as the implementing agency.

It will not be the first time that Germany has cooperated with Guyana. The German Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ) assisted Guyana with over US$7M during the period 1996-2004 through the Natural Resources Management Project, which among other things, saw the introduction of Geographical Information Systems to agencies such as the Guyana Forestry Commission, Lands and Surveys Commission and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission.

In 2004, Germany and the Government of Guyana signed an agreement for implementation of a ₮2.56M Guyana Protected Areas System (GPAS) – Conservation of Tropical Forests Project. Referred to as GPAS Phase I, this project ran from February 2006 to November 2011.

It supported sustainable livelihood projects in over 30 Amerindian communities associated with Shell Beach, Kanuku Mountains, Kaieteur National Park and the Upper Mazaruni.

This initiative also led to 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 current commitment of ₮5M, or GPAS Phase II, will be disbursed in two tranches. The first tranche of over ₮1M will be for support of the establishment of the Protected Areas Commission and the development of infrastructure for the management of individual National Protected Areas, particularly Kaieteur National Park and the Shell Beach Protected Area.

The second tranche of ₮4M will be used as an endowment for the establishment of the Protected Areas Trust Fund. This Phase is expected to run for a maximum of two years.

With the successful completion of GPAS Phase I, and following recent efforts by the Government of Guyana, Germany has agreed to a further commitment of ₮4.3M in funds for Guyana.

A protected area is a location which is important for its landscape, beauty or biological diversity or “biodiversity” and which has been protected by national law.

There are several kinds of protected areas. Each type involves different management, goals and strategies for resource conservation. Some, such as nature reserves, are created strictly for the protection of wildlife and for the maintenance of undisturbed ecosystems. Others, such as national parks, are created for the protection of areas with important national resources, where educational visits and tourism may occur.

According to the Honorary Consul, Guyana has continued to deliver on its commitment on the projects.

The Minister stressed that work to have protected areas would in no way affect mining, forestry and other economical activities and noted that since the assent of the Protected Areas Act, the implementation phase is now fully on its way.

Ramdass further explained that resources from previous arrangements have been used to facilitate 46 projects, mainly assisting communities in the hinterlands and establishment of community support groups.
FM

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