Guyana deforestation rate triples despite funding for forest protection

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, March 7, 2011 (ENS) – Deforestation rates in the South American country of Guyana have increased during the last year, despite a 2009 agreement with the Norwegian government aimed at supporting forest protection to avert climate change, the nonprofit watchdog organization Global Witness said today. Signed in November 2009 and worth up to US$250 million over four years, the agreement was initially welcomed as a potential breakthrough, and a blueprint for other countries to follow to preserve forests. Deforestation and land use change contributes 20 to 25 percent of the carbon emissions that cause climate change. The agreement provides that Norway will pay for Guyana’s performance on limiting greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and for progress made against governance-related indicators. Guyana will invest the payments it receives, and any income earned on them, in its Low Carbon Development Strategy. However, once the technical details were made public, initial optimism gave way to widespread concern since a clause in the agreement allows deforestation rates in Guyana to increase, at Norway’s expense. Located on the northern coast of South America, Guyana is about the size of Great Britain. One of the world’s last intact tropical rainforests covers some 18.5 million hectares, about 87 percent of the country’s land area. Guyana has one of the highest levels of biodiversity of any country, with some 8,000 plant species, half of which are endemic. “Over the past year, deforestation rates in Guyana have increased 300 percent,” said Laura Furones of Global Witness. “It’s too early to say if this increase is a direct result of the flawed data in the agreement, but there is undoubtedly an incentive for Guyana to both profit from expanding forestry activities and simultaneously get paid by Norway to reduce deforestation.” The clause assumed an existing annual baseline deforestation rate in Guyana of 0.45 percent on an interim basis until a more accurate baseline could be determined. A January report commissioned by the Guyana Forestry Commission, and carried out by New Zealand-based consultants, Pöyry Forest Industry, concluded that the actual deforestation rate over the period 1990-2009 was in fact only 0.02 percent. So, if the interim baseline is not adjusted under the terms of the agreement, deforestation in Guyana could increase 20-fold and still remain within the agreed limits. …

Guyana Deforestation Triples Despite Funding for Forest Protection