5-year Amazon Sustainable Landscape project for Guyana
DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, September 18, 2019
The Government of Guyana has embarked on a project to improve the management of its forests and natural resources through the development of its landscapes.
With support and funding from Global Environment Facility/World Wildlife Fund (GEF/WWF), the project will strengthen landscape connectivity through the establishment of protected areas and improved management of productive areas in the forests of Central Guyana.
The four-phase project will be executed under the theme “Securing a living Amazon through landscape connectivity in Central Guyana,” and will see a combination of economic development and sustainable diversity of the North Rupununi Wetlands and Kanuku Mountains over the next five years.
Consultations for the project commenced this morning by the WWF at the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC), with stakeholders including representatives of the Indigenous community in the Rupununi.
According to the Department of the Environment (DE), habitats are continuous and unrestricted by boundaries. It is therefore important that boundaries are maintained. To fulfil the commitments, the department said the government is pursuing the management and conservation of important landscapes in Guyana.
Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Hon. Sydney Allicock said the government envisages a project that will transform the lives of all.
“This should be a project with a mission to protect the Guyana Shield and the Guyana forest it is amazing to know that we still have 87% of the forest cover of this country and the deforestation rate is so minimal, it means that we have a good opportunity to make this project a programme and a success.”
Director of the World Wildlife Fund Guyana Programme, David Singh pointed to the United Nation’s “decade of delivery” which begins in 2020. He said this is the decade that the world will decide the future of the earth.”
“When you look at the rate at which humankind is consuming the earth’s resources, we are consuming twice that the earth can regenerate itself. by 2030 that will go beyond that level.”
The Guyana component of the Amazon Sustainable Landscapes is one of five programmes being undertaken by the GEF and the WWF.