Project Management Office working to implement Green Tourism – reduction in the loss of Biodiversity projects

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DPI, GUYANA, Wednesday, March 14, 2018

The Project Management Office (PMO) which falls under the purview of the Ministry of the Presidency has been working closely with the Office of Climate Change (OCC), the Department of the Environment (DoE) and other agencies to ensure the implementation of programmes and projects related to the REDD+ platform.

Head of PMO, Dr. Marlon Bristol, in providing an update today on several of these projects, said the agreement for the Cunha Canal, which is being implemented, was signed in 2016.

Head of the Project Management Office (Ministry of the Presidency), Dr. Marlon Bristol.

According to Dr. Bristol, “it is a project which re-establishes the original alignment of the Cunha Canal, it allows the water to be sourced into the Demerara River… it allows those at the back to be less flooded, so it is part of our mitigation efforts.”

In 2017, the focus was placed on the Green State Development Strategy (GSDS), the Sustainable Land Development and Management Project and the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Project for Hinterland, Poor, and Remote Communities.

Agreements for most of the projects were signed and approved by the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) and are in full implementation.

However, the Sustainable Land Development and Management project and the ICT project for Hinterland, Poor, and Remote Communities, which were signed in November last year are in the startup phase.

“That’s what the office has been doing for the most part, trying to get all the projects under the GRIF out. We have some hurdles to cross and as soon as we cross those hurdles we will be able to bring forth the other projects in the pipeline, which is Green Tourism, Reduction in the loss of Biodiversity and Adaptation including some work we are doing with regards to the opting in of forested communities,” he noted.

The major challenge, Dr. Bristol said is the release of the fifth and sixth payments into the Trustee’s account by the Government of Norway.

The platform, Dr. Bristol said has been created for the crossing of this hurdle following an agreement between President David Granger and the former Minister of Environment of Norway.

The criteria for the release of these funds include the completion of the GSDS and the Renewable Energy Policy.

The PMO also acts as an interlocutor between implementing agencies and international organisations for some of the projects approved by the office. For example, the PMO works closely with the Ministry of Public Telecommunications and the United Nations Development Programme in relation to the ICT project for Hinterland, Poor, and Remote communities.

 

By: Stacy Carmichael

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