Guyana

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Part of the Guiana Shield and the Amazon biome, Guyana enjoys a rich biodiversity, with 8,000 species of plants and 3,500 species of fauna. Rich in endemism, nearly 60% of Guyana's forests are considered primary forests. More than 1,260 species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles now inhabit these forests. In addition, three freshwater ecoregions have been identified in Guyana. These include the Essequibo ecoregion, an important biological corridor linked to the Amazon basin.

Guyana's biodiversity makes a major contribution to the country's economy. Both directly and indirectly, it provides goods and services necessary for the country's growth and development. For example, the value of forest product exports was estimated at US$37.9 million in 2018.

However, in 2013, 95% of foreign exchange earnings were generated by the exploitation of natural resources and biodiversity: activities that exert strong anthropic pressure on the neo-tropical biogeographical territory. Agriculture (mainly concentrated in the north-east), mining and offshore oil and gas operations have led to deforestation, coastal erosion, contamination of waterways and fragmentation of landscapes. The ecological functions of ecosystems tend to be widely damaged and weakened over the long term.

Access to the IBAT sheet

In Guyana, the process of negotiating voluntary commitments involved a one-day online workshop to propose actions for implementation, as well as ahalf-day workshopto vote on priority actions arising from the first day of consultation. These workshops involved representatives from research, the public sector and civil society organizations. The private sector was not present.

In the mining sector (gold), bilateral meetings were held with representatives of the public sector, Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association, and representatives of indigenous communities.

For the agricultural sector (rice and sugar cane), bilateral meetings with representatives of the public sector, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), the Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Board, and representatives of indigenous communities.

Options chosen and scenarios discussed

Solutions identified by stakeholders

Find below the content of the voluntary commitment tracks discussed in Guyana :

Country profiles IPPS

After supporting the 15 countries in the identification of priority sectors, and facilitating the commitment of private-sector players in favor of biodiversity, BIODEV2030 is building on the momentum created to roll out the voluntary commitments on a pilot territory scale, and to strengthen the integration of biodiversity into countries' sectoral public policies.

In order to identify the most relevant sectoral public policy instruments (IPPS) to be created, abolished or modified, BIODEV2030 has called on Altai Consulting. This support is intended to contribute to the coherence of economic, sectoral (agriculture, mining, fisheries, forestry, etc.) and environmental (particularly biodiversity-related) policies, a key aspect of the mainstreaming approach. This global integration of biodiversity helps to prevent economic and sectoral policies from encouraging actors (producers) to adopt production practices that are harmful to nature, in contradiction with a country's biodiversity commitments.

Altai has developedIPPS sheets for each country. The Guyana file is available via the button above.

The sector targeted for Phase II is fisheries. While Phase I of BIODEV2030 focused on Guyana, Suriname has been included in Phase II. The country is also working on the fisheries sector, focusing on identifying the reforms needed to better manage fishery resources.

In Guyana and Suriname, the project is led by WWF Guianas, in conjunction with the Guianas Regional Actions for a Thriving Ocean (GREAT Ocean) project on sustainable fisheries management on the Guiana Shield. This regional approach will enable issues common to both countries regarding productive fishing practices to be addressed on a scale consistent with the challenges, drawing on existing channels of communication to facilitate the exchange of experiences. National dialogue workshops have also been held in Suriname to complement the regional approach.

The national dialogue workshops bring together the National Environment Agency, Guyana's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as fishing cooperatives, representatives of civil society, academia, and the judiciary.

In Suriname, stakeholders work with the Ministry of Petroleum, Gas, and the Environment, as well as with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries.

There is no IPPS fact sheet produced by ALTAI for Suriname. However, the working groups dedicated to public policy reforms have resulted in four policy briefs written by the consultant, covering the following topics:
– Suriname's current policy and regulatory framework for sustainable fisheries, including existing instruments, relevant authorities, challenges, potential improvements, and achievements
– Regional comparative legislative analysis of fisheries policies
– Technological solutions to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
– Initiatives to strengthen sustainable fisheries through compliance initiatives and alternative livelihood programs, as well as incentives for fishers.

Concept Notes

With the aim of helping stakeholders in pilot areas (private, public, CSOs) to collectively define actions to reduce pressures on biodiversity, transition projects towards nature-positive practices, or even nature-based solutions, will be developed on the basis of the change actions identified during the multi-stakeholder dialogue, and then brought to the attention of potential funders.