President Donald Ramotar and new Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, yesterday in New York. The two leaders discussed the Guyana/Norway forest deal and reaffirmed their commitment to tackling climate change and to work to ensure other countries emulate the deal.
In an interview after the meeting, President Ramotar said that, “We both expressed satisfaction with the relationship that Guyana and Norway has had. We both think it is a very useful partnership and a good example of links between developed and developing countries in the common fight against climate change and for saving the international environment.”
In terms of getting more countries on board the climate change fight, the Guyanese Leader said, “We think we are ready to share our experiences with other countries so that we can have more countries coming in…other developing countries, more developed countries so we can make a tangible and real contribution in fighting against climate change.”
On November 9, 2009, the Governments of Guyana and Norway signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), and simultaneously published a Joint Concept Note, which set out how the two countries will “work together to provide the world with a relevant, replicable model for how REDD+ can align the development objectives of forest countries with the world’s need to combat climate change”.
Norway committed to providing financial support of up to US$250 million until 2015 for results achieved by Guyana in limiting emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, which will support the implementation of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). As part of the agreement, the two countries agreed to establish the Guyana Redd + Investment Fund (GRIF) as the financial intermediary mechanism for the performance-based payments from contributors to Guyana.
Guyana has received about US$115M from Norway to date under that agreement and the money has gone towards several projects. These include: the Amerindian Development Fund (ADF) which is being implemented in partnership with the UNDP, Amerindian Land titling, the small and medium sized enterprises which is in process of being implemented, climate resilient strategy and action plan, institutional strengthening project to reinforce the institutions involved in environmental management, Project Management Office of the Office of the President and the Amaila Falls hydropower project, the flagship project of the LCDS.
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