Guyana completes National Forest Inventory

…targets EU FLEGT Licences by 2026

The Government has completed its work on the national forest inventory programme, even as the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) continues its work on the European Union (EU) Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) initiative with the aim of issuing licences by 2026.
Similar to the mineral mapping process that has been going on in the mining sector, the Government had also embarked on a national forestry inventory. Data from this inventory will not only help with planning at the policy level, but also the allocation of concessions to loggers. During a recent press conference, GFC head Edward Goeberdhan revealed that they have completed the forestry inventory.
“We’ve also completed the national forest inventory programme and data is being used for macro level planning and concession allocation and more specific, investor friendly information can be made available.”
“The work of the GFC in the reclamation project started in 2023 in region 10. We expanded that to region six and region eight, where degraded and mined out areas are being restored using native species,” Goeberdhan said.
Goeberdhan pointed out that Guyana is a signatory to the EU FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA). According to him, much progress was made in fulfilling this agreement. Moreover, Guyana is expected to begin issuing FLEGT licences in 2026. These licences are issued to exporters, as a way of verifying that only legally produced timber products are being exported to the EU.
“In 2024, the implementation phase continued where we worked with other agencies in building capacity and ensuring that in 2026, we are on stream in issuing FLEGT licences. And this will ensure transparency and traceability and strong forest governance in the forestry sector.”
“We’d also developed a national standard, which was endorsed in March last year. And this year, we’ll continue to work with companies and certifying bodies to ensure that companies become certified under this standard using the Guyana Standard,” he added.
According to the GFC head, this VPA which was signed under the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030 framework, will help add credibility to the forest sector, ensure the chain of custody is a verifiable one and continue Sustainable Forest Management (SFM).
The Government has been beefing up its Monitoring Verification and Reporting System (MRVS), which has played an important role in Guyana being able to verify its carbon credits, so that they can be sold on the international market.
In 2022, Guyana signed a historic, multi-year US$750 million agreement with Hess Corporation for the purchase of 37.5 million carbon credits. Guyana was also the first country to conclude the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) process of certifying its forest carbon.
These serialised credits, listed on the Architecture for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (ART) public registry, are available to buyers on the global carbon market. They can be used by airlines to comply with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Global Emission Reduction Programme (GERP), the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), as well as for voluntary corporate climate commitments.
Guyana’s completion of the ART process paved the way for other Governments that are looking to receive carbon market finance for success in protecting and restoring forests. At the time Guyana was issued with the credits, 14 other countries and large sub-national jurisdictions are working toward their own issuances of the REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard (TREES) credits.
In 2023, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat and European Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen had signed a roadmap for the implementation of the Guyana-EU Forest Partnership with the aim of managing Guyana’s forests and promoting the forest bioeconomy. This roadmap establishes the EU and Guyana’s commitment to reaching a set number of targets by 2030.
These include: maintaining 12.5 million hectares of sustainably managed forests; expanding protected and conserved forests to 30 per cent of terrestrial and marine species; increasing restored forest to 200,000 hectares; increasing the number of forest-related decent jobs; and maintaining the rate of deforestation of natural forests below 0.01 per cent per annum.
The Forest Partnership, FLEGT, and the VPA are expected to help Guyana enhance its forest bioeconomy, attract public and private investments, and contribute to climate and biodiversity objectives, while reinforcing the rights of local communities and Indigenous peoples. (G3)