Norway offers support to Guyana in fighting illegal fishing

– in keeping with Copenhagen Declaration ratified by Guyana last year

The Kingdom of Norway has committed to providing support to Guyana, when it comes to combating organised crime through a mechanism that allows the Norwegians to fund capacity building under the Copenhagen Declaration.
This was revealed during the accreditation of a new Non-resident Norwegian Ambassador to Guyana, Odd Magne Ruud. After presenting his letters of credence to President Dr Irfaan Ali, Ruud heaped praise on Guyana for its climate change mitigation efforts.
“Guyana’s commitment to protecting additional hectares of its wonderful eco-system is admirable. And shows great initiative, that you want to create new, green and equitable opportunities for all Guyanese. We also commend Guyana for signing the Copenhagen Declaration to combat transnational organised crime in the global fishing industry.”
“Norway hosts the secretariat for the declaration and provides funding for tools such as the blue justice project. And these tools are also available to Guyana. The development of a blue economy is vital to us, as nations depending on the ocean,” Ruud explained.
Guyana was one of 12 member states in the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), which is an inter-governmental organisation in the Caribbean Community (Caricom), that signed the Copenhagen Declaration late last year.
The countries, by signing, simultaneously affirmed their support to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and transnational organised crime in the fishing industry, through their support for the declaration and the Blue Justice Initiative.
The initiative was expected to help strengthen cooperation among countries and build capacity to address transnational organised crime in the global fishing industry and to combat IUU fishing. Ruud expressed the hope that this will lead to a strengthened ocean economy.

“Norway was instrumental in establishing the high-level panel for a sustainable ocean economy. And we hope that the work of this panel will give inspiration and ideas on how to keep our oceans clean and utilise the vast resources in a sustainable way,” Ruud said.
Guyana and Norway have a longstanding history of partnerships, having inked a historic forest protection accord in 2009 aimed at Guyana receiving payments for sustaining its rainforests to absorb global carbon emissions. A total of US$250 million was to be paid to Guyana over a five-year period.
Under the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) set up to receive and coordinate these payments, projects identified had included grants to small businesses, a centre for biodiversity studies, ICT for vulnerable communities, and Amerindian land titling.
With US$54 million remaining as of January of this year, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government had said it intends to tap into this money this year to fund climate change mitigation efforts.
This was according to Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh, who, during his last budget presentation, also announced that the total current revenue flowing into the GRIF in 2021 was GY$265.8 billion, 16.7 per cent more than the 2020 revenue.
According to Finance Minister Singh, the US$54 million balance received from Norway as well as investment income would in 2022 be invested towards institutional strengthening and building in Regions Five and Six major new outfall channels that are similar to the Hope Canal.
Between May and June of last year, torrential rains resulted in widespread flooding across the country, affecting thousands of households. The devastation included submerged buildings and vehicles, with adverse effects on crops, livestock and health. It has been noted that the rainfall experienced in May alone was recorded as the second-highest level of rainfall across the country in the last 40 years.
All 10 administrative regions in Guyana experienced varied levels of flooding, prompting Government to roll out immediate responses, such as evacuation of those most at risk, and flood assistance.
However, the PPP Government has credited the presence of the Hope Canal, which was commissioned in 2014, with the avoidance of significant flooding on the East Coast of Demerara.