Real-time satellite monitoring of Guyana’s forests to be implemented

…over 500 officers placed throughout hinterland – Bharrat

In a similar manner to the way the Government currently monitors oil and gas activities offshore Guyana, a system for real-time monitoring of Guyana’s forests will be established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to complement the work done by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC).
This revelation was made by Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat, on day two of the Guyana Energy Conference and Expo. Asked by a member of the audience how Guyana guards against illegal logging, Bharrat noted that work has been done to build the capacity of the GFC – which was bankrupted when the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) entered office in 2020.
“The GFC and the GGMC combined, we have over 50 stations in the interior, manned by forest and mining officers. Added to that, we have the compliance department and over 50 wardens. And they have two stations. In total, we have over 500 officers at different interior locations where there is heavy mining and forestry activities concentrated,” the Minister said.
He also spoke of the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification System (MRVS), which is being used to oversee the forests. In fact, the MRVS has played an important role in Guyana being able to verify its carbon credits, so that they can be sold on the international market.
Last year, the EPA had implemented real-time satellite monitoring of oil and gas activities. This includes real-time reporting of environmental discharges from the Liza 1 Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels.
“We’re shifting it to our forest and mining activities, besides from our capabilities on the ground. Because at some point we have to move towards the use of technology. We haven’t been doing that too much.
“In terms of forestry, it’s basically easy to monitor forest activities. I often say to loggers and anyone who asks the question, it’s not every day you will see a man with a log on his back running around or trying to hide from us,” Bharrat further said.
It has been said that the MRVS ensured that Guyana’s forest carbon credits were a strong product on the international market. This was also reflected in the number of proposals Guyana has received to buy them.
Last year, Guyana signed a historic, multi-year US$750 million agreement with Hess Corporation for the purchase of 37.5 million carbon credits. Guyana is, in fact, the first country to conclude the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) process of certifying its forest carbon.
These serialised credits, listed on ART’s public registry, are available to buyers on the global carbon market, including for use by airlines for compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s global emission reduction programme, CORSIA, as well as for use toward 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 TREES credits.
ART, which is in charge of certifying forest carbon credits so that they can be sold on the international market, had announced its approval in January of Guyana’s registration for 2021 to 2025, as well as the monitoring report for Guyana’s forests.
In a statement, ART noted that it approved these two documents for Guyana and that they are now available for stakeholder comments which must be submitted within 30 days. The first document is a TREES (The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard) registration document for 2021 to 2025, while the second is a TREES monitoring report for 2021.
ART’s approval of Guyana’s 2021-2025 registration document and monitoring report are important follow-ups on its approval last year of 33.47 million forest carbon credits for Guyana, dating from 2016-2020. These credits were verified by a third party against ART’s robust environmental and social requirements. (G3)