Government is seeking to protect and conserve Guyana’s natural heritage, as well as create a national system of protected areas. This will be made possible through the passage of the Protected Areas Act 2011, which had its first reading in the National Assembly on June 23.
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud
The bill, which will also provide for the maintenance of ecosystem services, including climate regulation, was introduced by Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud. According to the explanatory memorandum, the bill establishes the Protected Areas Commission, which is to be governed by a board of directors and provides “the function of the commission, and for the minister to appoint a maximum of seven members to the commission”.
Under this piece of legislation, provisions are made for the establishment of national protected areas. The commission could recommend to the minister that a piece of public land be made a national protected area. “A public authority, a village council, an Amerindian community or any other person may also submit a proposal to the minister to create a national protected area over an area of public land,” the document added. However, an investigation or assessment of the area should first be done before this recommendation is handed to the minister, who will then approach Cabinet for an approval before the notice can be printed in the Gazette.
Amerindian protected areas
Amerindian protected areas are also covered under this bill. However, in this instance, the commission will have to play a greater role in providing technical assistance and advice on the application as presented by the village council.
The commission also has the authority to reject an unsatisfactory submission, but applicants can appeal to the subject minister. A Protected Areas Trust, governed and administered by a board of trustees, will also be established under this act. This trust, which should feature no more than nine members, will review requests for funding for protected areas under the national protected areas system, in keeping with the approved management plans.
Management of protected areas is said to be a prominent feature in the document. In it is a list of the objectives of protected areas, which were classified as “Strict Nature Reserve, Wilderness Reserve, National Park, National Monument, Management Area for Habitat or Species, Protected Landscape or Seascape, or Managed Resource Protected Area”.
According to the explanatory memo, the bill, once passed, will establish a site level management plan for national protected areas.
Just as national protected areas could be established under this law, they could also be declassified. “The minister may, by order, vary the boundaries of a national protected area,” the document noted. “However, the minister must hold at least one public meeting before making the order.”
The subject minister could also excise a part or parts of a national protected area earlier published in the Gazette, but not without explaining the reason for excision through notices in at least two newspapers.
This could happen if the minister is told by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission or any other source that there are substantial mineral resources or petroleum resources present after the land was first declared a national protected area. The go-ahead for public exploitation of the resource could be granted as long as it is in keeping with the principles of ecologically sustainable development.
However, the minister, in accordance with this act, “must take reasonable steps to establish another protected area in order to maintain the integrity of the national protected areas system”. The board of trustees as well as the public will have to be consulted in this regard. The proposed law also specifies that the state shall repay the protected area’s trust fund any funds unspent by the national protected area as it were at the time of declassification.
In the meantime, the Protected Areas Commission could appoint a park warden, who will have the powers and immunity of a rural constable.
The bill states that the commission may also partner with the police force and the coast guard to ensure the enforcement of the act. Those found in breach of the provisions on hunting and removing endangered animals on the reserve, or picking or damaging flora in the area, among other things, will be subjected to a maximum of two million dollars in fines and five years’ imprisonment.
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