Unlocking Norway funds a priority – Ramotar

President Donald Ramotar has said that the forest carbon payments Guyana earned from the government of Norway that is locked away in an international financial institution has not gone unnoticed.

Speaking to members of the media during his first press briefing for the year, President Ramotar said, “Norway has paid their money into the World Bank… and we will be working to ensure that our country and our people benefit from that money”. The Norwegian government has lived up to its obligation of depositing US$ 70 million in forest carbon payments to the Guyana REDD Investment Fund (GRIF) after sealing what is considered the second largest world’s forest climate services arrangement.

Guyana has outlined a plan over a two-year period to utilise the fund to implement a number of projects that will dramatically accelerate growth and development domestically.

These included the harnessing of hydropower, expanding the digital infrastructure, and establishing world class research and educational facilities.

Former President Bharrat Jagdeo whose avid role on climate change led to the partnership agreement with the government of Norway and earned him the Champion of the Earth award from the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) had lamented the “nightmare” in accessing the funds.

He blamed the gridlock on what he described as a “bureaucratic” regime that unfairly characterises countries in the developing world, and called for sincerity among countries that pledge resources to aid in the climate change fight.

Serving as an ambassador for the developing world, the Guyana government has held to the position that forested countries are making a conscious effort to preserve their natural resources, but doubts that the momentum will last unless the developed world recognises this and engages in a true partnership.

Guyana’s revolutionary Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) seeks to place the country’s economy on a low carbon pathway by deploying the country’s rain forest strategically to combat climate change, without affecting national development or its sovereignty over the forests.

The strategy evolved out of the former president’s initiative on avoiding deforestation launched in December 2008 that seeks to build and expand on the economic and social reforms achieved