OVERVIEW OF GUYANA’S REDD+ ACTIVITIES REDD+ for the Guiana Shield, Steering Committee Launch August 6, 2013

Initiation of REDD+ Activities Submission of Guyana’s Readiness Plan Idea Note (RPIN) to the FCPF in March 2008- Approved in June 2008 Submission of R-PP – February, 2009, Approved by FCPF in June 2009 Went through a number of revisions – final version is December 2012 version Entitles Guyana to US$3.8M from the FCPF over a 36 month period Approach of the RPP will be participatory, inclusive and will integrate all levels of stakeholders

Structure of the RPP Component 1: Organize and Consult 1a. National Readiness Management Arrangements 1b. Stakeholder Consultation and Participation Component 2: Prepare the REDD + Strategy 2a. Assessment of Land Use, Forest Policy and Governance 2b. REDD + Strategy Options 2c. REDD + Implementation Framework 2d. Social and Environmental Impacts Component 3: Develop a Reference Scenario Component 4: Design a Monitoring System 4a. Emissions and Removals 4b. Other Benefits and Impacts Component 5: Schedule and Budget Component 6: Design a Programme Monitoring and Evaluation Framework

Progress to date To date, Guyana has been subject to 4 Due Diligence missions by the World Bank over the period 2009- 2010 In 2011 Guyana was one of five pilot countries invited to explore the use of a Delivery Partner outside of the World Bank- Guyana chose to work with the IDB. An Agreement between the IDB & GoG to be signed in the near future. This Process is currently with the IDB. Some resources from the R-PP will go towards indigenous NGOs & NTC led consultations as well as institutional strengthening of some of these bodies.

Guyana’s LCDS Avoiding Deforestation & Forest Degradation Launched in June 2009, Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) aims to transform Guyana’s economy while combating climate change. 1 Avoiding Deforestation & Forest Degradation 2 Low Carbon Development 3 Adapting to Climate Change

Guyana - Norway Cooperation November 2009: Guyana & Norway signed an MoU for cooperation on issues related to the fight against Climate Change and in particular issues concerning REDD+ The Joint Concept Note (JCN) is a componment of the MOU = action list = operationalise the MOU Under the MoU Guyana can earn up to US$ 250 million by 2015 as payments for performance against a number of indicators Will finance a number of activities, including: (1) Implementation of LCDS, (2) Building capacity to improve REDD+ and LCDS efforts

Institutional Arrangements for REDD+ in Guyana Office of Climate Change - within the Office of the President to work across the Government to support policy work on climate adaptation, mitigation and forest conservation. Guyana Forestry Commission manages and regulates the activities of the State Forest Estate to ensure that sustainable forest management rules and guidelines are implemented and that the forest legislation is implemented effectively. The GFC has been involved in the implementation of key technical areas of work of REDD+. The REDD Secretariat, established as an operational department within the GFC, has been involved in the implementation of “REDD+ readiness” activities, including the development and implementation of the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification System (MRVS).

MRV System Roadmap A Road Map was developed, which outlined progressive steps over a 3 year period that will build towards a full MRVS being implemented. Undertook a capacity building approach The first year in the Roadmap commenced in 2010 and required for a number of initial reporting activities to commence that would assist in shaping the next steps planned for 2011 and 2012.

Implementation of work under MRV The aim of the MRVS is to establish a comprehensive, national system to monitor, report and verify forest carbon emissions resulting from deforestation and forest degradation in Guyana. With the development of the MRVS Roadmap, implementation of works begun in 2010 in two main areas: Forest Area Change Assessment Forest Carbon Monitoring System These activities determine the historical and current patterns of emissions from Guyana’s forest, their drivers and the carbon stock present in the various pools.

Forest Area Change Assessment Guyana has completed forest area change assessments for the following periods: 1990 to 2000 2001 to 2005 2006 to 2009 September 01 October, 2009 to 30 September, 2010 (Year 1) 01 October, 2010 to 31 December, 2011 (Year 2) A benchmark map was created, providing a snapshot of forest area as at 30 September 2009. All forest to non-forest changes are mapped spatially and reported. Work on Year 3 (2012) forest area change assessment has commenced

Forest Area Change Assessment For the Benchmark and Year 1 analyses, medium resolution satellite images were used to calculate the forest area, in accordance with Guyana’s national definition of forest for REDD+, as at 1990. Forest change between 2010 and 2011, was determined using high resolution (5 m) RapidEye imagery over Year 1 change areas. The use of 5 m RapidEye imagery is a significant improvement over Year 1, as for a large part of Guyana which accounts for most of the allocated forest area, it offers resolution at 5 m as compared to 30 m primarily used in Year 1. This allows for more refined reporting of change areas. For the remaining areas in Year 2 assessment (areas not covered by Rapideye), Landsat TM and ETM+ were used.

Forest Area Change Assessment Over the Year 2 reporting period, this equates to a total deforestation rate of 0.054%. This rate of change is largely similar, and a small percentage lower than Year 1 - October 2009 to September 2011 (12 months) which was reported as 0.056%. Significant progress was made in Year 2, in mapping forest degradation. The area of degradation as measured by direct interpretation (based on a degradation study) of the 5 m RapidEye satellite imagery is 5 460 ha. The entire process for each FAA is subject not only to an independent accuracy assessment, but also independent third party verification.

Forest Area Change Assessment The main deforestation driver for Years 1 & 2 is mining which accounts for 94% of the deforestation. It should be noted that the driver of mining, includes mining infrastructure. A majority (96%) of deforestation is observed in the State Forest Area. Additionally the temporal analysis of forest change post 1990 indicates that most of the change is clustered around existing road infrastructure and navigable rivers. This provides a useful basis for planning an on-going monitoring programme that focuses on key hotspot areas.

Area Deforested over Period 1990- 2011 Years Forest Area (‘000 ha) Change (‘000 ha) Change (%) Initial Forest area 1990 18 473.39 Benchmark (Sept 2009) 19.75 18 398.48 74.92 0.41% Year 1 (Sept 2010) 1 18 388 .19 10.28 0.06% Year 2 (Oct 2012 to Dec 2011 1.25 18 378. 30 9.88 0.05%

Forest Area Change by Period & Driver from 1990- 2011

Historical & Year 2 Forest Change

Mining: Spatial & Temporal Distribution for Years 1 & 2

Forestry: Spatial & Temporal Distribution for Years 1 & 2

Infrastructure: Roads Year 2

Agriculture: Spatial & Temporal Distribution for Years 1 & 2

Biomass Burning: Spatial & Temporal Distribution for Years 1 & 2

Forest Carbon Monitoring System (FCMS) Aim is to design and implement a long- term, robust, and scientifically sound national forest carbon measurement and monitoring system (FCMS) Data generated from C stock work will be linked to the forest area assessment effort to provide historic emissions (RL) and estimates of annual carbon emissions and removals (MRV)

Stratification for Monitoring of Carbon Based on preliminary carbon sampling data, the forest types identified in Guyana’s forest vegetation map did not appear to have different carbon stocks. Analyses showed similar carbon stocks per forest type. Therefore, only stratification by anthropogenic factors was included in the final forest carbon sampling stratification methodology. A large portion of Guyana’s forest is not easily accessible and one of the goals in the design of the sampling stratification is to overcome some operational constraints, while maintaining the robust sampling results. Therefore, the factor of accessibility was also introduced in the sampling stratification methodology. The final forest carbon sampling design stratifies the forests in Guyana by potential for change (high, medium and low) and by accessibility (more and less accessible).

Approach to Sampling Guyana is implementing a three-phased approach for implementation of data collection as follows: The FIRST phase of data collection includes high potential for change in more and less accessible strata. The SECOND phase includes medium potential for change in more and less accessible strata. The THIRD phase includes low potential for change in more and less accessible strata.

Develop sampling design Use a stratified two-stage clustered sampling design From existing data and preliminary measurements determine variation in C stocks of strata and estimate number of sample plots to achieve desired precision (90% confidence ±10% of the mean is common Decide on number of plots ( 4 in this case in a “L” shape) in a cluster per strata Randomly select number of grids per strata (primary sample units) based on number of clusters Use temporary plots

Forest Potential for Change Map

Forest Carbon Sample Design for 2013

Sampling Design Forest areas under high threat overlain with 10 km X 10 km grid Randomly select number of grids in which to install plot clusters by high threat strata based on targeted precision (+/- 10% mean) Takes into account accessible versus less accessible forests in sampling design Repeat process for medium and low threat in phased approach

Preliminary Data Single Plots Cluster Plots

Expectations of the Project Strengthened regional collaboration Technical exchanges among Guiana Shield countries on REDD+ and MRVS Assistance in obtaining satellite imagery such as SPOT 5 (10 m resolution) or other high resolution imagery Building of local technical capacities Synergies in methodologies in forest area change assessment and forest carbon assessment across the region.

Thank you!