Attended a public meeting about the new Protected area in North Rupununi consisting of 2.8% of Guyana's Landed areas - the Kanaku Mountain Protected Area. This is the third such project - Shell Beach and Kaieteur Falls being the other two-- Iworkama being an entirely separate project.
So apparently Germany has been quietly financing for years and from what was reported-- supporting (financially) guidelines about community participation-- even this meeting was as mandated in the plan of Action... of course-- it was mainly the converted who turned up... and me! I was a bit amused that there was only one stakeholder-- a representative from Yukupari -- one of the 21 villages around the protected area-- though one can argue that us Coastlanders are also stakeholders. Of course, the ministry's representative pipped up that there was a 1 billion (Gy) dollar trust fund sent up from mining revenues that hopefully would generate some financial support-- at an interest rate of 3-4% it seems unlikely to be enough as this year's capital costs exceeded 3 million and next year's was slated to be in excess of 26 million -- not counting recurring costs: like my little business-- the major expense was going towards salaries. Maybe they should apply for Norwegian funds- at least the Norwegians might be happier to know the Germans are overseeing where their money is going?
PS.. the wonder of technology and transparency here's the proposal:
http://www.nre.gov.gy/PDF/KMPA_Management_Plan
/Complete%20KMPA%20Management_Plan%20FinalDraft%20Dec23.pdf
Now here's a beautiful picture of Eagle Mountain on the left-- going up the Potaro towards Kaieteur
The teenaged Amerindian guide ( a few years back) told us that a Canadian mining company had applied to dynamite it!
So regarding Chinese Forestry deals-- I would like the process to be as transparent so 'we' can all know what exactly the country gets from these deals and decide whether we want it or not-- not be rewarded with some Minister or the other have a house being built for them!
So apparently Germany has been quietly financing for years and from what was reported-- supporting (financially) guidelines about community participation-- even this meeting was as mandated in the plan of Action... of course-- it was mainly the converted who turned up... and me! I was a bit amused that there was only one stakeholder-- a representative from Yukupari -- one of the 21 villages around the protected area-- though one can argue that us Coastlanders are also stakeholders. Of course, the ministry's representative pipped up that there was a 1 billion (Gy) dollar trust fund sent up from mining revenues that hopefully would generate some financial support-- at an interest rate of 3-4% it seems unlikely to be enough as this year's capital costs exceeded 3 million and next year's was slated to be in excess of 26 million -- not counting recurring costs: like my little business-- the major expense was going towards salaries. Maybe they should apply for Norwegian funds- at least the Norwegians might be happier to know the Germans are overseeing where their money is going?
PS.. the wonder of technology and transparency here's the proposal:
http://www.nre.gov.gy/PDF/KMPA_Management_Plan
/Complete%20KMPA%20Management_Plan%20FinalDraft%20Dec23.pdf
Now here's a beautiful picture of Eagle Mountain on the left-- going up the Potaro towards Kaieteur
So regarding Chinese Forestry deals-- I would like the process to be as transparent so 'we' can all know what exactly the country gets from these deals and decide whether we want it or not-- not be rewarded with some Minister or the other have a house being built for them!
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