Guyana’s Protected Areas Trust (PAT) issues 1st Grant as part of CBF Partnership Agreement
Georgetown, Guyana (February 7, 2023) – Less than one (1) year after the signing of a Partnership Agreement between the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF) and the Protected Areas Trust (PAT) on May 3, 2022, Guyana has issued its first grant under the Agreement.
The PAT is a body corporate established under the Protected Areas Act of 2011 and provides co-financing for the management of the Guyana’s National Protected Areas System, principally through the Protected Areas Commission (PAC). The National Protected Area System currently covers 8.5% of Guyana’s terrestrial space in five protected areas – Kanuku Mountains Protected Area (KMPA) in the Rupununi; Shell Beach Protected Area (SBPA) on the coastal north-west region; Kanashen Amerindian Protected Area (KAPA) in southern Guyana, a community-owned protected area and Guyana’s largest protected area; Kaieteur National Park (KNP); Iwokrama Rain Forests; and four urban parks. PAT started operation in 2014 and has, since 2017, provided resources to support management of the KMPA, SBPA and KAPA.
In December, 2022, the Trust allocated more that USD 100,000 (GYD$21,700,000) to the Protected Areas Commission under a project titled “Strengthening of the National Protected Areas System (NPAS) Planning and Adaptive Management”.
The one (1) year Project will see:
- The review and updating of the management plans for Kaieteur, Kanukus and Shell Beach
- Development of a new Five Year Strategic Plan for the PAC and
- The finalisation of the Systems Plan for the Guyana’s entire National Protected Areas System which was drafted in 2019.
To inform the development of these plans, a country-wide consultation is being mobilised under the Project which will target indigenous communities and stakeholders from the public and private sector.
The updating of these plans also comes at a time when Guyana has mapped its path of a new growth trajectory in a non-polluting way through the implementation of the country’s Low Carbon Development Strategy: 2030 (LCDS).
The Partnership Agreement between the Trust and the CBF further bolsters PAT’s ability to support financing and management of Guyana’s protected areas in line with the LCDS which sees an expansion of the protected areas system by 30% by 2030.
Download to learn more about the LCDS.
Contact
For more information on the Partnership Agreement, please contact the Guyana Protected Areas Trust or the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund.
Guyana Protected Areas Trust
Call: (592) 227-0343 or (592) 227-0346
Email: secretariat@protectedareastrust.org.gy
Address: Jenman House, Botanical Gardens Georgetown Guyana
Caribbean Biodiversity Fund
Email: communications@caribbeanbiodiversityfund.org
Protected Areas Commission
Call: (592) 227-1888
Email: info@pac.gov.gy
Address: National Park, Thomas Lands, Georgetown, Guyana
Learn more about the Protected Areas Commission.