Based Mrv and Data Management in Guyana
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FACTSHEET 2019 INSPIRING PRACTICES: ENABLING COMMUNITY- BASED MRV AND DATA MANAGEMENT IN GUYANA WWF FOREST AND CLIMATE 1 WWF CMRV Focus Areas White Water Three Brothers Kamwatta Extension Arukamai YarakitaHotoquai Hobodia Red Hill Sebai Warapoka Assakata Warapoka Extension Little Kaniballi Santa Rosa a Eclipse Falls n n Waramuri Koriabo a b a Manawarin Chinese Landing w K Wakapau Waikrebi CARIBBEAN SEA A VENEZUELA Kokerite kawini Baramita St. MonicaTapakuma (St. Deny's) Bethany Kurutuku (Homesteads) @ Santa Aratak u r e n e s s Karau I s ' Arrau h t Batavia r e Rivers View/Falmouth b h t u C . t S n a g ik n a e K Moraikobai / St. Francis K Rockstone g n a r a P m &+ aruim a a Waramadong K o r a t i Muritaro - (Region 10) r Wiruni Block 0222 u M Wiruni Parcel 1-5 la M awal J a l a l i Kaburi Wikki/Calcuni Maicobe Ph Chinoweing (Homesteads) illipa Campbell Town i Great Falls 58 Miles Hururu Kaibarupai Chenapau Kopinang a u p r i pa a ris W a K Kamana u r a Guyana b a c k Paramakatoi a u b r Taruka a u It K o t a FairView - (Region 8) K Siparuni River Fa Kanapang ir View Monkey Mountain Burro Burro River Berbice River K a r a s a SURINAME b a i ( H Ireng River o m e s t Apoteri Tract B e A Annai Extension a n d n s a ) &+ i Annai Yakarinta Extension z Apoteri Tract A North Rupununi (NRDDB) - Region 9 Toka R Massara ewa Massara Tract CYakarinta Cra sh W Massara Tract A ater Yupukari Essequibo River Corentyne River a k o t Lethem z a K + N & ap BRAZIL pi St Ignatius Home Stead Rewa (illiwa) River Moco Moco St Ignatius Farm Lands Parikwaranawa + Takutu River & b lina k Shu e Potarinau (Ambrose) re C d n a S Kwitaro River u ana Rup Shea n io s Maruranau n e Sawariwau xt E u a Kanaruwau River Awariwaunau Oronoque River w ri a w a S &+ A isha Kowariwau River lton Kar auda Takutu River nawa Legend Achiwuib &+ CMRV Data Labs Kuyuwini River @ Georgetown × Major Settlement Kassikaityu River Pilot Community CMRV Focus Areas - WWF Kona shen (Home stead) Amerindian Areas (communities) Sipu River Communities that Participated in CMRV Central, South and South Central Rupununi (KMCRG and SRDC) - Region 9 0 30 60 120 km 2 SNAPSHOT What » An initiative that has strengthened the capacities of predomi- nantly Indigenous communities in Guyana to gather, manage and analyze their own data on their forests, health, and other aspects of their daily life, through the establishment of data labs and a data sharing protocol that enable communities to protect their information and use it to make informed decisions about the issues that affect them. Who » Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) » Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) » Kanuku Mountain Community Representative Group (KMCRG) » North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB) » South Rupununi District Council (SRDC) » World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Where Regions 8, 9 and 10 of Guyana When 2014-ongoing Project Team contacts Roxroy Bollers, Guyana WWF-Guianas [email protected] PHOTO © EMELIN GASPARRINI / WWF-US / GASPARRINI EMELIN © PHOTO Vitus Antone, Guyana WWF-Guianas [email protected] COVER PHOTO: © MARTIN HARVEY / WWF 3 PHOTO © EMELIN GASPARRINI / WWF-US / GASPARRINI EMELIN © PHOTO this work, local communities became population, and they hold title to SUMMARY empowered to manage and store their about 14 percent of the nation’s own data, to define their own priorities forests.3 and goals for data gathering, to control his Inspiring Practice describes who has access to their data, and to Yet despite its low population density an initiative through which 48 use their data to make informed and rich natural resources, Guyana’s predominantly indigenous decisions about their present and per capita gross domestic product Tcommunities in Regions 8, 9 and future. (GDP) is one of the lowest in South 10 of Guyana established data labs and America, and the desire for economic developed data collection and sharing development threatens the future of its protocols to manage information about forests. Rising gold prices have pushed their environmental and community CONTEXT the growth of mining that destroys wellbeing. Building on earlier, smaller- forests, polluting streams and rivers scale efforts to create community with mercury and contaminating the Measurement, Reporting and estled between Suriname, fish on which indigenous communities Verification (CMRV) in Guyana, this Venezuela, and Brazil on the rely. Growing demand for wood from endeavor refined the training and north coast of South America, the the nation’s forests and agricultural technological frameworks for commu- Nnation of Guyana has the expansion have also driven forest loss. nity-based data management to make second-highest percentage of rainfor- In response, Guyana committed to the CMRV process more effective, est on Earth. Its pristine forests hold forest conservation as the first country productive, and self-sustaining. As a more than 5 billion tons of stored with a national-scale payment-for- 1 result, community monitors were able carbon and support some of the performance REDD+ system through to gather and analyze data from more world’s richest biodiversity. These an agreement with Norway signed in than 9,000 people with direct benefits forests also support the traditional 2009. Although the mechanism for for each community as a whole—for livelihoods of over 200 indigenous that system – and for its financial example, by revealing the need to communities who live within them. benefits, in particular – is still being address declining animal stocks or to Indigenous communities make up developed, it has spurred the 2 adjust water use practices. Through more than 10 percent of Guyana’s development of a robust national 1 Government of Guyana. 2015. “The Reference Level for Guyana’s REDD+ Program.” ² Government of Guyana. 2016. “2012 Census: Compendium 2, Population Composition.” ³ Guyana Forestry Commission. 2015 “Guyana REDD+ Monitoring Reporting and Verification System—Year 5 Summary Report.” 4 system for forest Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV). Since 2014, WWF has worked to develop participatory MRV as a means for Guyana’s indigenous communities to actively take part in and benefit from national MRV and REDD+. Working closely with communities and community-based organizations like the NRDDB, WWF sought to train paid community monitors (known as Community Resource Environment Workers, or CREWs) to establish baselines and monitor carbon and other important indicators using smartphones and open- source software. Between 2014 and 2016, CMRV efforts with the 19 indigenous communities represented by the NRDDB and with the Wai Wai Kanashen community were successful, but also met with some challenges. The year-long training process required ongoing technical and financial support that staff had difficulty sustaining, as well as a considerable time commitment from CREWs and communities before they could see results. Technological limitations, like the lack of reliable internet connectivity, also hindered CREWs’ ability to store and analyze data on their own. WWF set out to address these challenges by retooling its approach. With a more streamlined and accessible training program in place, WWF aimed to send CREWs out into their communities faster and to generate tangible results more quickly, in order to foster community buy-in earlier in the process. WWF also worked with CREWs to establish data labs in or near their communities where collected data could be stored and analyzed, with provisions in place to bypass many of the technological limitations of earlier efforts. The goal was to set up the conditions for self-reliance—to enable PHOTO © ROGER LEGUEN / WWF / LEGUEN ROGER © PHOTO communities to engage with MRV in a way that coheres with national requirements, including newly mandated requirements for five-to-10-year Village Improvement Plans (VIPs), but also empowers them to control and use their data for their benefit. 5 Implement a data sharing protocol 2017-2019: WWF works with commu- DIRECT STAKEHOLDERS or “stoplight system” that outlines nities and community-based steps that must be taken before data organizations to establish data labs Involved in project design, make can be released, to ensure commu- and expand CREW training. decisions, and receive benefits nity members’ control over their information. Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) Build capacities for communities to ACHIEVEMENTS gather, analyze, and manage their Kanuku Mountain Community own data so that they may make A more successful and sustainable Representative Group (KMCRG) more informed decisions about CMRV training process has been issues that affect them, more developed and replicated across 48 North Rupununi District successfully develop VIPs, and more predominantly indigenous commu- Development Board (NRDDB) fully participate in and benefit from nities in Regions 8, 9 and 10 of national forest conservation efforts. Guyana, with benefits for more than South Rupununi District Council 9,000 community members. At least (SRDC) two CREWs have been trained in each community. By streamlining Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ PROJECT DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE the CREW training process to three Affairs months and enabling CREWs to November 2009: The Guyana-Norway share results with their communi- STRATEGIC STAKEHOLDERS Agreement (GNA) is signed, commit- ties every two weeks from the start ting Guyana to maintaining the of training, communities were able Provide material, human, and other country’s low deforestation rates in to see the benefits of participatory resources exchange for up to US$250 million in MRV earlier in the process. Data funding to support a low carbon gathering and analysis were tailored Norway's International Climate and development strategy over five years. to the needs of the community early Forest Initiative (NICFI) on as well, with communities 2010: A national MRV system is weighing in on the indicators they Norwegian Agency for Development initiated to comply with the GNA.