Arising out of an agreement between Guyana and the Kingdom of Norway, A Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee [MSSC] was established in November 2009. The aim of the Committee was to establish a model of environmental government.
However, owing to a change in Government and development policies across the country, the Committee has not met since 2015.
Stakeholders of the Green Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee at today’s meeting.
However given the importance of the Committee, the Committee was earlier today reactivated by President David Granger. In so doing President Granger said that the Committee is an important mechanism, which demonstrates Guyana’s commitment to an inclusionary system of governance, one that is characterised by consultation, cooperation and inclusion.
The President, who was at the time addressing stakeholders at the Baridi Benab at State House, said that the step substantiates the Government’s commitment to ensuring that the Committee convenes often so that closer attention can be paid to the issues that need to be addressed as Guyana moves towards becoming a ‘green’ state.
“This Committee, now the ‘Green’ Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee (GMSSC) meeting, is evidence of the government’s commitment to ensuring that development is not only people-centred but that it is also people-driven. This meeting is intended to become a permanent consultative mechanism, which will allow for stakeholder input and participation in the governing mechanism of both the LCDS and the green development strategy,” he said.
“This committee ought to be eight years old and we need to do more to ensure that it functions and meet more frequently so that it can achieve what it has set out to accomplish,” said President Granger. The Committee was intended to ensure that the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) process, including the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD-plus) strategy, was undergirded by both inclusivity and transparency. Guyana, by reconvening the MSCC, is expanding its mandate to allow it to serve as part of the inclusionary governance architecture of the evolving ‘green state.