Enhancing Biodiversity Protection through Strengthened Monitoring, Enforcement and Uptake of Environmental Regulations in Guyana's Gold Mining Sector Terminal Evaluation

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Enhancing Biodiversity Protection through Strengthened Monitoring, Enforcement and Uptake of Environmental Regulations in Guyana's Gold Mining Sector Terminal Evaluation

January 6, 2019

UNDP is supporting the Government of Guyana to strengthen monitoring and implementation of biodiversity-friendly practices in Guyana's gold mining sector to reduce biodiversity loss and maintain ecosystem functionality for the benefit of all Guyanese. A Global Environment Facility Medium-Sized Project, “Enhancing Biodiversity Protection through Strengthened Monitoring, Enforcement and Uptake of Environmental Regulations in Guyana's Gold Mining Sector”, has been developed to address the various critical barriers currently hampering the mainstreaming of biodiversity (BD) in the gold mining sector. The project’s objective was to strengthen monitoring and implementation of BD-friendly practices in Guyana's gold mining sector to reduce BD loss and maintain ecosystem functionality for the benefit of all Guyanese.
The purpose of this evaluation is to assess the effectiveness and contribution of the project.  The evaluation considers the extent to which the main institutional actors involved in the project, that is the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission GGMC are better able to plan, coordinate and respond to BD conservation needs in gold mining as a result of UNDP support. Further, the study explores the extent to which this project has contributed to the achievement of Country Programme (CP) 2012–2016 Outcome 3, “improved functional capacity of key natural resources and disaster risk management institutions.” Considering that this evaluation comes at the beginning of the new UNDP CP, it will substantively contribute both retrospective and prospective analysis that can inform the programmatic linkages the UNDP Guyana Country Office can make in deciding on its involvement and support for this area of building national capacity to address the threats of mining to BD conservation. In this context, practical options are presented based on this assessment of current national capacity and what future investments are needed to sustain and solidify investments made by UNDP and the Government of Guyana.