Goal 7 : Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Target 9: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources.
Target 10: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.
Target 11: Achieve, by 2020, a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.
The natural environment is the unequivocal basis of human survival, the foundation for economic and, more importantly, human development. Goal 7 calls for upholding the principles of sustainable development and systematically integrating them into country policies and programmes, and mandates reversing and replenishing the loss of environmental resources.
Guyana is committed to the principle of sustainable development and has ratified a number of major international agreements on the environment. There is no specific land-use legislation in Guyana, although there are a number of instruments that govern and regulate access to and use of land and associated resources. 76 percent of Guyana is covered by tropical rainforest. A National Protected Areas System is currently being developed and is expected to provide a rule-based regulatory system for the two existing (Kaieteur National Park and Iwokrama Forest) and future protected areas.
Energy in Guyana is produced primarily from imported fossil fuels and biomass from sugar and rice industries. A small amount of renewable energy (such as hydroelectric and solar) is also produced. Fuel imports have increased over the last twelve years, but at a slower rate than GDP, representing an improvement in energy efficiency. Carbon dioxide emissions in Guyana are mainly from the combustion of biomass and fossil fuels in the energy sector. Emission per capita increased by around 40 percent from the baseline year of 1990 to 2002.
Access to safe drinking water has increased substantially. In fact, Guyana has already achieved target 10, to halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water. In 2002, 74 percent of households in Guyana had access to safe drinking water, compared with only 50 percent in 1991. The increase has not however been balanced between the coastal and interior regions. Coastal areas have experienced substantial gains while in the four hinterland regions only 11 percent of households had access to safe drinking water in 2002, up from 8.5 percent in 1991.
The proportion of the population with access to improved sanitation has also increased from 31 percent in 1991 to 40 percent in 2002. Meanwhile, the proportion of people with access to secure tenure has fallen from 86 percent in 1991 to 79 percent in 2002, due to a significant increase in squatting and rent-free dwellings. This situation is likely to improve over the medium term as the government’s squatter regularisation programmes are completed.
What is being done to ensure environmental sustainability?
There are a number of actions underway to mainstream environmental sustainability in all spheres of the public and private sector. A National Biodiversity Action Plan II for 2007-2011 will be prepared to succeed the previous plan and a BioSafety Clearing House will be developed. Documents such as the National Land Use Policy and the National Mangrove Action plan will be drafted and implemented to help integrate sustainable development objectives into polices and projects.
A proposed National Protected Areas System will cover a number of protected areas. These will include the existing protected areas and several new ones. The additional sites proposed will take the total protected land area to around 11,400 km2 or, to 5.3 percent of Guyana’s total land area, up from the current 2.4 percent.
A ten year strategy for the water sector (2001-2011) is being implemented with the aim to increase access to safe water for a targeted 90 percent of the population. A special Hinterland Water Strategy is benefiting from a five year investment programme established to improve the access of hinterland communities to safe water sources and sanitation. The Strategy aims to provide safe water to 80 percent of settlements in the hinterland. The Strategy incorporates key actions addressing the inequity of services to some of the poorest communities in Guyana.
Regularisation of 165 squatting areas commenced in 2005. Other initiatives target the processing of titles, the allocation of house lots and the facilitation of construction for low income lot holders. These mechanisms will facilitate and encourage persons to occupy land, thereby paving the way for an increase in the number of households enjoying secure dwelling tenure.
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