Guyana Environmental and Social Safeguards Issues Paper: Upstreaming Environmental and Social Risk Management

This document has been prepared as an input to the Bank's Guyana Country Strategy (2012-2016). Its purpose is to identify key environmental issues in Guyana and provide recommendations for the Bank in terms of investments to anticipate risks related to sensitive sectors, programs, and projects and to enhance Guyana's capacities and systems. The document focuses on environmental issues that are relevant internationally (climate change, forests, and biodiversity) and nationally (solid waste management, wastewater treatment, wildlife management, and inland fisheries management). Guyana offers an opportunity to provide models for green growth in a small country where the green growth strategy will cut across infrastructure, energy, natural resources, agriculture, tourism, and land use management. It also offers an opportunity to showcase the Bank's approach to sustainability and the implementation of the climate change strategy and the emerging biodiversity initiative. Much of the information in this document has been derived from national publications on the state of the environment in Guyana, particularly the reports from the Guyana REDD+ monitoring, reporting, and verification system and the Guyana REDD+ Readiness Preparation Proposal (2011).