Guianas & Amazon North Eastern Conservation Alliance

(GANECA)Declaration of Intention - 2015

2Guianas & Amazon North Eastern Conservation Alliance (GANECA)

A common declaration of intention is signed here between parties to establish, secure funding and launch such a regional

initiative in 2016-2017.

Stopping tropical deforestation could mitigate approximately 30% of global anthro-

pogenic greenhouse gas emissions, by maintaining and adding to the amount of car-

bon that is stored in forests. Containing over 25% of the worlds remaining intact rain-

forest, the Guiana Shield stores over 25 billion tons of carbon and absorbs 1.3 billon

tons of carbon each year – as much as all the carbon emissions of Japan. The North

Eastern Amazon biome adjacent to this area is similarly important.

This region is protected by several very large conservation areas such as the Parque

Nacional de Montanhas Tumucumaque (PNMT - Br), the Parc amazonien de Guyane

(PAG - Fr), the Central Suriname Nature Reserve (CSNR - Su) and the recently ini-

tiated South Suriname Conservation Corridor (SSCC - Su), as well as several other

protected areas, indigenous lands and protected forests (see map 1). Totaling over

30 million ha (eastern part), these protected areas, indigenous and managed lands

can safeguard the integrity of the largest track of pristine primary tropical forest in

the world. The proposed Guianas and Amazon North Eastern Conservation Alliance

aims at ensuring the best conservation outputs in this globally important sub-re-

gion, through active trans-border protected area and REDD+ co-operation, initially

in the eastern part of this region. Protected areas and other lands further west will be

invited to join as capacities build up.

Map 1 : Protected areas and indigenious lands of the guianas and North Amazonian region

3Guianas & Amazon North Eastern Conservation Alliance (GANECA)

As the largest remaining block of primary tropical forest on Earth, the Guiana Shield

and North Eastern Amazon has the potential to play a critical role in mitigating climate

change and conserving globally important biodiversity and livelihoods. The region

contains the highest percent of primary forest cover (over 90% is intact tropical rainfo-

rest), the lowest human population density of any major tropical wilderness area in the

world, and produces up to 15% of the world’s freshwater.

The region is furthermore of crucial importance for climate change adaptation. Due to

its huge area of intact forest, the core of the Guiana Shield and parts of Amapa and Para

forests are predicted to be especially resilient to climate change, providing refuge for

biodiversity, and ensuring the protection and production of critical ecosystem services

such as the world’s most voluminous water cycles, in perpetuity. Indeed, more than

70% of region has been considered priority areas for biological and ecosystem services

conservation. In sum, the Guiana Shield and adjacent North Eastern Amazon demons-

trates how nature is an essential piece of the world’s approach to solving the climate

crisis. In one place, it shows the importance of simultaneously adapting to and mitiga-

ting the impacts of climate change.

With roughly 0,5 million km2 (twice the size of Portugal), the Eastern part of the Guia-

na shield comprises, the southern parts of Suriname and French Guiana and northern

parts of Amapa and Para states of Brazil. It is unique in having over 40% of its ecosys-

tems under some form of protection, forests in a pristine conservation state, and iso-

lated populations and cultures.

THE CONTEXT

4Guianas & Amazon North Eastern Conservation Alliance (GANECA)

But the forests of the Guiana Shield and North Eastern Amazon are under threat.

The region has the largest portion of recognized investment opportunities based

on extractive industries, while isolated communities lead culturally rich yet globally

threatened livelihoods. Characterized by immediate availability of investment funds

and global demand, intensive extraction of natural resources such as mining and log-

ging are among the few immediate economic development opportunities perceived

to be available. Illegal mining is also widespread in the region.

In a context of a rapidly growing population, the urgent need for electricity and other

services for isolated villages and towns is driving investments, while improved roads

will lower transportation costs and increase access to and pressure on the region’s

natural capital. While these developments will generate income, they come at a high

price. We are running the risk of unplanned and unregulated, destruction of critical

ecosystems that mitigate global climate change, provide food, freshwater, and sup-

port local livelihoods, ultimately making people exceedingly vulnerable to external

shocks and placing the long-term sustainability of the region at risk.

The opportunity : Promoting a trans-boundary alliance between large conservation

areas, such as the PNMT (Br), PAG (FGuy), and SSCC (Su), and potentially other pro-

tected areas in the region, ensuring the integrity of the forest and river ecosystems

and its associated livelihoods, through dialogue and technical co-operation.

Economic development and wellbeing of the people of the Eastern Guiana Shield and

adjacent North Eastern Amazon must be fostered. But in doing so, we must ensure

that a long-term sustainable future is not traded-in for short-term economic deve-

lopment that has long-term negative impacts on the ability of the region to support

livelihoods, mitigate climate change and provide freshwater and other ecosystem ser-

vices.

Eco and cultural tourism, freshwater markets, ecosystem-based adaptation, reduced

impact logging, effective protected areas, non-timber forest products, and REDD+ are

all routes that can provide a low carbon, biodiversity compatible, sustainable econo-

mic development path. Fostering such activities is an important step towards a more

prosperous and longstanding future.

5Guianas & Amazon North Eastern Conservation Alliance (GANECA)

REDD+ is an important and cost effective strategy for generating the finance to mi-

tigate climate change by safeguarding otherwise threatened forests, with key social

and ecological co-benefits. Income from REDD+ can be used to support forest conser-

vation as well as the critical and important adaptation and development needs of its

People. The REDD+ mechanism expressly includes forest conservation as a REDD+ ac-

tivity for high forest/low deforestation countries, but insufficient attention has gone

to making this operational. Leakage1 is one of the issues that have not been adequa-

tely addressed in REDD+ international agreements, which do not provide guidance on

how to monitor and address deforestation displacement at any scale. There is a clear

need to further develop approaches and guidelines on how to deal with leakage on

every scale, as well as to recognize in international agreements the fact that leakage

does not respect country limits and that REDD+ mechanism should at the very least

provide eco-regional integrity to be considered effective.

1 Leakage happens when greenhouse gas (GHG) net emission reductions in one area are affec-ted by project-attributable emissions outside of targeted mitigation areas. Leakage can occur whenever the spatial scale of intervention is inferior to the full scale of the targeted problem. Carbon mitigation is a global goal, so leakage can occur at various scales-farm-level, local/re-gional, or international/global - and in many sectors, including energy and forestry mitigation projects.

6Guianas & Amazon North Eastern Conservation Alliance (GANECA)

Protected areas is another instrument for which

scale related improvements, trans-border technical

co-ordination, planning and research, as well as ex-

perience sharing and exchange of staff has delivered

key positive results at regional level in other parts

of the world. The track record of trans-border pro-

tected areas coordination in moist tropical forest is

however still limited, especially in the Amazon. Inno-

vative integrative approaches, such as that fostered

by “Integracion de Areas Protegidas de Amazonia”

(IAPA; EU funding), provide a useful framework for

calibrating and disseminating such co-operation ini-

tiatives. Such regional protected area coordination –

between federal, state, or local initiatives of different

countries – are essential to safeguarding the integrity

of the globally important Guianas and North Amazon

biomes. It is the key step that is required for the region to play its globally significant

contribution to the climate and biodiversity crisis, as well as to secure unique local

livelihoods, people and culture.

Aware of the urgency of these needs, governments, global conservation organiza-

tions and protected area managers have identified the Eastern Guiana shield / Nor-

th Eastern Amazon as the perfect region to implement a combined Protected Areas

and Redd+ trans-border initiative. Implementing a trans-boundary conservation and

REDD+ strategy in this highly biodiverse and carbon rich yet threatened region, on

an area totaling more than 30 million hectares, will allow partners to provide a much

needed contribution in meeting global conservation and mitigation targets. A regional

strategy and its implementation is, without a doubt, the most effective – and visible

- way of preventing deforestation in the Guiana Shield and North Eastern Amazon.

International organizations have a long history of success in the region in conserva-

tion and sustainable development, and are trusted advisors to the region’s govern-

ments and communities. They have already contributed to the Guiana Shield and

Amazonian countries integrated visions. They can play a key role in ensuring the long

term integrity of ecosystems in the region and setting, implementing and facilitating

regional conservation and forest initiatives.

7Guianas & Amazon North Eastern Conservation Alliance (GANECA)

DECLARATION OF INTENTION

We, the under signed and protected area managers as well as Federal and National

governments and State representatives and organizations and global conservation or-

ganizations hereby commit to :

• explore key opportunities for shared and coordinated action between protected

areas and forested lands of the Guianas and North Eastern Amazon region, buil-

ding on existing initiatives, identified opportunities and new possible actions by

public, private and civil society organizations of the region;

• define a Protected Areas Regional Programme and a REDD+ Regional Programme,

including inter alia common biodiversity, ecosystem services and carbon fol-

low-up protocols, compatible MRVS, technical thematic exchanges (eco-tourism,

local livelihoods and sustainable development green growth principles, inclusive

governance), innovative problem solving and coordinated policy changes on key

issues, and mechanisms to avoid trans-boundary leakage.

• seek funding for initiating, implementing and ensuring the long term financial

sustainability of such collaborative actions, especially through REDD+ mecha-

nisms, and access to the Green Climate Fund and other international, national,

public and private funds that support carbon sequestration, biodiversity protec-

tion, sustainable development and protected areas.

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• disseminate information and foster strong regional and global mobilization for

the Guianas & Amazon North Easter Conservation Alliance (GANECA), through

meetings, participation in global fora and conferences, production and dissemi-

nation of documents, and interaction with key actors from the public, private,

corporate, civil society, indigenous and sustainable development sectors, at inter-

national, regional, national and local scales.

• establish a regional working group with country representatives at appropriate

level, articulated with existing regional initiatives (GSF, IAPA etc.) and active orga-

nisations and networks (WWF Guianas, CI, UICN, REDPARQUES) to organise and

activate such initiative.

9Guianas & Amazon North Eastern Conservation Alliance (GANECA)

• South Suriname Conservation corridor

• Central Suriname Nature Reserve

• Mount Tumucumac national Park (Brazil)

• Guyana amazonian Park (France)

• Guyana Shield Facility

• Conservation international Suriname / Arlington

• WWF Guyana / Brazil / France

• IBAMA (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente)

• Instituto Chico Mendez de Conservaçao de Biodiversidade

• Conseil régional de la Guyane

• Parc naturel régional de Guyane

• ......

• ......

SIGNATORIES

THE FOUR INITIAL GANECA CONSERVATION AERAS

OTHER KEY GANECA PARTNERS