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Winrock International

Project

Carbon Stock Assessment and Monitoring

Funder: Guyana Forestry Commission

Project Timeline: October 2, 2017 - April 30, 2026

Country: Guyana

Program Areas: Ecosystem Services, Climate Finance, Environment & Climate and Forestry & Natural Resource Management

Contact: Julie Nash, julie.nash@winrock.org

The Government of Guyana is among the first national governments to develop a scalable model for protecting and maintaining its forests to help reduce global carbon emissions. These efforts align with the United Nations REDD+ program, which focuses on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, as well as improving forest conservation, sustainable management and carbon stock enhancement.

The Guyana Forestry Commission has led the development of a roadmap for establishing a Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification system to support Guyana’s participation in REDD+. Winrock International’s Ecosystem Services unit was selected to help design a practical and cost-effective Forest Carbon Monitoring System. Winrock’s approach centers on three key components:

  1. Stratifying land areas based on their potential for land-cover change;
  2. Building national capacity through hands-on training and workshops on carbon measurement and monitoring; and
  3. Designing and implementing the Forest Carbon Monitoring System itself.

Following a “learn-by-doing” philosophy, Winrock has conducted extensive training with Guyana Forestry Commission staff on carbon measurement, monitoring and spatial analysis. Since the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification System was launched in 2009, Guyana has achieved major, stepwise improvements over more than a decade, with Winrock providing long-term technical support.

Guyana has further strengthened its forest carbon governance by implementing a robust monitoring system, expanding MRV capacity, and establishing a long-term monitoring plan. These efforts position the country for successful participation in the ART-TREES program and help unlock access to high-integrity carbon markets.

Winrock’s Ecosystem Services unit has been a global leader in assessing ecosystem services in forest and agricultural landscapes for more than 20 years and has supported the development of many subnational and national REDD+ initiatives. To learn more about our JREDD+ work, click here.