… the confusion continuesAs the press continues to seek answers to the question of when Guyana may actually benefit from the Norwegian Funds, Head of the Presidential Secretariat,NFL Jerseys From China, Dr. Roger Luncheon could only speak to the “suggestion” that the “steering committee is engaged in the review and examination of a number of projects.”He went on to say that the steering committee has yet to pronounce on these projects.When asked to comment on the nature of these projects Dr. Luncheon said that the government published the projects which clearly identified the areas where the projects that would be undertaken.He mentioned the biodiversity center for excellence, transformative events such as the hydropower project and an Amerindian fund dedicated to socioeconomic development of Amerindian villages as some of the projects under review.In contrast, this newspaper carried a comment from Elisabeth Brinch-Sand, Press Officer with the Government of Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative on February 27 where she said, “No projects have yet been formally presented to the steering committee for approval.”“The first payment (US$30 million) has been disbursed to the Trustee of the Fund (World Bank) and will be disbursed for projects in Guyana as soon as projects have been presented to and approved by the Steering Committee of the Fund,NFL Jerseys Cheap,” Sand said.Of note is the fact that Guyana chairs the Steering Committee that serves as the oversight and decision-making body of the Guyana REDD Investment Fund (GRIF), under which the Norwegian Funds are being managed and its members are from the governments of both Guyana and Norway.Just about three months ago President Jagdeo harshly criticised the World Bank,China Jerseys Free Shipping, which he said was delaying the release of the funds shortly after the high level segment of the UN Climate Change Summit in Cancun in early December.“Although we fulfilled the condition to receive payment from Norway a year ago….we have not seen a single cent expended as yet on the projects that are so vital to transformation,” Jagdeo told an event organised by Avoided Deforestation Partners in Cancun in early December.Upon his return from the UN Climate Summit, Jagdeo said that he was hopeful that the first tranche of money would be released by the end of January this year, and the other tranche of US$40 million,Cheap Jerseys, would be released by the end of the first quarter of the year.“The first tranche of the money, the President had said, would be spent placing a solar panel in every Amerindian home, hiring surveyors to demarcate Amerindian lands,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, and giving Amerindian communities a maximum of US$25,Wholesale NBA Jerseys Authentic,000 to transform their village economies.The five-year agreement between Guyana and Norway, worth US$250 million, is said to be necessary to help finance the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). The LCDS was developed by the government to save the country’s rainforest – the size of England – in global efforts to combat climate change.Guyana and Norway agreed to appoint the World Bank as a Trustee of the Fund and the first tranche of US$30 million has been deposited with the World Bank, but the money cannot be released unless projects are approved by the steering committee.The agreement was seen as one of the first examples of results-based payments for reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide from deforestation and forest degradation on a national scale.Guyana’s strategy for low-carbon development sets out how the country can limit forest-based emissions, convert almost its entire energy sector to clean energy, accelerate the development of low-carbon economic sectors and address the huge challenges the country is facing in adapting to climate change.