National Action Plan to combat land degradation.

The National Action Plan to combat land degradation aligns with the UNCCD Strategic Plan 2008-2018. The timeframe of the NAP is 10 years covering the period from 2015 to 2025. The Aligned NAP seeks to promote the sustainable and productive management of agricultural, pastoral, mining, forestry, coastal, and other land uses and natural resources. Its goal is to preserve ecosystem productivity and ecological integrity while supporting environmental protection, economic development, and the social well-being of the nation's population. The NAP focuses on the primary sectors and outlines the approach and roadmap towards continuing to enhance the way of managing land resources in Guyana.
To combat land degradation and desertification, the aligned NAP identifies comprehensive and robust activities to be implemented over time. Sound scientific evidence will be produced and the relative roles of drivers of Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought (DLDD) will be determined. A national scientific study will be conducted on land degradation. The institutional capacity and the collaboration between governmental agencies will be improved. Trainings will be conducted in the fields of remote sensing, Geographic Information System (GIS), Multi Criteria Decision Analysis, and information management systems/information technology. The capacity to cascade regional or international forecasts of Drought Early Warning Systems (DEWS) to the national context and the analytical capacity of staff working on DEWS will be enhanced. The Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought (DLDD) will be mainstreamed into relevant national policies, strategies and plans. The National Land Policy or Sustainable Land Management (SLM) Policy will be finalized by establishing an authoritative policy advisory body for SLM. Systematic central databases will be established and managed and maintained with quality checks. Standard electronic forms will be prepared for data collection, monitoring of National Land Degradation and reporting to the UNCCD and the Government of Guyana.
Public awareness will be raised on the causes and impacts of desertification, land degradation and drought. Sustainable land management will be mainstreamed into school curricula to improve and enhance the knowledge base on SLM. The links between the UNCCD and the poverty and livelihoods elements of the sustainable development agenda, will be strengthened. The knowledge and capacity of miners/land users will be enhanced to perform ecologically appropriate land restoration.