- The project has five 5 phases as follows:
- PHASE 1 – Establishment of the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) as a certification Governing Body.
- PHASE 2 – Stakeholder consultations through national workshops to develop the scope for the national standards and certification scheme:
- PHASE 3 – Establishment of a broad-based national Technical Working Group (with representatives drawn from the major stakeholder groups) to guide the development of the national standards.
- PHASE 4: – Development of the national standards including documentation, procedures and policy guidelines for a national certification scheme to meet the requirements of key international certification schemes.
- PHASE 5 – Field testing of the standards
- PHASE 6 – Creation of a national forest management and chain of custody certification system.
- We expect the PEFC-endorsement processes to be completed by the end of 2022.
- However, once the standards are developed and endorsed by stakeholders in Guyana, FSOs can start certifying their operations under the Guyana system and issue certificates.
- While the certificates will not immediately have PEFC endorsement, they will have international standing once PEFC’s endorsement for the Guyana system is achieved.