The government of Guyana plans to spend most of the Norwegian forest climate aid it will receive during 2010-11 on the Amaila Falls hydropower project, a dam to be built deep in the Amazon rainforest.

Norwegian officials insist this is not a done deal. But President Bharrat Jagdeo has staked much personal prestige in Amaila, a decades-old project that has eluded successive Guyanase governments.

Meanwhile, environmental impact expert Robert Goodland warns that Amaila could be the first stage in a much larger hydropower and aluminum production complex.

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Politicians have stronger grip on aid in Norway

Poul Engberg-Pedersen has quit as head of Norad after five years in the job. The Dane was recruited to turn Norad from an implementing agency into a competence centre on Norwegian aid, a process that was initiated by his predecessor, Tove Strand.

There will be no common baseline for measuring donors’ adherence to the Copenhagen climate change convention, which called for USD 30 billion in “new and additional” resources for climate adaptation and mitigation.

The planned 154-megawatt Amaila Falls project in Guyana may be the first stage in a large industrial development scheme. Donors considering financing Amaila are therefore obliged to look at the cumulative impacts of the whole project.

Norway’s television charity fund-raising event on Sunday, October 24 generated over NOK 200 million for the Norwegian Refugee Council.

NOK 180m grant to UN REDD in Indonesia

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) will receive NOK 180 million to assist with building capacity in Indonesia in the context of reducing emissions from deforestation (REDD).

Holding out on Global Fund

As reported in the last issue of Development Today, Sweden withheld its pledge to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria due to concerns about corruption. (See DT 14/10)

Norway-Guyana forest aid slated for investment in hydro dam

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