SUPPORTING RECOVERY AND STRENGTHENING FLOOD April 2022 RISK MANAGEMENT IN GUYANA Improving Guyana’s climate resilience, protecting economic activity, and reducing the impact of natural disasters AT A GLANCE Country: Guyana Risks: Flooding, coastal erosion GFDRR Areas of Engagement: Deepening engagement in resilience to climate change, Promoting resilient Infrastructure, Scaling up the resilience of cities Introduction Guyana is highly vulnerable to sea level rise and increased flooding due to climate change and a lack of development and maintenance across its drainage system. For these reasons, planning and engaging with development partners on the rehabilitation of the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) dam was an essential step in strengthening flood risk management in Guyana. To continue the rehabilitative work Georgetown, Guyana. Photo: janiecbros on the EDWC, the World Bank provided additional financing of US$26 million to the ongoing Guyana Flood Risk Management (FRM) Project. This financing combined with technical Context capacity support from the Canada-Caribbean Resilience The EDWC dam is a critical component of Guyana’s protection Facility (CRF) and European Union (EU) Caribbean Regional against flooding. However, a large stretch of this dam has been Resilience Building Facility (CRRBF), has helped the identified as being at risk of breaching. Under the country’s government of Guyana improve its climate resilience, protect FRM Project, a 4-kilometer segment of the EDWC dam was economic activity, and reduce the impact of natural disasters. upgraded. To extend the flood protection, the World Bank The CRF is a World Bank-executed, single-donor trust fund approved an additional US$26 million to rehabilitate a further established by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and 9 kilometers of the dam. Recovery (GFDRR) and the World Bank with support from With this added funding, the project aims to significantly Global Affairs Canada. The trust fund is valued at Can$20 increase flood resilience in the low-lying coastal lands of million—an estimated US$14.4 million—and implemented the East Demerara area; this includes the country’s capital over a five-year period (2019–2024). The CRF was established Georgetown, where much of the population, as well as to achieve more effective and coordinated gender-informed, the country’s administrative and commercial activities, climate-resilient preparedness, recovery, and public financial are concentrated. The additional financing will allow management practices in nine Caribbean countries. infrastructure work to be scaled up and completed, with In Guyana, the CRF is helping to strengthen local capacity extensive work to improve the EDWC, which is one of Guyana’s to efficiently implement the FRM Project and to mainstream major water storage and flood control facilities. The project climate resilience and gender into the public financial will enhance the drainage systems that ensure the EDWC’s management cycle. integrity. The CRRBF aims at enhancing long-term disaster resilience To support the implementation of the additional financing, and adaptation capacity for the most vulnerable countries the CRF will provide technical experts to strengthen local in the Caribbean. The CRRBF is providing support to the capacities for improving the construction methodology, Government of Guyana in building climate and flood resilience thereby speeding up the construction process and reducing in the Georgetown metropolitan area. the risk of flooding on downstream communities. In addition, the CRRBF is providing technical assistance to better understand the hydrological regime of the Georgetown area. RESULTS IN RESILIENCE SERIES Supporting Guyana’s COVID-19 Response The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the need to further strengthen regional and national systems for emergency and disaster response. In the case of Guyana, the additional financing for the FRM Project will include funds needed to update the country’s Emergency Preparedness Plan, strengthen its flood modeling capabilities, rehabilitate small existing irrigation structures, and support communication and outreach activities to better inform the public. These improvements will also help reduce the outbreaks of infectious illnesses due to flooding, alleviating the burden on the health care system that is currently managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: Paer Svensson Activities The ongoing CRF support in Guyana is focused on providing technical assistance and implementation support for recovery and resilience building. Activities are aimed at strengthening Guyana’s ability to efficiently implement the FRM Project and support a review and refinement of the dredging and soil-handling methodologies. The activities also include both ad-hoc hands-on implementation training for the Project Implementation Unit and targeted technical trainingIn the public financial management space, a Post-Disaster Public LESSONS LEARNED Financial Management (PDPFM) cycle review was carried out to identify potential areas for engagement. Some key areas include Building local capacity is key to the (1) technical assistance to strengthen the legal and regulatory replicability of the enhanced methodology. framework for managing disaster risk financing and (2) technical assistance to enhance financial management controls The construction methodology used, while immediately and processes. applicable to the EWDC dam, can have a wider impact through its replicability. The approach used by the CRF’s Implementation In terms of strengthening climate and flood resilience in the Support Team to enhance capacity at the local level means that the country, the Ministry of Finance of Guyana in partnership new dredging methodology will be used not only for the EWDC with the World Bank and the EU has identified a list of priority dam but can also be replicated and applied to other construction drainage interventions to be conducted in the Georgetown projects in Guyana. This approach to building local capacity metropolitan area. can scale up the benefits of faster project implementation and better-performing structures, resulting in overall more resilient Results infrastructure across the country. The CRF provided technical and capacity support to improve the dredging methodology at the EDWC dam. This new Adapting the engagement model to respond technology is changing the way the Government of Guyana to the challenges of the ongoing pandemic is is managing flood risk, accelerating the implementation of Guyana FRM Project and allowing the project to rehabilitate crucial. additional 9 km of EDWC dam. The COVID-19 crisis affected the traditional modes of engagement with the client. In Guyana’s case, the Implementation Support In this regard, a report containing specific technical Team was restricted in its ability to physically visit the country to recommendations has been prepared and submitted to collect critical data needed to implement the project. Responding the project-implementing agency. It was complemented by to this challenge, the team was able to collect the data virtually to capacity-building activities conducted by international drainage facilitate the report preparation process. The client’s commitment experts. The report provides valuable recommendations on the and team’s close engagement have been the key ingredients of construction methodology, the type of equipment to be used, final success. and essential qualifications needed by contractors. Currently, the implementing agency is working with an international consulting firm to prepare the detailed design for rehabilitative works, which will be based on the recommendations of the CRF-funded study. RESULTS IN RESILIENCE SERIES