Discussions Towards Reviving Regional Bio-energy Strategy Commence

The establishment a Regional Bio-energy Strategy is one of the key strategies identified for the development and execution of the C-SERMS Framework. The idea of a Regional Bio-energy strategy has been discussed in CARICOM since 2006, when it was kick-started by a regional study supported by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and promoted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Organisation of American States (OAS). It is envisaged that Guyana, Belize and Suriname would play key roles in this initiative.

Although there has been limited progress on this initiative, the critical importance of the Bioenergy resource towards the sustainable energy transition in CARICOM remains. To this end, Bio-energy, in particular bio-fuels, has been identified as playing a key role in fuel substitution for the transportation sector.

Against this background, in July 2013, the CARICOM Secretariat engaged key actors in the bioenergy sector in Guyana, viz, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Guyana Energy Agency, the National Agricultural, Research and Extension Institute and the Ministry of Natural Resources on Bioenergy development in Guyana and the restarted efforts for a regional approach. In general, it was concluded that Guyana continues to make progress in the area of Bio-energy with developments led by a National Bio-energy Committee, and remains open to playing a key role in the development of a regional strategy.