OiEAU ANNUAL REPORT - 2019

Guyana Plateau: sharing water and biodiversity Carried out by OiEau and the Guyana Water Office (OEG), the BIO-PLATEAUX project aims to better understand the water resource uses and associated impacts in the transboundary Maroni (Guyana / Suriname) and Oyapock (Guyana / Amapa-Brazil) river basins. Its main issue? The establishment of an observatory allowing better sharing of information on water and the biodiversity of aquatic environments between Guyana, Brazil and Suriname. Started in 2019 with the organization of a unique conference, in the presence of the President of the Guyana Region, the French Minister for Overseas France, two Ministers from Suriname and the Governor of the Amapa State. On this occasion, 140 scientific, technical and administrative stakeholders from the various territories met for the first time. They were thus able to discuss their expectations, their expertise and their roles in the implementation of preparatory work for the creation of the shared observatory whose expected benefits are multiple: improving the preservation of the biodiversity of aquatic environments, building capacity through training on Integrated Water Resources Management, developing the use of space technologies, reducing costs through economies of scale, developing decision support tools. Launched under the Interreg Amazonia Cooperation Program and coordinated by the Guyana Local Authority, BIO-PLATEAUX is financed by the European Union, the Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing of Guyana, the National Center for Space Studies and the OEG. The OEG, OiEau, Amapa Agency and Anton de Kom University (Suriname) are the operational partners of the project. According to Mr. Chow-Toun, Project Manager at the OEG, « Year 2019 was the starting point for the project. For the OEG, this was historic because it allowed esta- blishing contacts and partnerships with counterparts in Suriname and the Amapa State. This project had been in the making for 8 years; it was thanks to the links with OiEau and the effec- tive implementation of the initiative that these contacts were able to take place. » Map of the Maroni and Oyapock River Basins. ©OiEau Signing of the Cayenne declaration by the project partners in the presence of the competent ministerial and local authorities ©OiEau 38