Global financial crisis threatens success at Copenhagen

Jul 23, 2009 News

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…Guyana’s alternative will be to resort to utilizing forest – Jagdeo

By Gary Eleazar

The success of having Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) to include forest preservation and have developed countries pay carbon credits to forested countries such as Guyana, is currently under threat by the global economic crisis.
President Bharrat Jagdeo expressed this opinion during an interactive session with media operatives at the Office of the President yesterday.
He said that should forest preservation not be included in the successor to the Kyoto Protocol, then Guyana would have no alternative but to look to the forest to accelerate its GDP per capita growth.
The President said that some countries simply did not have the money to pay for carbon credits, but emphasised that the alternative, which could be deforestation,  was even more dismal.
He noted that future strategies will depend on what Guyana sees as opportunities, pointing out that there was still land on the coast for the production of ethanol.
The demand will increase in the future as is the case with food commodities that can be produced in the agriculturally-rich land in Guyana.
Should Guyana not be a beneficiary of the growing carbon market post-Copenhagen, then for the country to be a major player in the food market, it will have to open up more land for cultivation.
He did point out that in such a scenario at least half of Guyana’s forest would be safeguarded, given that climate change is a phenomenon that is already affecting the world.
According to Jagdeo, he was hoping to see coming out of the Copenhagen meet, an agreement wherein the developed world would be forced to commit to significantly steeper emission cuts from anywhere between 25 and 40 per cent of the 1990 base line.
This, the President said, will see the developed world stepping up domestic measures in their countries, and given the limitations of the technology available then they will have to offset the forested countries.
Jagdeo said that he was in no way supportive of a fund that would see all countries contributing to this, given that the developing world did not cause the problem, namely Global Warming, and as such it is the developed world that needs to pay.
The Head of State emphasised that the LCDS is first and foremost a development strategy, in that the money earned will be used to upgrade the country as well as the quality of life enjoyed.
He posited that the initial investments in adaptation to climate change, the opening up of new land as well as biofuel projects, can all be costly, and was hoping the money would come from the service that would be provided by Guyana through the preservation of its forest.
President Jagdeo said that there are developed countries who are willing to pay for carbon credits because in their Third World Governments are corrupt.
Jagdeo said that this was a most unfortunate stereotype, in that it is perceived that “the darker your skin the more corrupt you are.”
As such, the president said that there will be mechanisms built-in to safeguard against corruption wherein there would have to be accountability and regular audits.
The president also pointed out that in Guyana the consultations have been as transparent as possible in that everything negative or positive has been posted online and could be used to scrutinise the final document given that the current consultations are being done with a draft LCDS.
To date, consultations have been conducted with some 222 villages across seven regions in Guyana exclusive of Regions Three, Four and Five whilst engaging in excess of 3,000 residents.
The consultation team included representatives from Government namely Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Ministers Robert Persaud, Dr. Ashni Singh, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, Dr. Jennifer Westford, Pauline Sukhai, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Jennifer Webster; Shyam Nokta of the Climate Unit as well, Andrew Bishop, James Singh, William Woolford and Nigel Dharamlall, among others
A series of awareness fora are being convened to provide information on the LCDS as well as an opportunity for discussion.
To date, the Forest Products and the Miners’ associations have convened sessions as well as the grouping of women’s organisations.
Outreach activities are being conducted by the GGMC to mining areas while the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB) will conduct awareness among youths and in its communities in general.
The Office of Climate Change is also responding to requests for presentations and fora are being planned with youth and other organisations.
The National Consultation and Awareness Process for Guyana’s LCDS is being overseen by a Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee which is chaired by President Jagdeo and meets weekly.
The MSSC includes representatives from Government, youth, women, private sector, indigenous NGOs, conservation NGOs, forestry, mining, and the international monitor Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

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