LIFE AFTER COPENHAGEN

Oct 14, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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The President is disappointed with the response of the opposition to his Low Carbon Development Strategy. He should not lose hope. He should find ways and means of winning over the confidence of the opposition so that they can at best, offer critical perspectives on his plan.
After all, it is the duty of the opposition to be critical, and even at times dismissive of proposals made by the government. If the President can demonstrate good faith by at least listing the various proposals that have arisen during the LCDS consultations and then by producing a revised draft strategy which incorporates the recommendations made during the consultations.
One of the criticisms constantly leveled at the Jagdeo administration is that consultations is merely for cosmetic purposes, and is often reduced to an endorsement of what the government wants and after the government gets what it wants it has little time for the stakeholders’ process.
A case in point has been the manner in which the government proceeded after the Lusignan massacre when it was promised that the consultative process would become a permanent mechanism.
What is therefore required to bolster public confidence in the consultations under the LCDS is for the publication of all the recommendations made so far and a subsequent publication of a revised draft strategy so that the public can judge for themselves the extent to which the suggestions made during the consultations were taken seriously.
The Low Carbon Secretariat has on its website a summary of the concerns and recommendations made during the consultations. Some of these concerns need to be more widely disseminated.
There has been a response by the Norwegians to a Guardian article on REDD. There have also been criticisms made in the local newspapers about the strategy. Should these also not be on the website? Should the main opposition’s statement that the LCDS is a sham not also be on the website?
If the President is serious about consultations, he should have the views of the opposition, however adverse, also posted on the LCDS website.
During the consultations, a suggestion was unfortunately shot down. The suggestion was for the building of railway something that would bring considerable benefits and open up the interior to development, through cheap transportation.
At this stage the extent to which the consultations will shape the LCDS is not fully clear. And, therefore, there is bound to be skepticism about the entire process and just who is likely to benefit if it ever sees the light of day.
Certainly, the government needs to explain to the Guyanese people what happens with the LCDS should there be no climate change deal that would allow for REDD. What happens then? How viable is the LCDS outside of a major deal that would allow Guyana to benefit from keeping its forests intact?  What happens then?
The government, of course, is still interested in financing a major hydropower deal. But why continue to tag along with this process of attracting the US $500m investment.
Why not raise the financing locally and within the Diaspora by selling bonds with a guaranteed rate of return to the investors just as how there was a guaranteed rate of return for the investors in the Berbice River Bridge so much so that at one stage there was talk about the government forfeiting its rate of return so that the private investors could be guaranteed their return?
Why not allow Guyanese big and small to invest in the hydro electricity. The money is there in the financial system. Small pensioners are getting next to nothing from having their life savings invested in savings accounts in our banking system. Then there are many businesses out there who would love to have a guaranteed rate of return of 15 per cent on their investment while contributing to the development of the country.
There are Guyanese in the Diaspora who are seeing hard times and would love to be able to make a safe investment in hydroelectricity. Why allow foreign investors to make all the money.
Allow Guyanese to invest in the project; the money can be raised once the project is viable and the government guarantees the rate of return.
There is no better way to encourage local ownership of the LCDS than by allowing Guyanese a chance to invest in one of its principal projects.
The government can demonstrate good faith by committing to elements of a low carbon economy regardless of the outcome of Copenhagen.
This would mean a plan to reduce Guyana’s dependence of the importation of fossil fuels, a change in local consumption patterns, increased conservation and recycling, improved environmental practices and of course the end to the plunder of our forest resources by foreign firms.
If these things are addressed, then regardless of the stance that the main opposition takes, the low carbon development plans of the government would have greater credibility because the Guyanese people would see it being beneficial to the country and its people.

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