The LCDS comes crashing down to the ground

Nov 16, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

There will be no pledge of money for President Jagdeo’s LCDS at Copenhagen next month. World leaders, including President Obama, concluded their meeting in Singapore on Saturday with a statement that there cannot be a consensus for climate change in time for Copenhagen. There was no specific future date on the extent to which greenhouses gases will be reduced. This finally seals the fate on any money distribution to lesser developed countries for forest conservation.
One suspects that the overseas-based foreign consultant people who advised Mr. Jagdeo premised their conclusion on the global influence of Mr. Obama. Once Obama had pledged America’s softening on the Kyoto Protocol, then their judgement was that Copenhagen was on the road to success. The American consultants didn’t understand their own country’s politics so they advised Mr. Jagdeo wrongly. President Obama does not run the American Democratic Party the way Mr. Jagdeo does the PPP. The Senate has a large say on climate change and they are not exactly in sync with Mr. Obama on his plans for greenhouse reductions.
One hopes that Mr. Jagdeo reads the signals on climate change that came out of Singapore a few days ago. It is clear that a successor to the Kyoto Protocol will not be easy because huge ideological mountains separate some developing countries and the industrialized West on ecological dilemmas and how to solve them. Large Third World countries feel that they need to catch up with the vast possession of wealth that came the way of the West before they (the Third World countries) can agree to capping industrial outputs to slow global warming. Some developing states have a crude way of putting it – the West industrialized their way into prosperity and now it is time for us to do the same; when we catch up with them then we can talk about stopping greenhouse emissions.
To his credit, Mr. Jagdeo has bolted from the stables, left his Third World colleagues and agreed to curtail industrial movements in his own country. But is this a credit for Mr. Jagdeo? So poor Guyana, has taken the lead in agreeing to forego industrial activities in our forested areas while the Third World giants have put their economies first and climate change second. Enter the choppy waters of Norway. The Norwegian agreement has been a gargantuan failure for Mr. Jagdeo and in a truly democratic country, Mr. Jageo would have been forced to resign. Mr. Jagdeo was presented with a Memorandum that is not anyway near what he originally envisaged.
Had he not signed last week, he would have looked foolish in ways that may have caused him to self-destruct. In the end, he sang loud songs of praise to Norway, not knowing that he would have had to put all the paragraphs in the open for the Guyanese people to see because the Norwegians wanted transparency. When you examine the Memo, Guyana stands to lose more than it gains from Norway. There are other complications too. Looked at from many angles, the LCDS has crashed for Mr. Jagdeo. First, it was naïve for any Guyanese official to think that Norway would have just put money into the hands of the Guyana Government without accountability and conditions.
The requirements are very complicated and burdensome and it is doubtful that Guyana had expert contribution to the compilation of the Memo. One would like to think that the document was drafted by Norwegian experts. It is doubtful that given the high level of incompetence in this Government that it would be able to meet the Norwegian criteria for the preservation of our forests in order to draw down.
Norway of course will help in setting up the monitoring facilities but this is where the money will go in the first three years. It is amazing that in a country where crime is the number one headache for all citizens, Guyana can refuse an aid package for the police force because the UK wanted to station a few policemen here. But look at the Memo with Norway. Foreign experts will have to live in Guyana to monitor the LCDS and they will be paid from the same money that Norway is giving us. In other words, we will be paying the experts not Norway.
Secondly, there is the argument that investments in the interior will be blocked because of adherence to the Memo and Guyana therefore will be at a disadvantage. It is widely believed that Mr. Jagdeo didn’t have a preview of what was to come in the arrangement until he saw it last week. By that time, there wasn’t any room left to back away.

Latest News

The LCDS comes crashing down to the ground

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| March, 17th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Reliance Hustlers delighted for Youth Programme support from First...

Relentless Chase demoralize West Dem’ to remain...

AAG makes history with US$300K Adidas sponsorship...

Historic NSC sponsored GGA 2nd Annual National...

St. Lucia’s Elite Blazers takes aim at FIBA...

Petra/Milo U18 Football kicks off Round II action...

Features/Columnists

Teen arrested over uncle’s murder after sharing burial plan with relative

The Caribbean: Destined to Grin and Bear the Consequences of Its Self-Created Vulnerabilities?

IMF report – cup half full, or a cup of Novocain

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

The LCDS comes crashing down to the ground

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| March, 17th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]