Misplaced and unhelpful opposition

Dec 13, 2015 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

President David Granger recently rapped the Opposition Leader for his disingenuous dismissal of the suitability of Natural Resources and the Environment Minister, Raphael Trotman to represent Guyana at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP 21) that concluded yesterday in France. The President labeled Jagdeo’s comments “misplaced, unfair and unhelpful”.
“If he has a strong view, we can meet and sit down and discuss it. We are an inclusive government and we are prepared to sit down and benefit from his experience. But to stay afar off and attack a representative of the Government is not the behaviour we expect of a former Head of State. We are not at war with the PPP. We were the ones who held out a hand of friendship, and I would welcome Mr. Jagdeo (if he was open to) giving us the sort of brief that I feel the new government is entitled to.”
It would not serve our national interests on the world stage if Guyana presented a contentious front. It is in our best interest that we stand united and confident in what we have to offer the world, i.e. protection for the generations to come
One could surmise that the Opposition Leader was angling to be appointed the country’s representative at the Paris summit. If that was indeed his motive, what then prevented him from making the necessary overtures to the government in his political capacity to pitch the frontal role he played in this arena? It should not be difficult for all to agree on the reasons why Guyana’s international profile should be kept high.
One of those compelling reasons is the benefits to the nation that could include international technical assistance to efficiently marry economically viable forest harvesting, mining and farming with our responsibility to retain a specific percentage of forest cover. These world class advisors could bring us technical guidance to help Guyana avoid possible salination of our fresh-water creeks and rivers, as well as the appropriate design and construction of effective defences against rising sea levels.
The approach to climate change that had been applied by the previous government was deficient. While the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) has some benefits, this government has adopted a holistic approach to managing and mitigating the harmful effects of climate change, an approach that does not start and end with the LCDS.
Many people did get the impression that the motivation of the previous administration was simply to receive a large sum of funds from the countries willing to help Guyana play its important global role, i.e. to keep our forests intact so they could help to absorb the tremendously high levels of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other harmful greenhouse gases created by heavy industrialization in the developed countries.
Prior to this year, there was no focused campaign to break down the elements of the strategy and place them in a context that would give to the people a platform from which they would conceive ideas and comprehensive plans to manage their own environment, to start up new businesses and galvanise others in their immediate vicinities to join the ‘fight’ of their lives.
Guyanese were familiar enough with the acronym LCDS, but many did not really understand how the strategy would work for them and what individual and collective roles they could play towards activating those strategies. This government is closing that information gap while we rollout Guyana’s new climate change policy, intended to transform the nation by developing a green economy.
This new strategy involves an energy policy, a new environmental management approach with specific caveats for gold, diamond, bauxite and other miners of minerals. It involves responsible farming practices, retaining green spaces, replanting trees and reducing the amount of non-biodegradable packaging materials, especially in the food and commercial industries.
The new approach will launch a concerted public information campaign that first explains what climate change is, the results of atmospheric changes, the consequences of human actions, and the ways in which we could change our behaviours to ultimately preserve our environment and our natural finite resources.
We are satisfied that Minister Trotman competently represented Guyana at the Conference of Parties (COP 21) in Paris.

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