PNCR Congress …‘Green’ economy needed to wean Guyana off of addiction to fossil fuels - Pres. Granger

PNCR Congress …‘Green’ economy needed to wean Guyana off of addiction to fossil fuels – Pres. Granger

Aug 28, 2016 News

By Kiana Wilburg
The idea of a “green economy” is one which is strongly supported by the People’s National Congress

President and PNCR Leader, David Granger

Reform (PNCR). In fact, the Party intends to channel its efforts into ensuring that this goal is attained.
This was articulated by the Party’s leader, President David Granger during Friday’s opening ceremony of the PNCR’s 19th Biennial Delegates Congress. The event concludes today at the PNCR’s Sophia Headquarters.
Granger said that his party’s commitment to achieving the ‘green economy’ goal is even represented in the Party’s theme this year which is, “PNCR-Vanguard of a green economy.”
The Party Leader said that Guyana, as a small, low-lying coastal state will ignore the consequences of climate change to its peril.
In this regard, the President said that rising sea levels batter the sea walls; extremes of weather, such as the recent bout of El Nino, associated with climate change, have already started to present formidable challenges to the country, and the nation’s infrastructure is incapable of coping with the consequences of prolonged flooding and drought.
Being the historian that he is, Granger asserted that Guyana is the largest state in the Caribbean Community. The President said that the nation’s forests cover more than 85 percent of its land mass.
He said that it is a ‘net carbon sink,’ that is, its forests sequester more carbon than the country’s human activity generates.
The Party Leader also pointed out that the economy, despite this, is heavily dependent on agriculture and on the extractive sectors – bauxite, diamond and gold-mining and logging.
Granger said that the high dependence on agriculture and exhaustible natural resources places the nation’s natural assets at risk of erosion. He emphasized that the PNCR supports the adoption of a sustainable model of resource exploitation and extraction in order to reduce the rate of depletion of the country’s natural resources so that these assets will also be available to future generations.
The Party Leader stressed that a ‘green’ economy is necessary to ensure the sustainable management of its natural resources. He said, too, that a ‘green’ economy is also needed to wean this country off of its addiction to fossil fuels.
In this regard, the President informed his attentive audience that the importation of these fuels exacts a heavy burden on the economy. He noted that Guyana, in 2012, expended the equivalent of 24 percent of its Gross Domestic Product on petroleum-based products.
The PNCR, he said, proposes a Green Development Strategy as a template for the ‘greening” of Guyana.
Granger said, “We propose to transition our economy rapidly towards clean and cheaper sources of renewable energy. We will craft a comprehensive Coastal Zone Management Plan to protect human habitation, our coastal economic sectors and coastal ecosystems. We will create ‘green’ enterprises and jobs and we will inculcate ‘green’ education in our schools.”
The Party Leader then turned his attention towards highlighting the importance of the 19th Biennial Delegates Congress.
He said that the event is one which sees numerous delegates who have been selected to represent thousands of members in groups, districts and regions throughout the country and from the Diaspora in the Caribbean, the Americas and Europe. He said that they will discuss, deliberate and determine issues and make decisions to guide the PNCR Party for the next two years.
The President said, “Congress, this year is special. Our nation celebrates its 50th anniversary of Independence and a change in government. Guyana became independent after 350 years of Dutch and British imperial rule. We celebrate the anniversary of the Independence we gained on May 26, 1966, 50 years ago. We were inspired, then, to make our cherished homeland a nation of unity, security and prosperity. We are encouraged, today, to renew our determination to provide our citizens with ‘a good life’.”
He continued, “Our Independence anniversary is an occasion not only to remind ourselves about the past. It is an opportunity to renew our commitment to our country and to rekindle the enterprising spirit of May 26. We recall how our Party struggled relentlessly for Independence.”
Granger added, “Guyanese greeted Independence with the aspiration of enjoying ‘a good life,’ one that was better than what we had to endure as a colony. We toiled to repair a country that had been damaged by disunity, discord and disorder. We strove to create a community of comity and unity.”
As a coalition administration, Granger said that he and his team are tasked, collectively for the next 50 years, to complete its historic mission to provide ‘a good life’ for all.
“We must act resolutely to make the changes that are essential to building a resilient economy — one that is adaptive to the changes and responsive to the challenges of the global economy.”