Trees hold up the sky

Oct 23, 2016 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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By HE David Granger

Guyana is at the very centre of the Guiana Shield; one of the world’s last remaining blocks of

virgin tropical rainforests. Guyana’s international commitment to sustainable development and its protection is of long standing. We committed, in 1989, 371,000 hectares of our forest – an area larger than Malta – to be used as a model for conservation and sustainable development.
The Iwokrama rainforest exemplifies the essential environmental services which trees provide to all humanity. It exhibits this country’s rich biodiversity, showing that its animals and plants are more valuable alive than dead.
Iwokrama is the home of millions of trees which provide environmental services to the world. Iwokrama is part of the Guiana Shield – ‘lungs of the Earth”. Trees sequester carbon, purify the air and reduce the ‘greenhouse’ effect thereby mitigating the adverse effects of climate change. Trees contribute to water control and humidification of the air.
Guyana is a net carbon sink. Forests envelop more than 85 per cent of its land mass, the second highest percentage forest cover in the world. Guyana’s forests sequester more carbon than that emitted by the country’s human activities.
Guyana’s extensive forests and protected areas provide environmental services to the earth. They store carbon and restore the balance of oxygen and humidity in the air.
Iwokrama’s forests are a source of sustainable livelihood for the indigenous communities who reside in its boundaries. They provide food, shelter, medicines and forest products which support the economic well-being of the residents of those communities in a sustainable manner.
Iwokrama’s forests preserve the habitats of Guyana’s abundant and high endemic biodiversity. Deforestation – the destruction of trees – destroys these habitats and increases the risk of extinction our floral and faunal species. Trees, also, reduce environmental degradation.
Iwokrama has provided confirmation that Guyana’s biodiversity is a world class ecotourism product. The development of this product, through preserving and conserving our forests, will generate economic benefits for the nation.
The Iwokrama International Centre for International Rain Forest Conservation and Development was created as a laboratory for sustainable development practices. It was intended to:
“…develop, demonstrate and make available to Guyana and the international community, systems, methods and techniques for the sustainable management and utilization of the multiple resources of the tropical forests and the conservation of biological diversity.”
Iwokrama will be maintained as a centre of research into sustainable development practices. We will establish, here, an international institute for biodiversity that will allow local, regional and international students and researchers to come to Iwokrama to study Guyana’s flora and fauna.
Iwokrama will be retained as a model of conservation. It will have sanctuaries to protect its wildlife. We will ensure that the purposes for which Iwokrama was established – conservation, research and sustainable development – are accentuated, advanced and accelerated under Guyana’s green development agenda.
Iwokrama’s forests will continue to make a contribution to mitigating the effects of climate change by providing the world with environmental and ecological services. The promotion of sustainable livelihoods in the communities located in this area will be augmented. Iwokrama’s ecotourism potential will be boosted by improving the aerodrome and the highway which provide access to the site.
GREEN AGENDA
It is said: “trees hold up the sky”. This means the sky will fall if you cut them down. Guyana was happy; Fairview Village was happy; Iwokrama was happy seven years ago, in November 2009, when the Minister of the Environment of the Kingdom of Norway, Erik Solheim, came right here on the banks of the great Essequibo to sign an agreement to preserve our rain forests.
The Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg, in July 2010, announced the establishment of the Guyana Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation + Investment Fund (GRIF) and the World Bank was invited to function as fund manager.
The adoption of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) was the start. Conserving our rainforests and preserving our trees are a continuous commitment. National Tree Day, therefore, is not symbolic or perfunctory.
National Tree Day, launched in Bartica, last year, impressed, on us, the importance of trees as a source of economic empowerment and human existence.
I am committed to ensuring that an additional two million hectares of land and waterways are set aside for conservation.
I am committed to the establishment of at least one protected area in every Region.
I am committed to transitioning closer towards 100% renewable energy sources by 2025.
National Tree Day 2016 emphasises the economic and ecological value of trees to our existence and development. This special day emphasises the value of our forests to sustaining life on earth and reminds us of our responsibility to protect and preserve our environment and particularly, our forests.
Guyana reiterates the commitments contained in its Intended National Determined Commitments under the Paris Agreement on climate change. We undertake to improve the monitoring of our forests so as to reduce illegal deforestation; increase value-added activities in the forestry sector so as to augment carbon storage in long-use wood products and introduce mineral mapping in order to better identify exploitable deposits, reducing deforestation caused by the clearing of lands with only minimal deposits.
GREEN STATE
The ultimate objective of Guyana’s ‘green’ agenda is the creation of a green state. Guyana’s green state rests on the state’s responsibility:
– the protection of our biodiversity and wildlife;
– the provision of educational, environmental services and ecotourism;
– the generation of sustainable energy,
– the mitigation of the adverse effects of climate change;
– the management of our coastal zone, rivers, wetlands and protected areas; and
– the management of waste and sanitation services.
The achievement of these objectives requires institutions with the capability to advance the green agenda. We have established several institutions which are concerned with the environment and renewable energy over the years. The agencies are: – Guyana Forestry Commission; Guyana Energy Authority; Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission; Environmental Protection Agency; Project Management Office which is involved, inter alia, in the design and administration of projects under the Guyana Redd + Investment Fund (GRIF); Protected Areas Commission; Office of Climate Change; Wildlife Management Authority and the Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development.
These agencies, authorities, centres and commissions, all travel along the same green pathway towards the same destination – the creation of a ‘green state’. We shall improve the mechanism to ensure more effective communication, cooperation and coordination.
The government has recently established a Department of the Environment in the Ministry of the Presidency. It will be charged with coordinating the State’s environmental and energy policies.
The Department will be tasked with ensuring the development of an action plan to achieve the objectives of Guyana’s ‘green agenda.’ It will ensure that the respective institutions play their part in realizing these objectives.
We abuse the earth because we believe that it belongs to us. We are wrong. We are only the trustees. We inherited the earth from our ancestors and we must pass it on to our progeny. The trees of Guyana are part of our natural and national patrimony. We have a responsibility to protect and preserve that endowment. We are the trees’ trustees.
Guyana’s green agenda will grow a green state. Guyana’s trees are integral to that trajectory of development. We must therefore see our trees not as mere objects to be felled for their economic worth but, more importantly, to be propagated, preserved and protected, since they are worth more alive than dead.

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