Institutions and the green state

Mar 05, 2017 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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(Address by HE David Granger at the Launch of the Department of the Environment on March 1, 2017)

The Department of the Environment is central to Guyana’s transition towards a ‘green state’. The

transition to the ‘green state’ will require the collective action of all agencies, authorities, boards, commissions, departments and ministries of the State.
The ‘Department’ is expected to play a pivotal role in national development. It must coordinate the work of all of those agencies which are concerned with the environment and sustainable energy-generation – two of the principal pillars of Guyana’s green agenda. The Department will also be required to work with the other agencies to ensure that the green agenda remains on course.

CONTEXT
Guyana is located in the centre of the Guiana Shield. The Shield is vast; it is spread over 2.7 million km². The Shield’s pristine forests, largely uncontaminated aquatic ecosystems and other intact ecosystems also contain 15 per cent of the world’s freshwater reserves. The Shield is essential to enriching and replenishing the world’s biodiversity and, consequently, is essential to the planet’s survival.
The Shield’s biodiversity provides ecosystem services such as food, freshwater, medicinal products timber and non-timber products. It aids in the regulation of climate, the water cycle, water quality and pollination. Its biodiversity reduces soil degradation and enhances soil nutrition. Its forests provide storage for carbon and mitigate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. Guyana’s environment, therefore, is important to the world. It is:
– part of the Shield and a net carbon sink. Its forests envelop more than 85 per cent of its land mass, the second highest percentage forest cover in the world. Its forests sequester more carbon than that emitted by the country’s human activities;
– part of the lungs of the earth. Its extensive forests and protected areas provide environmental services to all of humanity. They store carbon and restore the balance of oxygen and humidity in the air.
Guyana has committed to:
– placing an additional two million hectares of its forests under conservation;
– moving closer towards the goal of full renewable energy use; and,
– taking specific actions to improve forest management as part of its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement on climate change.

ORGANISATION
The Department of the Environment has work to do. The environment – our grasslands, wetlands, highlands, coastal zone, mudflats, rainforests and rivers – are under stress, or worse, under threat.
Guyana needs a strong permanent institution to conserve, protect and sustainably manage our biodiversity – our patrimony. This country possesses a powerful resource which, if it is to be effectively managed, requires national cooperation and coordination.
The Department of the Environment was established as a separate entity, so keep abreast with current global environmental conventions and regional and national practices. It is meant to project Guyana’s role and protect Guyana’s place within the Guiana Shield. We have given centrality to its role by making it into a separate department within the Ministry of the Presidency.
The Department of the Environment will end the ‘ad hocery’ which used to characterise the environmental and sustainable energy sectors. We had a number of agencies without the means or mechanism to collaborate, coordinate and cooperate with each other. This led to disjointed environmental stewardship and energy development.
The Department of the Environment will remedy this problem. It will allow for a sharper focus on the environment. It will facilitate all the institutions within the environmental and sustainable energy sectors working towards the objective of the creation of a ‘green state’.
The Department of the Environment, in this regard, will enhance cooperation and coordination among and between the:
– Environmental Protection Agency;
– Guyana Energy Authority;
– Guyana Forestry Commission;
– Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission,;
– Protected Areas Commission; and,
– Wildlife Management Authority.
The Department of the Environment will work, also, with Office of Climate Change, the Project Management Office and the Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development, to fulfil our national objectives.
The Department, as I announced on National Tree Day, 1st October, 2016, will be tasked with the development of a plan of action to ensure the achievement of the green agenda. It will ensure that all the agencies concerned with the environment and sustainable energy generation play their part in Guyana’s transition towards a ‘green state.’ The ‘Plan of Action’ will guide the green agenda.

INSTITUTIONS
The Department of the Environment now has a home. This building will provide the physical accommodation to allow the Department to better execute its mandate. It will become a hub for the heads of the agencies concerned with the green agenda.
The Government expects that the agencies and non-governmental organisations will cooperate with the Department of the Environment in the execution of its mandate. It is important that all agencies move forward together towards the objective of creating a ‘green state’. Guyana, in order to advance its green agenda, must:
– invest in solar-, wind-, hydro-electric and bio-mass energy sources and introduce green transportation;
– inaugurate a world-class International Biodiversity Institute at its flagship conservation site at Iwokrama;
– increase the resources available for climate adaptation and intensify its efforts at protecting its biodiversity; and,
– improve and expand the provision of waste disposal and sanitation services.
Guyana, also, must develop a stronger eco-tourism sector. The country must continue to provide environmental services to its own citizens and the rest of the world. The country must advance regional and international action aimed at preserving protecting and promoting the environment.

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