Is Conservation International compromised? Is Guyana condemned?

Jul 09, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Government and its actions in Guyana are under intense public scrutiny. There is hardly an issue, involving government, which does not attract comment, favorable or unfavorable.
Even the activities of private actors within our society are used as reference, for commenting or comparison with what government does. It therefore is passing strange that there have been little attempts at comparing the US$ 10M deal which the one Conservation International struck with the Exxon Mobil Trust Fund for the pittance of US$18 M which the government received from the oil giant as a signing bonus.
Conservation International’s action has raised ethical questions. It is difficult to reconcile CI’s role as a watchdog for the environment with its acceptance sum from a company which is part of the fossil fuels sector. It is like asking regulatory body accepting a donation from the very agency which it is required to monitor.
CI, however, sees no conflict of interest. CI defended its conduct and its independence by claiming that it is committed to helping Guyana achieve its green development goal. That is like saying that one would consort with the devil in order to allow someone to get to heaven. But that is the defence which CI is offering following concerns raised about its deal with Exxon.
That deal is however not just about Guyana. Conservation International is one of the organizations which is supporting a carbon tax to be paid by emitters. This proposal has found support from oil companies such as Exxon, Shell and British Petroleum.
But the carbon tax proposal is not as innocent as it seems. What the tax would do is to remove environmental responsibility for the oil companies to those industrial concerns which emit greenhouse gases. In effect, it shifts the burden from the oil producers to those using fossil fuels – all in the name of putting money back in the pockets of the people.
The deal between Exxon Mobil and Conservation International comes at a time when a major scientific journal has pointed to the fact that methane leakage from oil operations are far larger than what was originally been estimated and that these leakages contribute to climate change. It is left to be seen how Conservation International will maintain its independence when the time comes for it to call for action in this area.
The US$10M deal with Exxon Trust Fund is not the first time that CI has been accused of being compromised. CI for years have been accused of being an over-bloated organization which is administered by the largesse of corporate polluters. (See Tom Zeller’s critique of CI in a Huffington Post article entitled, “Conservation International Duped By Militant Greenwash Pitch)
The Guyanese public should therefore feel no satisfaction from the deal which Conservation International has signed with the Exxon Mobil Trust Fund. The University of Guyana which is said to benefit from that money should refuse to participate because it will undermine that institution’s credibility. UG should find no comfort in being part of any arrangement between a major environmental polluter and an organization which it listed as one of the world’s foremost environmental watchdogs.
But the problem of CI’s deal with Exxon goes beyond conflict of interest. Guyana received a signing bonus of US$18M from Exxon as part of the rights for the oil giant to explore oil reserves estimated at in excess of US$200B. This is tantamount to a billionaire giving $2 to a beggar.
It is shameful that CI could have extracted US$10M from Exxon Trust Fund but Guyana’s top oil negotiators could only managed US$18M. It just shows how Exxon took advantage of Guyana.

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