Open Letter to the Government of Norway

Sep 06, 2021 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News– The PPP/C government has indicated an intention to renew its forest pact which it signed with the Government of Norway. Under that agreement, which was signed in November 2009, Norway agreed to compensate Guyana with up to US$250M over a five-year period, for climate services resulting from avoided deforestation.
Norway was not doing Guyana any favours with this forest pact. At the time Norway signed the agreement, its international reputation as a high emission polluter was established. By signing these REDD-type agreements, Norway was offsetting its pollution by investing in reduced emissions initiatives in countries such as Guyana (2009), Brazil (2008), Indonesia (2010) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (2007).
Unlike what the PPP/C government sought to project, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with Norway was therefore no unique or first-of-its kind agreement. The agreement with Guyana was part of Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative which was launched two years prior to the pact with Guyana. Nor was there anything visionary about the forest pact signed under Jagdeo in 2009. The UNFCC had created a framework for these types of agreements. At its Conference of Parties in 2008, forest-resourced countries were encouraged to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), on a voluntary basis.
Arising out of the MOU signed with Norway, the Jagdeo administration developed a half-baked strategy called the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). One of the earliest criticisms of the forest pact signed with Norway was the absence of a participatory focus. It was claimed that the pact was developed as an in-house document and was disconnected from any national development strategy, including Jagdeo’s own National Competitiveness Strategy. A second criticism was that there were limited projects to utilise the funding and in fact when the MOU was signed there were no projects.
The Low Carbon Development Strategy is a basket case. It relies exclusively on Norway’s payments and meeting Norway’s conditions. In that regard it is entirely one-sided. It is quintessentially a financial rather than an environmental strategy.
The PPP/C is only now realising this. Embarrassed by the more impressive Green State Development Strategy, it is now seeking to ‘green’ the LCDS by expanding it to include wider environmental services, water resources management, climate resilience, biodiversity, renewable energy, and the marine economy. These plans reflect an acknowledgement of the deficiencies of the poorly conceptualised LCDS.
The pact with Norway was more to Norway’s benefit than Guyana’s. The agreement gave that country a pathway to demonstrate that it was moving towards emissions neutrality, not by reducing its own emissions but by securing offsets with countries such as Guyana, Brazil and Indonesia.
Guyana has had problems with accessing the monies which were to be provided by Norway. The process is cumbersome and constitutes a violation of national sovereignty because it places too much control in the hands of the World Bank and the IDB.
But perhaps the main reason why Norway should not renew the forest pact with Guyana, concerns the hydroelectric project which is to be funded from the proceeds paid by Norway. That project reeked of controversy. It collapsed just prior to the 2015 elections after the developer walked because of the political risks involved – the then main Opposition refusing to support a highly controversial project.
Amazingly, the PPP/C which returned to office in 2020 is resuscitating this project. It is almost as if the PPP/C is oblivious to the changes which have taken place in renewable energy in the five years that the PPP/C has been out of office.
Norway also has reasons not to support this project. The Norwegians had agreed with the Government of Guyana to fund an objective study of the hydroelectric project at Amaila Falls. The study supported the project as the fastest way for Guyana to satisfy its commitment to full renewable energy use by 2025. However, Jagdeo has said that this target is not feasible. As such, the basis for the Norwegian support for the hydroelectric project no longer exists.
Guyana is no longer in the same financial position as it was when it signed the Memorandum of Understanding with Norway, which became the basis for the development of the LCDS. Guyana is now an oil producing country. That US$250M which Norway was supposed to have provided is no longer as needed now as it was in 2009.
Norway should therefore stay clear of the PPP/C’s plans to renew the MOU. It is time for Norway to seek new game and new fish.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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