Low Carbon Development: Key for Manufacturing Industry’s Growth in Guyana

Mar 27, 2022 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – Guyana’s manufacturing industry is young and ready for new technologies when dealing with the topic of climate change. By adopting new technologies, Guyana will be able to focus on eco-friendly developments across different sectors in all industries throughout the country. Other nations have already begun to explore and search for alternative options to efficiently cut down CO2 emissions while maintaining economic growth. Climate change is becoming a major topic of debate due to the real environmental threats and implications the world will face in the future. By focusing on developing new technologies now, Guyana will be able to maintain a relatively low-carbon friendly outlook in the future. In addition, by adopting a respectively low-carbon emission goal we are not only looking out for the future of this nation but also the entire world, especially considering the fact that this is becoming a popular route with other nations as well. Different countries and global organisations have their own opinions on low carbon development. Low-carbon energy, low-carbon life, and low-carbon development are examples of important concepts Guyana should take on and adopt. In order to become a better nation, we must be aware of the impacts of the local industries have on the environment. By adopting new methods and using leading technologies, we now have the capability to be more careful by being able to monitor more closely the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere. This new outlook has a central focus on technologies to produce low carbon emitting machines that results in promoting better practices in the developing world. Low-carbon society, low-carbon city, low-carbon community, and a low-carbon world are important concepts and are all intertwined, but also have some fundamental distinctions between them as well.
As Guyana becomes more involved in the international market, our economy will slowly become globalised. Regardless, we must protect our nation’s resources in competition and industries in foreign markets. By implementing an initiative that will give Guyana an advantage in the global market is an opportunity that must be used to the country’s advantage. One initiative is the Import Substitution Industrialization Strategy. This strategy protects sectors of industries until they become strong enough to compete internationally while the country is open to free trade. Most of Guyana’s GDP goes towards imports, partially because of Guyana’s weak manufacturing industry. Protecting our industries will give businesses time to adjust to the low carbon strategies. The manufacturing industry and related developments are expected to significantly increase due to the oil discoveries and the influx of foreign companies in the region. President Ali has set forth an initiative towards meeting his goal to reduce food imports by an impressive 40 percent by the year 2025. This will be the perfect opportunity to start to focus on the revamp of the low carbon manufacturing industry by building up this sector in Guyana. Implementing a strategy that uses technologies that only give off a relatively low amount of carbon emissions into the local atmosphere will be of great importance when it comes to the production of and sourcing food locally. This is important for not only the local market but eventually other ventures in the future regarding global exportations. By increasing the local output of goods produced, these local resources can help the nation and will result in the decrease of the amount of goods imported into the country.
In other words, investing in technologies and products associated with low-carbon manufacturing will enable Guyana to reduce imports by slowly increasing exports, and simultaneously self-supporting and sustaining the local economy. Low carbon manufacturing produces lower levels of carbon that is emitted into the atmosphere by using methods that are effective and efficient. Guyana relies heavily on imports for the majority of the nation’s food sources, industrial equipment, electronics, and other commodities. Guyana should focus on its competitive advantages like agriculture and natural resources. The manufacturing industry can focus on biodegradable products, oil products, and dairy by-products like milk or cheese. Other industries can focus on the nation’s raw materials like lithium, cobalt, and magnesium just to name a few. The waste from raw materials can then be recycled and properly disposed of; this is to aide in the reduction of unnecessary waste. These recycled resources can be used to make other byproducts, which lessen the amount of waste that is produced as a result from the manufacturing industry. Therefore, it is a beneficial strategy to implement these eco-friendly methods. By doing so, this will create an opportunity for the country to grow. An incorporation of reducing, reusing, and recycling all materials used throughout these processes into an alternative replacement is a more conscientious way to deal with them when compared as how we deal with them now.
Sincerely yours,
MJ

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