Indigenous communities want control of their share of carbon credit revenue – Allicock

Jan 11, 2023 News

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By Davina Bagot

Kaieteur News – Former Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs, Sydney Allicock is arguing the need for Indigenous communities to be in control of their share of revenue earned through the sale of carbon credits.

On December 2, 2022, the Government of Guyana inked a “historic” agreement with American oil company, Hess Corporation for the sale of carbon credits earned by Guyana for keeping its vast forest resource intact.

Some 15 percent of these resources will go directly towards Indigenous communities, according to Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo.

While appearing as a guest speaker on the Guyana Business Journal and Magazine (GBJ) panel discussion on ‘Guyana’s Indigenous Peoples & the Oil and Gas economy,’ the former Minister said the resources must be used in a sustainable manner to help develop the lives of citizens in hinterland communities.

Allicock’s position comes even as government in the past has given grants and facilitated medium-term projects such as the distribution of agricultural tools.

He told viewers of the virtual show that the amount of money to be earned from the sector offers a great opportunity to transform the lives of Indigenous peoples and must be used to fund well-thought-out programmes. This plan of action, according to Allicock must not only ensure sustainability but offer “regenerative” options especially in the mining industry.

He said, “I would like to say that this is old pathways but new direction for all Guyanese, not only for the Indigenous peoples. It an opportunity for us to plan to have this plan of action that will allow each and every Guyanese to benefit, but more so for us who have been in the hinterland, taking care of Mother nature while mother nature takes care of us to make step ups to say exactly how we should be able to manage our development with the support of the new found riches of oil and the carbon credits.”

Allicock pointed out that while Indigenous communities are represented by Toshaos that sit on the National Toshaos Council (NTC) that is occupied by university graduates, in some instances there is still a lack of technical capability. This deficiency often lends to the dependency on the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs he said.

To address this issue, the former Minister told panellists that the funds from the oil sector, coupled with revenue from carbon credit should go towards up skilling citizens in hinterland communities. He made the case that more indigenous villagers need to be trained in technical areas to be able to participate in other sectors, rather than the traditional aspects such as agriculture.

Allicock said he strongly believes that the funds earned for the Indigenous communities must be secured for the advancement of this cause.

“It is also an opportunity for security of this funding to be in an Indigenous Bank. For now, we could keep it probably in the Bank of Guyana until we can have such persons trained in the various aspects of Banking, in project management, in the development of industries within various regions, for example cassava- food security – we need things like a better facility in every region with regards to agricultural skills to help us to continue to work in having food security,” he explained.

But in addition to the agriculture sector, Allicock said it is time for special institutions to be built in the Hinterland region to help Amerindians become equipped with knowledge on environmental issues and natural resources to be able to play a part in the development of their villages.

He said, “We also need to have a group of special youths studying the environment, natural resources so that we could follow our development and our input and what we are receiving and to decide on what direction we should take.”

“That would call for, eventually having technical or special institutions in the Hinterland where our people could be studying all these things with regards to nature,” the former Minister added.

Although he is adamant that Indigenous leaders should determine how their share of carbon credit revenue is spent, Allicock said this does not mean that there should be no room for accountability.

He suggested that an oversight body be instituted, comprising of officers from the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, members of the diaspora and even private citizens.

Based on the agreement with Hess Corporation, it will be paying US$15 per tonne between 2016 and 2020, which amounts to US$187M. In the next 18 months, the Vice President said he expects the payments to come to the country according to the schedule. Some $28M of this amount he said, will go directly to Amerindian communities.

Meanwhile, during the period 2021 to 2025, Guyana will be earning US$20 per tonne which is expected to rake in another US$250M for the country. For the period 2025 to 2030, Hess will pay US$25 per tonne amounting to US$312M, bringing the total to US$750M over the 10 year period. Overall, the Indigenous communities will receive approximately US$112M.

Hess is Guyana’s first client, purchasing 30 percent of the country’s carbon credits for a minimum of US$750M.

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• Davina Bagot, gas, Hess, oil, Projects

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