President Ali’s visit to Oxford University

Oct 03, 2024 Letters

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Dear Editor:

It was Kofi Anan, former UN Secretary-General who said some time ago that “The only barrier to human development is ignorance, and this is not insurmountable”.  I was fortunate to have been invited by Oxford University to listen to a public statement by His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali at the Blavatnik School of Government on Friday, September 27, 2024, on the topic “Guyana in Transformation – The Theory of Change and Priorities”.  His Excellency also launched a book on Food Security Strategy captioned “Achieving Global Food Security – The Caribbean Experience and Beyond”.

I listen to a conversation in a room full of more than 160 Oxford University Graduate Studies aspirants from more than 60 countries (including a Guyanese student who lives in the USA). What I experienced, was a very interactive session between the students, the former President of Colombia, Mr. Ivan Duque (“distinguished fellow” at the influential US Based Woodrow Wilson Center), Professor Karthik Ramanna (formerly from Harvard University but now at the Oxford University within the Blavatnik School of Government) and finally our own President Ali, who need no introduction.

I witnessed some intense outpouring of thoughts from, in my opinion, some extremely talented students. The real discussion started when former President Duque drew the “Resource vs Capability Strategy Matrix” on the board.  This information was useful in triggering the more than 20 “bunker-busting” piercing questions from the students. Any normal intellectual/politician would have struggled in that room, but His Excellency rose to the challenge quite competently and admirably. I have not seen or heard anyone in current-day Guyana speak as fluently and on point as Dr. Ali on the subject matter of Guyana and its human developmental trajectory, as I witnessed in that Oxford University classroom.  This debate should be shown to every secondary and tertiary school student as essential training, since it is a clear outline of the national developmental policy framework for the new Guyana and it is exciting.

It would therefore be remiss of me not to share some of what I heard at Oxford University and hopefully, the local press will pick up on this recording and ask His Excellency some more questions on this intellectual outpouring from him, since it can clarify for many, where we are doing strategically as a nation.

Most of the piercing questions from the students were directed at the oil that was discovered in Guyana, the terms of the contract, the associated revenue, the climate change implication of this new oil discovery, the geopolitical concerns that are associated with this oil, the need to economically diversify away from the oil industry, etc.  His Excellency started his statement by highlighting that what was heard was information about the oil in Guyana and its implication but that is not Guyana. He then started the discussion on Guyana and its human development story that includes the oil.

That was the trigger that kicked off one of the best policy statements I have ever heard on Guyana, if not the best.  This extremely excellent presentation started by defining Guyana globally for what it is – a biodiversity mecca, which is 1 of only 7 “carbon sink” countries that have already met the net zero emissions.  In Guyana’s case, it has 86% of its land mass under forest (similar to the size of England), contributing positively to the world.  This resource can store some 19.5 gigatons of carbon and sequester 153 million tons of carbon annually.  He then made a compelling case for our development profile which is being driven by the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) which he outlined in detail, quite proficiently to the listeners; and not skipping a beat. He then spoke about Guyana’s ambition (which is important to the EU agenda) of developing the nation’s desire to start trading our carbon credits on the global market while informing the audience of the two carbon credit projects that provided some US$1 billion to Guyana which is being used to uplift the lives of the people with a guaranteed to the Hinterland people of 15% of all earned carbon credit resources.

I sat there and watched these brilliant minds, all very quiet and listening intently for two hours as he continued on the question of why Guyana can and must continue to harvest the oil resources.  But the idea that made the most sense to me, as explained by His Excellency, was why it is morally and economically sound to pump the oil and sell carbon credit to anyone, including Hess. His Excellency highlighted that the world today has lost, over the last 50 years, more than 50% of its biodiversity. He clarified for the students, that while His Government is committed to keeping the Guyanese forest, generally intact, with a harvest rate that complies with all the global regulations, such a commitment comes at a heavy price to our national development if not monetized and paid for by those who destroyed 50% of the biodiversity system over the last 50 years.  As he stated, in this equation, what was earned from these forests for the Guyanese people to date was just US$1 billion, which is not enough to realize the economic ambition of the Guyanese people.

So, he asked the question – where do we find the resources to fulfill the dream and ambition of the Guyanese people if our carbon sink capabilities are not being monetized and rewarded by those who have destroyed the biodiversity system over the last 50 years?

The case was made; that Guyana must assess its national need, decide what is best for its people, and find the resources to fund the mitigation and adaptation programme to combat the climate change challenge. His Excellency made it clear; no one is coming with a multi-billion-dollar grant to say “thank you Guyana for keeping your forest intact”. Everything that Guyana buys from the world, it has to pay for at market rates and those activities require hard cash.

His Excellency stated that with the approved oil production operations functioning at its maximum rate, the oil and gas industry will be utilizing less than 20% of the carbon being stored in the forest, which still makes Guyana a carbon sink post facto.

I rest my case; my work in the European Union has just become even more interesting.

Sincerely  
Sasenarine Singh
Ambassador, Co-operative Republic of Guyana

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• Blavatnik School, EU agenda, Excellency, Karthik Ramanna, programme, the Caribbean

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