Latest update March 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 10, 2014 News
– Norway agreement brushed aside for China’s quick dollar- Harmon
By Nicholas Peters
The Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) agreement that Guyana signed on to with the Kingdom of Norway appears to be losing its economic appeal. The lush forests that were once championed are now in jeopardy due to exploitive logging practices by Bai Shan Lin.
The recent exposé by this newspaper has shed light on the nature of the company’s “abusive” operations. As a result, A Partnership for National Unity’s Shadow Minister of Public Works, Joseph Harmon has called on President Donald Ramotar to fire the Minster of Natural Resources, Robert Persaud, who he believes is aiding and abetting the company’s behaviour.
“If the President can’t tell Minster Persaud to go, then he and his whole Cabinet need to go,” the politician asserted.
In the proposal for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), former President Bharrat Jagdeo said that the LCDS agreement must create meaningful incentives to remunerate forest nations for the valuable climate services they provide to the world.
‘The recent activities of Bai Shan Lin have compromised the “services” that the Guyana rainforest is meant to provide and is hindering our economic development. So has the agreement between Guyana and Norway been brushed under the carpet for a much more beneficial package?”
Harmon is of the firm belief that this is the case. He expressed that the partnership between the Guyanese government and Bai Shan Lin Co. would lead Guyana to believe that Norway has been snuffed out of the equation altogether.
Under the China Forestry Industry Group, eleven (11) companies have access to approximately 960,000 hectares of forest lands. That makes up about 4.5% of Guyana’s.
That area of land is therefore subjected to the logging operations of companies such as Bai Shan Lin. As is evident from this the newspaper’s findings, if more of the country’s lands are subjected to such operations then the objectives of the LCDS will not be achieved. Failure to comply with regulation means failure of the Norway agreement.
Harmon said, “When Guyana signed the agreement with the Kingdom of Norway we intended to protect our forest. In return we would be paid money in tranches which would be used to fund certain projects.”
The politician who sits on the Parliament’s Natural Resources Sectoral Committee said, “The evidence revealed by the Kaieteur Newspaper indicates that government will renege on that agreement. We had this big push about his [former President Jagdeo] LCD programme and when Persaud was before the Committee, he admitted that he had ambivalent feelings about the matter.”
This ambivalence appears to have been translated into the inefficient protection of the country’s natural resources. The Shadow Minister further expounded that, “The last time we met, he was saying that it is either we preserve the forest and get so much money or cut it down and get much more, so in other words there is a choice. The Minister is saying that the programme is not providing the money as they would like it and it appears that at the rate at which government is allowing Bai Shan Lin to be abusive, they don’t want to wait on this programme anymore.”
“It is taking too long. It seems as though they are preparing to abandon it but with the Kaieteur News around and a strong Opposition, they would not be able to hide that. Government has made its choice. It is also clear that government has lost its ability to govern this country and we have the pulse of the people when we are saying they should go.”
Harmon deduced that the Norway agreement has tried the patience of the Guyanese economy, while Bai Shan Lin provides a quick dollar. “The cost of that quick dollar is the protection of the country’s natural resources. Low Carbon Development programmes are no longer a priority for progress, making unregulated logging the new goldmine.” Harmon said.
Listen to the man that is throwing Guyanese bright future away
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