Latest update March 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 19, 2021 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
Kaieteur News – Transparency is not one of the hallmarks of the PPP/C. It is therefore not surprising that the government is entering into arrangements for the sale of carbon credits, yet only sketchy details are being provided of its plans.
The government has committed itself to the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent when dealing with issues which affect the country’s indigenous community. In announcing that his government plans to earn hundreds of millions of dollars from ecosystem services, President Ali had committed to Free, Prior and Informed Consent and opt-in mechanisms with the country’s indigenous peoples. He must now honour that pledge.
There has been no report that the indigenous community has been consulted on the two agreements which are reportedly being pursued by the government, one with Emergent for the sale of carbon credits at a base price of US$10 per tonne of carbon, and now with an entity known as the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) coalition.
The PPP/C administration is pursuing agreements which have implications for the mining and forestry and indigenous development, and it is doing so without consultations with the Amerindian leaders, miners and foresters. This is not only totally unacceptable but it is in contravention of the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).
FPIC is recognised as a principle of international law. By virtue of the international human rights’ treaties, to which Guyana is a signatory, these rights are incorporated into local law.
The government must come clean over these agreements. More importantly, it must begin, in earnest, a process of consultations with the National Toshaos’ Conference and the stakeholders in the mining and forestry sectors.
Jagdeo must not be allowed to enter into any agreement on carbon credits – which will bind future generations – unless there are widespread consultations. This country is not anyone’s property to do with as he or she pleases.
The reports of Guyana seeking to trade carbon credits, merely confirm what was long suspected: that the PPP/C’s Low Carbon Development Strategy is and has always been a financing mechanism and not an environmental strategy. When it comes to the environment, the PPP/C’s primary interest is in making money from Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation and not primarily to protect the environment. It does not have a genuine environmental strategy.
Despite claiming that Guyana has a high international profile as a champion of the environment, Guyana is only now seeking to expand the LCDS to being more than simply a forest-carbon agreement. Who wrote that crap which is called the LCDS in the first place? How can there be a low carbon development strategy with little or no attention paid to biodiversity, water management and conservation?
The answer to the latter is that the LCDS is a financing agreement not an environmental strategy. And all it was intended to do was to provide a pittance of US$50M per year to the country for five years from Norway, and Guyana was subject to all manner of frustrations and prevarications in order to obtain the sums which were earned.
Norway used Guyana as a pawn. And Jagdeo fell for the trap – hook, line and sinker.
The money which Guyana earned annually from Norway is chicken-feed. Guyana earned almost a US$1B from gold in 2020. The Norway Agreement was providing US$50M per year.
The government is now pushing Guyana towards carbon credit trading. But what are the implications. It is well established that outside of energy, the clearing of forests constitutes the major source of global greenhouse gas emissions. As such, keeping forests intact is seen as an important element of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This is why there was so great a concern about the fires in the Amazon a few years ago.
Guyana already has low levels of deforestation. Therefore it means that any attempt at earning carbon credits from avoided deforestation will have to involve some sacrifices for mining and forestry. It could entail that these activities will be allowed to continue but not expand, depending on the agreement signed.
It is for this reason that Jagdeo should not be allowed to further pursue any carbon credit trading scheme unless he first consults with the country’s miners, foresters and indigenous leaders.
Guyana must not be bound by any future agreement which can stifle key sectors of the economy and shut-out the country’s indigenous population. Our country’s future must not be traded away in the form of carbon credits.
(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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