Low Carbon Development Strategy…
WITH law enforcement becoming a critical component of Government’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), the Office of Climate Change yesterday took its consultation to members of the disciplined services.

Advisor to the President, Andrew Bishop and Senior Foreign Services Officer, Michael Brotherson met with senior officers at the Felix Austin Training College, highlighting their role in the battle against Climate Change.

Bishop explained that the officers will be responsible for enforcing regulations in order to assure countries that financially support the venture, that the forest is indeed preserved.

“The role of the law enforcement officer is to ensure that the forest is secure and regulations are adhered to.”

He noted that the Strategy does not propagate the cessation of mineral extracting activities but is based on controlled clearing and forest restoration.

“There must be some amount of clearing in mining areas but that clearing must adhere to codes of practice and regulatory standards. It must be done in a controlled manner and focus must be placed on restoring the forest by means of replanting.”

Amerindian communities with land titles and which are heavily dependent on subsistence economy can choose whether or not to support the Strategy.

This does not cut them off from benefiting from the proceeds of the LCDS.

Bishop pointed out that massive rise in sea level and rapid changes in temperatures are evidence enough of Climate Change.

According to Bishop, Guyana is lobbying to garner international support from other rainforest countries.

Norway has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) indicating its commitment to the issue of reducing emissions.

Brotherson explained the meaning of the LCDS to the officers and clarified Guyana’s position on the issue.

He said in an effort to cushion the effects of Climate Change, Guyana must avoid deforestation and in so doing reduce the emission of green house gases.

The most practical and cost-effective way of reducing Climate Change, Brotherson said, is to reduce the use of fossil fuel by exploring alternative energy sources including hydro and wind power.

He stated that the Strategy is not an environmental policy but a means of keeping the rainforest intact so that it will continue to serve as a carbon basin.

Since unconstrained economic activity has such an impact on the environment, Guyana has a choice between economic development and combating Climate Change.

“If we choose to conserve the forest we must forego widespread ecotourism, mining and timber cutting so the solution is to be compensated for our preserved forest,” Brotherson detailed.

Should Guyana be paid for maintaining its vast woodlands, the opportunity cost of harvesting the forest annually is $580M.

Brotherson added that the strategy can only work with the broad-based support of the Guyanese people.

Guyana is currently preparing the final draft of the LCDS paper to be presented at the 15th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-15) of the United Nations to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark in a few days time.

Delegates from 190 countries will congregate to discuss the effects of and possible solutions to Climate Change.

The Strategy, initiated by President Bharrat Jagdeo, is the first development model in a country to undergo such extensive planning.

It seeks to promote the preservation of Guyana’s 15 million hectares of forests and calls on the international community to recognise the need for a compensatory mechanism.

It replaces the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 which established a legally binding agreement of participating nations to tackle global warming.

Under the protocol, the industrialised nations termed as the Annex 1 countries, had agreed to reduce their collective greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by the year 2012.

However, the upcoming convention in Copenhagen replaces the Kyoto protocol and will be the forum where President Jagdeo intends to push for the inclusion of forest preservation in the agreement.

For the past four months, the Office on Climate Change has conducted 15 sub-national consultations with over 3,000 representatives of 222 communities.

President Jagdeo is optimistic that this consultation will prove Guyana’s willingness to promote forest protection and climate change mitigation to the rest of the world.

The Head of State has expressed confidence in the model, which he described as an open and transparent process.

The Office of Climate Change has also collaborated with the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs to translate the concepts of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) into five Amerindian languages.

The initiative is aimed at promoting a better understanding of the LCDS among Guyana’s Amerindian people who are cited as part of the strategy’s main stakeholder group.

The deforestation and industrial activities ongoing for decades in the developed world have been cited as the main factors contributing to the climate change phenomenon evident by extreme weather patterns and changing precipitation occurrences.

This has however become more complex with the failure of the highly industrialised nations to meet the targets agreed upon under the Kyoto protocol agreement and their reluctance to make such commitments. (GINA)