– Granger sees environmental cooperation as obligation

PRESIDENT David Granger has said that cooperation on protection of the environment should be seen as an obligation, and not an option.Speaking at a dinner hosted on Thursday by the Board of Directors of Conservation International (CI) — which was attended by former President of Iceland, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, and former President of Kiribati, Anote Tong — at the Decatur House in Washington, DC, USA, the Guyanese leader gave his commitment, as incoming chairman of CARICOM and as leader of Guyana, to work to develop and expand regional cooperation for conservation efforts.

Articulating his vision for the development of the Guiana Shield, in the heart of which his country sits, President Granger said: “In the Guiana Shield itself, we need to build a stronger alliance, because the Guiana Shield incorporates part of Colombia, part of Venezuela, all of Guyana and all of Suriname: all of La Guyane and part of Amapá and other parts of northern Brazil. We have to collaborate…. It is obligatory — not optional — for us to collaborate…

“My closest [CARICOM] neighbour is Suriname, and we have already engaged in some level of collaboration; and I would like to invite the other nations in northern South America to join us in ensuring that the Guiana Shield remains the second ‘Garden of Eden’.”

Guyana, the President said, is focused on development of protected areas, wildlife management, coastal zone protection, and development of renewable sources of energy, even as the country’s value to the world as a new carbon sink in the reduction of climate change is emphasised.

However, President Granger stressed that the education of his people is important in ensuring that they understand the value of their natural resources in an economy with historical reliance on the extractive sectors.

“There are challenges largely because of ignorance, and we need to educate our children about the potential or possibility of making better use of our environment,” he said.

Speaking on the value of agreements like the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund and Norway Partnership, the President declared they are models that can be replicated through similar agreements with other states, since countries like Guyana are providing a service to the world.

“By protecting our forests, we are making a contribution to the world, and we are very happy to have such an agreement… It is a good model, and we would like to renew that model…and embark on similar agreements with other industrialised countries; because we are providing a global asset, a global facility, by absorbing so much carbon dioxide,” he declared.

He admitted that he looks forward to the renewal of that agreement, which allows for the development of renewable energy options beyond the current options for hydro-electricity.

Expressing gratitude for the work CI has been doing in Guyana for more than 14 years, President Granger noted that a lot of the environmental protection education that has already occurred in Indigenous communities in Guyana has been through that organisation’s work.

“Conservation International has been a very important partner; it is a very powerful non-governmental organization (that) has done work in Guyana. A lot of work has been done in the protected areas in the hinterland, particularly in the Rupununi…. We have a lot to learn from their experiences, and I believe we have a lot to benefit from their participation in future environmental projects,” the Head of State said.

The Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Conservation International (CI), Peter Seligmann, has hailed President David Granger as a visionary and steadfast leader while committing Conservation International to supporting the President’s ‘green’ agenda.

In his address, Seligmann said Guyana’s future depends on the protection of standing forests, and he said it is commendable that the President has committed to working within the Guiana Shield and CARICOM to establish strong regional cooperation in defence of the environment.

“He has made a commitment (to put) 10 per cent of his nation into protection: two million hectares; and that is just the first step. He has come here to meet with CI — to meet with you — to learn how we operate, and what it is that we can do to support his visionary efforts as he looks at how you engage and involve Indigenous people, how you transform oil and gas revenues into forest conservation, and how you actually create a strong economy that is balanced with the protection of nature. This is the type of leadership that the world needs,” Seligmann said.

The CEO of CI declared the organisation’s commitment to supporting President Granger’s vision of a green economy and green region.

“It is extraordinary leadership, and (it is) really, really timely. We have seen so many of the forest areas on this planet disappear, and your leadership and engagement and stimulus to others is really important; and I just want to say for everybody in this room and everybody at CI (that) we are totally committed to helping you,” Seligmann declared.

Meanwhile, President Granger, having met with Botswana’s Head of State, President Ian Khama, declared after that meeting that while the two countries are different geographically, there are opportunities to learn from regional cooperation leadership.

“[President Kama] has been a leader in pioneering inter-state cooperation for environmental protection, and he has brought together several African states. There’s the Gaborone Declaration for Sustainable Development in Africa, where several states cooperate to preserve their environment; and Guyana, too, as a part of the Guiana Shield, is working with Suriname, French Guiana and the other states of the Guiana Shield — Brazil and Venezuela — to do the same thing. So we are heading in the same direction, and I believe that we have lessons to learn,” he said.