Viewpoint…
IN THE recent weeks, I am sure that most of our viewers have heard about climate change and Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy.

What is climate change? Climate change refers to a long-term significant change in the average weather conditions in a country or region. Average weather, if left alone, could remain unchanged for centuries. However, Man’s activities on the environment have resulted in significant changes in weather patterns, leading to climate change. Primary among these activities are the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, which have led to the release of carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) into the earth’s atmosphere.

CFC’s are gases which have the effect of diminishing the protective layer of ozone around the earth, and thus allow larger amounts of harmful solar radiation to enter the earth’s atmosphere. In combination with increased amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the effects on global climate become greater, thereby contributing to global warming.

As more and more carbon dioxide builds up, greater amounts of solar radiation become trapped in the earth’s atmosphere. The result is global warming and changes in precipitation, temperature and wind, the length of growing seasons changes, frequency and severity of storms increase, and sea level rises due to the melting polar ice caps and thermal expansion of water due to warming. Today, these impacts are being felt globally, leading all countries to consider measures aimed at mitigating these adverse effects of climate change.

There are many ways that climate change can be mitigated. One is to reduce the use of fossil fuels and develop and use more renewable energy. Because deforestation contributes more than 17% of greenhouse gas emissions, the preservation of standing forests is also a very viable mitigation tool.

Notwithstanding this fact, the current global agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, rewards the planting or replanting of forests, and not the preservation of standing forests. For countries like Guyana, where most of our forests are pristine, and where our deforestation is among the lowest on the planet, this arrangement has nothing for us. In fact, it encourages us to clear our forest and then replant to reap the benefits.

President Jagdeo has long called this arrangement skewed, perverse and unacceptable. As such, Guyana has been the vanguard for countries with intact forest to receive compensation. To this end, a number of measures have been employed, including building national consensus, lobbying the international community, forming partnerships with other countries in similar stages of development and with low deforestation rates to forge a new agreement that would benefit countries that preserve their forests.

You may ask where the money will come from if we leave our forest intact. The government has commissioned a study that has indicated that it is possible to derive revenue from standing forest that exceeds the current revenue from logging. It is therefore possible to preserve the forest, and also obtain significant revenue to propel development.

This is the basis of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). The LCDS, in essence, seeks to define a path for Guyana to pursue economic development while reducing emissions and combating climate change.

In creating a low-carbon economy, the Government of Guyana proposes in the LCSD to:

*Invest in low carbon economic infrastructure;

*Facilitate investment and employment in low carbon economic sectors; and

*Generally enhance the nation’s human capital and create new opportunities

for forest-dependent and other indigenous communities.

These activities are aimed at creating investments in renewable sources of energy, such as hydro-electricity; increased access to unused non-forested land (which will be converted to productive use, thereby reducing dependency on forests); improved sustainable forest management practices; ecotourism; and bio- fuel production.

The strategy promulgates a paradigm that would project Guyana not just as country with a low rate of deforestation seeking compensation for keeping its forests intact, but also as a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy capable of taking a leading role in the developing world for climate change mitigation. How to achieve this goal is outlined in the LCDS, and it includes:

* Receiving payments from partners through a Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Degradation(REDD) mechanism;

* Attracting major international investors in at least three key new economic sectors, such as hydropower, high-end fruits and vegetables, and aquaculture; and

* Working with indigenous peoples’ groups who want their land included in overall transitional arrangements to incorporate them in the payment regime en route to a full-scale REDD programme.

In short, the strategy has the potential to enhance the viability of our social and economic activities, and greatly increase Guyana’s capacity to adapt to climate change, thereby reducing our vulnerability to this phenomenon. The Government of Guyana recognises that this cannot be achieved without the involvement of all Guyanese, and that long-term success is fully dependent on the participation of all stakeholders.

I encourage all Guyanese to visit our website at www.lcds.gov.gy and learn more about Guyana’s low carbon development trajectory.