Luncheon announces…
HEAD of Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon has announced that the sitting of the National Assembly, scheduled for yesterday, has been postponed, to next Thursday, following a request, by the main opposition political party, People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), to defer debate on the motion related to the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

He made this announcement at his weekly post-Cabinet media briefing yesterday, at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.

Luncheon said the July 23 sitting would have presented the occasion for debating the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) motion on the LCDS.

The HPS said, as a consequence of the postponment, the matters on the Order Paper for that delayed meeting of the House would now be for the next.

Included are matters related to the imposition of sanctions on those who destroy public property in accidents and the anticipated reports from the Select Committees which have completed their business.

The motion welcoming the commitment to public consultations, including the parliamentary parties, to contribute to the finalisation of the draft LCDS was recently presented to Parliament.

It calls for the House to recognise the pioneering nature of Guyana’s LCDS and endorsement of the country’s advocacy, in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process, for a new post 2012 agreement that includes Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), avoided deforestation and sustainable forest management to be decided in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009 and support for its use at international for a, among them the UNFCCC conference of parties, also in Copenhagen.

The wording in the motion said the Fourth Assessment Report of the Inter- Governmental Panel on Climate Change has firmly established that concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rising exponentially, leading to alarming levels of global warming and sea level rise.

The two-page document said the cause of these phenomena is mainly anthropogenic and this situation, if left unchecked, the effects of climate change can lead to marine inundation of costal low-lying areas, flooding from excessive rainfall, droughts, disruption of agriculture, food shortages, disease, population displacement and extinction of species.

It said several studies on the economics of climate change and its impact have concluded that the cost of inaction will, in the long-term, exceed the level of resources currently required for addressing these impacts.

The Conference of Parties in Copenhagen 2009, the documentation said, must reach an agreement that entails deep cuts in emissions, bold action on climate mitigation and clear support for adoption measures.

STUDY
“Twenty per cent of all greenhouse gases results from deforestation and degradation…a recent study by the internationally reputable Mc Kinsey Company has demonstrated that avoided deforestation represents a least cost solution for carbon abatement, lower than hybrid cars or wind power,” the motion stated.

It said studies and analyses have confirmed that Guyana’s forests could be deployed as mitigation against the adverse effects of climate change without either sacrificing its sovereignty or development prospects.

“Guyana stands at the threshold of a great global opportunity to show the world how rainforest countries can use their rainforests to mitigate climate change and, at the same time, use it as the basis for a financial flow to provide adequate resources to pursue a low carbon development path with adaptation, mitigation and technology transfer as key elements,” the motion underscored.

Government has drafted an LCDS which is currently being discussed in a series of countrywide consultations with all spectrum of society.

Responding to questions about the status of the draft legislation to place the New Building Society (NBS) under bank of Guyana (Central Bank) regulation, Luncheon assured that it has, indeed, been drafted.

“It has survived the Cabinet protocol where the intent of the amendment to the legislation or for the introduction of the legislation – when that has been endorsed by Cabinet and when the actual draft has been inspected through the level of the Cabinet and the Members of Parliament (MPs) forum.

“So, once that happens, the bill becomes what we say parliament ready,” Luncheon explained.

He said the Minister of Finance will be piloting the bill while the Bank of Guyana has asked to examine it for its implications to the additional responsibilities that regulatory agency would have to assume were the statute to be enacted.

Luncheon added: “That, to me, is a small something and it ought not to preclude the imminent tabling of this bill.

“I hope it would be before the August 8 recess. The only problem I could concede is, if it is tabled, the second and subsequent readings might not be concluded before August 8.”