A few weeks ago I noted that despite Guyana’s small size and lack of structural power in the international system the country is gaining a solid reputation for leadership at the global level. That observation was made with regards to Guyana’s astute leadership role in global environmental ‘politics’ and in particular, President Jagdeo’s pioneering role in developing and advancing on our Low Carbon Development Strategy.
In the said article I attempted to answer the following question – “How does one explain the enormous attention that is paid to Guyana at the international level?” I wrote that “[the] answer lies in the fact that Guyana’s President, Bharrat Jagdeo, has demonstrated fantastic and visionary leadership. He took note of the impending cataclysms that will come from climate change in the near future, combined it with the forest resources of Guyana, and then developed a framework for development that amounts to nothing less than a paradigm shift.”
Those who responded dismissed the claims made as utter nonsense. The blogs went wild with the customary vitriol. The standard charges were made about the LCDS, namely that it won’t work; that Copenhagen will fail and Guyana would have lost valuable resources and time on developing a real economic strategy; that it was a waste of taxpayers money; that the President was misusing state fund travelling here and there on LCDS without any guarantee of success; that the LCDS was a diversionary tactic; and perhaps most tellingly, that the Strategy amounted to nothing more that international begging.
The attacks came from all angles. Bloggers competed with each other for constructing the LCDS in the most deprecating ways. No adjective was spared. The columnists in the local press laced their daily assaults on the LCDS with notions of failed state and elected dictatorship. Letter writers, especially those from New York and Toronto, provided support for the columnists and the opposition parties.
The opposition parties themselves ran around in circles on the issue. The AFC jumped around from confused nonsense to patent nonsense, and for the most part, hovered somewhere in between. At one time the AFC ran to the Norwegians about how the funding should be spent. But then once UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed some doubts about success at Copenhagen AFC leader Raphael Trotman was there soon afterwards day stomping all over the LCDS.
Here are some thoughts on the LCDS from well known personalities.
Sasenarine Singh – “After reading the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) document, I am satisfied that this idea will not fly…” (Staborek News July 30, 2009).
Christopher Ram – “…Which fund did the money come from to pay McKinsey for its dazzling mathematics to show the worth of our forests?” (Stabroek News, July 26, 2009).
Raphael Trotman – [the President seemed to have greater interest in addressing matters outside Guyana than in his own country] (Stabroek News, October 9, 2009).
Mr. Trotman apparently is of the view that foreign policy and domestic policy are mutually exclusive, or perhaps that climate change is a ‘foreign thing’.
In my original paradigm shift article I noted that “Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy is not only good for Guyana, but for the common heritage of mankind. Against tremendous odds, President Jagdeo has managed to get the framework of Avoided-Deforestation on the international agenda, now to the point where he is widely acknowledged as the leading mind behind this aspect of a reworked Kyoto Protocol…”
Today we know that all the critics have been proven wrong. The MOU between Guyana and Norway should put about US$250 million dollars into Guyana. The Agreement came about despite the harsh and unremitting criticisms of the Jagdeo administration and of the President himself. It came about because of – (1) the far-reaching and enlightened leadership of the Government and people of Norway; (2) the silent majority who support the Jagdeo administration in this country; and (3) the brilliant leadership of the President, his environmental and forestry teams, and his Cabinet.
