I wish to refer to Ms Janet Bulkan’s letter under the caption “The basic data on which the LCDS ideas are founded are still to be placed in the public domain” carried in the Stabroek News in its issue of 19/03/2010.
Kindly allow me to respond to the points raised in the letter in the sequence mentioned therein:

(1) Amerindian Human Rights lawyer and leading APA activist Mr. David James in an independent opinion in the International Institute for Environment and development (IIED) report on the LCDS consultations said, “The LCDS has established the principle of EPIC as the standard for Amerindian communities to ‘opt in’ to the Forest Protection Programme. He also went on to say that “The LCDS to date has made significant efforts to ensure that the requirements of EPIC have been complied with. Pg 13. The LLED’S report at Page 7 stated, “the process was guided by nine standard best practice and internationally recognised principles: Transparency, inclusivity, information, timeless, representation, flexibility, clarity, accountability and continuity. The report further said, “It is the opinion of this team that the consultative process, to the extent that its findings inform a revised LCDS, can be considered credible, transparent and inclusive”. Who will Ms Bulkan believe the APA conference notes or a reputable international organisation approved by the Government of Guyana and Norway? What is also important for Ms Bulkan to know is that, while the Government of Guyana respects and upholds the rights of its indigenous peoples, the UN Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples is not a legal binding agreement or treaty. Often a Declaration is the first step towards adopting a binding convention or Treaty that would impose legal obligations on the countries that ratify it. It is therefore widely assumed that a universal convention on the rights of indigenous people will be developed by the UN based upon the Declaration.
(2) The presentations of the consultations were done in very simple English language and backed by a strong translation support. The presentations were long, not rushed or hurried and all aspects of the LCDS were covered including the ‘opting in’ and ‘opting out’ of the strategy. What is important to note is that the LCDS as a national strategy is not cast in a stone and as such there will be on-going consultations with the Amerindian communities. It must be noted however that it is only Guyana’s State forest estate (SEE) that is committed on the LCDS and not the forested lands of titled Amerindian communities only if they so choose to ‘opt in’ the strategy giving their consent and at their own pace.
(3) The land matter of the six Amerindian communities in the upper Mazaruni is no doubt being sensationalised both at the national and international levels to give the misleading impression that Guyana has a big problem concerning the land rights of its indigenous peoples. This is misleading. The problem with the six upper Mazaruni communities is that while they each have title to their lands and villages councils, they are seeking or claiming additional lands. But instead of engaging the government in this matter they were advised by the APA to take legal action against the government. The matter is presently is the High Court. But while Ms Bulkan has expressed concerns about the land rights of Guyana’s indigenous peoples, she was silent on the land issues of the indigenous peoples of Suriname when she revised Surinam’s Readiness Preparation Proposal (RPP) for World Bank funding. Also she did not raise objections with the Suriname authorities on the inclusion of the New River Triangle, a portion of Guyana on their RPP maps. Can Ms Bulkan tell the Guyanese people what went wrong here?
(4) For Ms Bulkan to say that the first and second version of the LCDS are merely shopping lists of development projects on the Costal plain not backed by baseline studies is a manner of her own opinion. They are many critics on the LCDS who write all sorts of negative things about the Strategy without first consulting with the Office of the Climate Change for authentic information.
(5) The Office of Climate Change (OCC) conducts its work with transparency and all information regarding the LCDS is placed in the public domain. Ms Bulkan just has to check the LCDS website which she does on a regular basis. However, if she is not finding the information she needs, she can either call or visit the Climate change office.
(6) Can Ms Bulkan indicate the Amerindian communities that repeatedly requested information on the LCDS and did not receive any? Ms Bulkan should be reasonable enough to seek clarification from the APA why in the first place they have rejected the membership offer to serve on the Multi-stakeholder steering committee where they could have also been a conduit of LCDS information for Amerindian communities. But now after nine months, the APA is complaining and will continue to do so.