As early as the 1970’s one of Guyana’s former Hydrometeorological Officers, Mr. John Bassier, had indicated in a report that: “Georgetown may be sinking”. Guyana’s coastal strip is already some 2.4 meters below sea level; any marked rise in sea level could result in the coastal area, including Georgetown and New Amsterdam, becoming seriously flooded. The vulnerable areas include the coastal plain across the country, varying in width from about 15 kilometers in the North West to about 70 kilometers in the Corentyne.
In November, 2000, a seminar was held at the Institute of Applied Sciences at the University of Guyana to discuss the implications for Guyana, should a disaster occur. One of the central questions raised at the seminar was: ‘Is Guyana losing the battle against the sea?’  A Guyana Sea Defense Review, completed by Dutch experts, had answered, ‘Yes, Guyana is losing its war against the sea.’
At this event, it was suggested that a sensitisation campaign should be embarked upon sooner than later.
In February, 2007, The World Bank published a Paper, “The Impact of Sea Level Rise on Developing Countries: A Comparative Analysis.” The authors concluded that some countries would face severe loss of land. Suriname and Guyana would be very badly affected as most of their populations live in low-lying, coastal areas.
Further evidence of an impending crisis came in March, 2007, from a study by the International Institute for Environment and Development in the UK, Columbia University, and the City College of New York. The study listed Guyana among the countries with the most vulnerable populations, with a vulnerability rate of 55%.
In October of that year, Reuters carried a report, World Bank studies rising seas in Guyana. According to World Bank expert Gerald Meier, “sea levels around Guyana have risen about 1.7 feet since the 1950s, according to a tide gauge.” The same report said that the World Bank and the Global Environmental Facility had approved US$3.8 million in grant funding to protect low-lying coastal areas. The project was responding to the catastrophic flooding in Guyana in 2005, which had affected most of the coastal area. The project was meant to identify 10 key drainage systems and support construction work designed to increase drainage of the East Demerara Conservancy system by 35%.  While commendable, this project was in effect tackling internal drainage systems, not the structural problem of a nation under assault from the sea.
According to Dr Bertrand Ramcharan, former Chancellor of the University of Guyana, in a 2009 Stabroek News article, The Rising Oceans and the National Security of Guyana: A national Emergency,
“A rising Atlantic Ocean could penetrate, flood and overcome at least up to 65 miles of our great rivers. Should this happen, most of the coastal roads would disappear, most of the north-south roads would be immersed, the irrigation and drainage canals would be no more, the present-day alluvial soil would be degraded by salt-water, and the population would have to scramble for life on the higher grounds. Life, as we know it in Guyana, would be dramatically different.
Averting disaster
Sea level is rising and the rate of change is accelerating.  On average, it is expected that by 2100, sea levels will have risen in most places by around half a meter. The combination of warming ocean water expanding and rapidly increasing melt of land and polar ice has increased the rate of sea level rise from about 6.8 inches average during most of the 20th century to a current rate of 12 to 14 inches per century. Based on this increase in rate of change, scientists are estimating that by the end of this century, the oceans will be from 20 inches to more than three feet higher -and increasingly the higher levels seem probable.

Research released by the British Antarctic Survey shows rapid glacial thinning in Greenland and Antarctica. Lead author Dr Hamish Pritchard from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) said, “We were surprised to see such a strong pattern of thinning glaciers across such large areas of coastline — it’s widespread and in some cases thinning extends hundreds of kilometers inland. We think that warm ocean currents reaching the coast and melting the glacier front is the most likely cause of faster glacier flow. This kind of ice loss is so poorly understood that it remains the most unpredictable part of future sea level rise.”
“Climate change is fast pushing communities, particularly the most poor and marginalized, beyond their capacity to respond.” This is according to the most recent Oxfam report on the subject which can only complement President Bharrat Jagdeo’s push for developed countries to put more finances into assisting poor and developing countries to adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change.
Oxfam is a confederation of 13 different organizations that have all joined hands to help find solutions to poverty and injustice in over 100 countries. They were founded in 1942 in England as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief and have grown exponentially since.
According to the Oxfam report, climate change forces a more holistic approach, not only to lift people out of poverty, but also to enable them to manage risk, uncertainty, and change, and to make them agents of their own destiny to shape, create, and respond to changes throughout their lives. This also can only serve to complement Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy which President Jagdeo has been actively pursuing. The report states also that adaptation is not a choice between reducing general vulnerability and preparing for specific hazards; but rather it is a process of assessing and reassessing conditions and information related to climate change impacts and to the factors that leave people unable to adapt. This adaption, according to Oxfam, must go beyond resilience, which deteriorates as conditions change.
It demands flexibility and learning through every institution, from household to government.
President Jagdeo presented the LCDS (Low Carbon Development Strategy) to fellow heads of state at the Copenhagen Summit on climate change in December 2009.
LCDS is a payment scheme to encourage Guyana to develop its economy and infrastructure in ways that reduce carbon emissions. Guyana is unique in that 80 percent of the country is forest, fertile area that could be exploited for economic development. At the same time, most of Guyana’s population live along its Atlantic coastline, in low-lying areas that are vulnerable to rising oceans should climate change continue to cause an increase in sea levels.
Taking Action
Under the EU’s (European Union) Global Climate Change Alliance budget line, a programme linked to sustainable Coastal Zone Management was developed and the funds available to support the GMRP total $4.165M Euros.
The Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA) is an initiative of the European Union. Its overall objective is to build a new alliance on climate change between the European Union and the poor developing countries that are most affected and that have the least capacity to deal with climate change.
These funds are expected to be available in June since negotiations between Guyana and the EU are still ongoing.
The overall objective of the programme is to abate climate change (carbon sequestration through reforestation and forest preservation) and to mitigate its effects via sea defenses, and biodiversity.