Finance Minister tells the House…
MINISTER of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh says that while a global climate treaty remains essential, the Government of Guyana will support a number of interim measures aimed at combating the effects of climate change, while creating a new economy along a low-carbon path.
“Guyana wants to see a legally binding climate treaty agreed under the UNFCCC as soon as possible. However, pending the agreement of such a treaty, the Government supports a number of interim measures,” he told the House yesterday in his ministerial statement on the establishment of the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF).
Noting that one of the measures at reference is Guyana’s endorsing the Copenhagen Accord, Minister Singh said: “Although the Accord falls short of what Guyana believes is necessary to stabilize global temperatures, it represents some significant steps forward.”
Of particular importance, he said, is that the Accord’s commitment to the provision by the developed world of US$30 billion total climate finance during the period 2010 to 2012, and US$100 billion annually by 2020 represents “a level of commitment that was previously missing from the international community.”
Another measure the government is supportive of, he said, is the Interim REDD-plus Partnership, which now consists of about sixty countries which have started to make progress on addressing global deforestation and forest degradation between now and 2015.
The third and most significant of the three interim measures he referenced was “our work with Norway.”
Norway intends to release to Guyana a total of US$250 million by 2015 for Guyana’s forest climate services, but as the Minister pointed out, Brazil’s Amazon Fund – at US$1 billion by 2015 – is larger. This notwithstanding, he said that “…relative to the size of the forest covered by the agreement, the Guyana-Norway agreement is by far the world’s most valuable agreement of its kind.”
He said that because of the agreement, the first of the two ideas the President outlined in October 2007 – the idea that Guyana would provide forest climate services in exchange for fair economic incentives – is starting to become a reality.
“Therefore, it is now time to make the second idea – investing to forge a new low carbon economy – a reality also. And the establishment of the Guyana REDD Investment Fund (GRIF) makes this possible,” Dr. Singh said.
He explained that the establishment of the GRIF will support the implementation of priority LCDS investments from 2010 to 2015, “unless it is superseded by an agreed UNFCCC or other international mechanism.”
“Firstly, it will be the fund management vehicle through which payments provided to Guyana for forest climate services will generate further investment income for Guyana, pending use of the liquid assets for specific LCDS investments. The Governments of Guyana and Norway have asked the World Bank to act as Trustee of the GRIF, utilising the World Bank’s Treasury function to generate further investment income for the LCDS,” the Minister said
According to the Minister, the GRIF’s second objective will be to act as the financial intermediary mechanism through which the payments and any income earned on them will be invested in projects and activities that support the implementation of the LCDS.
“This presented a core challenge. We needed to ensure Guyanese sovereignty over LCDS decisions – and specifically to make those decisions within the framework of national systems, including budgetary oversight by this House. At the same time, we wanted to create a global model for ensuring that climate finance adheres to internationally accepted financial, social and environmental safeguards, and therefore to help the international community by creating a globally replicable model for REDD-plus payments,” he said.
He said that the Government believes that the UNFCCC should establish the standards for safeguards, but this issue remains un-solved in UNFCCC negotiations. “To develop a globally replicable model and therefore help to advance the negotiations, the Governments of Guyana and Norway will invite a series of internationally reputable institutions to act as GRIF partner entities– starting with the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, Conservation International, the World Wildlife Fund, and all members of the United Nations family. Others will be determined over time,” the Minister said.
He said that pending the creation of a UNFCCC set of safeguards for climate finance, the internationally accepted safeguards of any one of these organizations will be deemed acceptable.
As a first priority for LCDS funds, between US$40 million and US$60 million will in 2010 and 2011 be invested as equity in the Amaila Falls Hydropower project.
He said that the second LCDS priority for 2010 and 2011 will be to accelerate the creation of new opportunities for Amerindians. “It is aimed to complete the process of titling for all Amerindian villages that request this to be done by 2015. Over the same time, all titled villages will have the option to “opt in” to the forest payments mechanism at any time, in accordance with the principle of free, prior and informed consent,” Minister Singh said.
He noted that funds will be allocated to the Amerindian Development Fund to provide grants for low carbon energy and economic or social investments in Amerindian villages.
He said that the third LCDS priority will be to further the work to enable access to high quality ICT infrastructure in all parts of Guyana.
The fourth priority, Singh said, will be to support the creation of new low carbon opportunities for small and micro enterprise sectors and vulnerable groups, building on the Small Business Development Fund established under the Small Business Act of 2004.
He said that the fifth priority will be to enable a suite of investments in the Education sector, including the creation of an International Centre for Bio-diversity Research and Low Carbon Development; enhancing the school curriculum to include low carbon development; and measures to improve ICT training for school children and prospective employees.
“The sixth and final priority in 2010 and 2011 will be supporting the Office of Climate Change, the Low Carbon Project Management Office, the Environmental Protection Agency and the REDD Secretariat at the Guyana Forestry Commission. These agencies are all essential to the effective implementation of the LCDS,” the Minister said.
The Minister noted that members of the National Assembly from all sides have recognized that the LCDS represents a transformational opportunity to create a new economy in Guyana, and that “this will long outlast any Government’s term in office.”