The Ministry of Agriculture has taken issue with a press release issued by the Guyana Human Rights Association saying ‘ global warming needs national consultations and not a new canal’.

The Ministry is contending that the canal in question, the Hope/Dochfour Canal, is vital to counter the threat of massive floods that could lead to devastating dislocation of thousands of citizens and massive destruction.

Following is the Ministry’s press release:

Among the various assertions/statements made by the GHRA are the following:

1.    Government has not heeded technical advice regarding the construction of the high level canal from Hope/Dochfour to the sea.

This is completely at variance with the facts. Following remedial works which have strengthened the East Demerara Water Conservancy dam along its entire length over several years, 2005 saw us suffering from a devastating flood. Consequent technical work done by a battery of local and overseas engineers recommended that the East Demerara Water Conservancy, in addition to its existing relief, must be supplemented by being drained through other means, if we are to avert catastrophic flooding.

The National Drainage & Irrigation Authority then developed Terms of Reference to satisfy this imperative. A United Kingdom firm, in collaboration with two local firms, won this contract and proposed two engineering solutions:
1.       a high level northern relief, starting at Hope/Dochfour and ending at the Atlantic
2.       a Flagstaff-Mahaica Canal

The Consultants’ Reports were reviewed by a number of experienced local engineers from the Government and the Private Sector. Guyana Association of Professional Engineers was also included in the consultative process. The entire set of documents was then mounted on the Internet to solicit views. Following these processes, the first aforementioned option was adopted. Further geotechnical work from Surinamese experts also informed decision making regarding construction.

At the commencement of Works Ceremony on the Hope Canal by Raymond Latchmansingh, Managing Director, CEMCO Incorporated Ltd. indicated:
“Extensive topographic survey was done by SRK, CEMCO over the last six to seven months, and the British firm Mott Mc Donald to undertake hydrological assessments of the project to do as statistic analysis to determine what flows are required to safeguard the stakeholders against the risk of flooding or overtopping of the existing conservancy.”

Earlier, during the Budgeted 2009 presentation, the Minister of Agriculture emphasized the need to relieve the East Demerara Water Conservancy and elaborated on the protocols to be followed in arriving at an emergency solution. During the ensuing debates, a series of questions on this project were answered in the nation’s highest consultative body, Parliament.

We therefore reject Guyana Human Rights Association contention.

2. The World Bank made financing available for a comprehensive review of the major coastal drainage schemes.

The Conservancy Adaptation Project is on-going but has a more limited set of objectives than those proposed by Guyana Human Rights Association. This project is aimed at aiding Guyana to adapt to climate change and focuses on a key facility, the East Demerara Water Conservancy. The US$3.8M World Bank Conservancy Adaptation Project will finance the development of the technical foundation which will strengthen the master plan of interventions within the EDWC and lowland drainage systems, as well as specific upgrading works and operational improvements aimed at enhancing the flood control capacity of the EDWC.

These works are expected to improve the ability of the government to manage water levels behind the EDWC during heavy rainfall by improving internal flows in the EDWC.  Additional upgrading of water control structures have been undertaken including the rehabilitation of the Lama No. 1 and No. 2 Sluices, restoring of the Kofi outlet, and in a limited way, the re-opening of the Cunia outlet into the Demerara River.

3.    Government is being called upon to suspend this investment in the Hope/Dochfour northern relief canal until a series of studies are done.

Among the studies utilized in this project are the following:
A.      Hydraulic Modeling of the EDWC, 2004
B.      Task Force for Infrastructure Recovery – Flow/Discharge systems of EDWC, 2005
C.      Guyana Floods Geotechnical and Hydraulic Assessment of East Demerara Water Conservancy, 2005
D.      Hydrological and Hydraulic Modeling Studies by CEMCO/SKRN in association with Mott Mac Donald, 2010.

These have been supplemented by a number of other assessments, all of which have culminated in the decision go ahead with the Hope/Dochfour Canal. Any delay in expeditiously dealing with such an imminent threat as serious floods can only redound to devastating dislocation and massive disruption of the lives of thousands of citizens.

4.    Pursuit of the Hope/Dochfour Canal postpones in the short term, a vital debate about climate change in Guyana.

Coming just after the announcement that the agreement between Norway & Guyana on the Low Carbon Development Strategy, has realized the establishment of the Guyana REDD-plus Investment Fund (GRIF), this uninformed position of postponing debate on climate change seems almost ludicrous.

Indeed, it is the long multi-stakeholder consultation where more than then (10%) of the country’s population participated directly in information sharing on the Low Carbon Development Strategy, which preceded this development.

No doubt, leadership at all levels, the executive, the regional, the indigenous and international have galvanized global thought on climate change, to the extent that Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy is being recognized as a workable model.

The investments that are to flow from these long and intense Low Carbon Development Strategy consultations have been delineated and have a strong nexus with climate change.
Guyana Human Rights Association’s insistence that for the Government it is inconvenient to discuss climate change is a massive misreading of what is clearly concrete. It seems that the Guyana Human resources Association has embarked upon a course of not recognizing what has been achieved and is wont to misrepresent and make claims that are unsubstantiated.

We note too that this organization has joined the Peoples National Congress/Reform in making these types of claims in relation to the Hope/Dochfour Canal, the release concluded.