CLIMATE Change expresses its diversity in various ways. In Europe unprecedented winter has been recorded; in the North Pole, disappearance of glaciers formation hundreds of years old is now a new phenomenon. In South America the weather pattern has a damaging effect in all fields of production, being agriculture, mining or construction. Those of us who were farmers, fisherman, sailors, loggers or aviation pilots would have recognised the strange behaviour of climate change.
President Bharrat Jagdeo in recognising this impending disaster has skillfully, even with much opposition, internationalised this development, as such he was able to attract world recognition to eventually establish institutions so as to help mitigate some of the causes that influence climate change.
If we were to take one out of our ten Regions in Guyana, being Region Two, into retrospect, we can see some of the effects of climate change. In this Region, there is rapid erosion in one part as well as siltation in another area. Approximately fourteen miles of the Coastland, eleven Kokers are under pressure with heavy siltation kokers which are usually blocked by sand are now silted with mud. While accretions are noticeable between the villages of Dartmouth and Golden Fleece; from Suddie to Good Hope, heavy erosion is evident. The two hundreds years old Suddie Hospital is now under threat, where one of the faзade dams have been completely washed away. Presently three Excavators are engaged to contain the rapid erosion.
In another area, the erosion is posing a threat to a huge Fuel Bulk Station. Fisherman, Arnold Persaud of Sparta, Essequibo Coast, with 15 years of experience at sea, said he has never experienced such rough seas and is of the opinion that the confluence of the Orincoco and Amazon Rivers is influencing the movement of silt along our Coastlands. At the village of Bounty Hall and Better Hope, erosion has shifted reefs of mangrove and, thus leaving the mud seawall exposed to heavy waves.
In the Pomeroon, on the right bank leading to Moruna, the siltation has caused a built up of over one mile, while erosion is rapid at a point known as “FOX ASS,” as well accretion is evident at “three Piles” along N.W.D Sea Coast. In Pomeroon, River Banks shifting as such farmers between Jacklow and Pickers Gill in the Pomeroon River District are moving to high lands. Their effort to relocate is supported by the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with Region Two – R.D.C.
The climate change has also affected agriculture, the acidity of heavy rainfalls have destroyed much cash crops, as well affecting coconut trees, where young coconuts are falling off, a new type of occurrence. The Honey Industry in Pomeroon is also affected, while the flooded rice fields have caused farmers to repeat sowing of paddy to more than 1,000 acres of rice lands. In the Tapakuma project, many farms to market roads have also deteriorated due to unusual rainfall. Most recently heavy rolling waves have damaged a koker door in the village of Dartmouth.
We can all help in some way to contain the effect of climate change. Let us examine our potentials and apply them