– Climate Change and changing realities
Guyana and the world over are experiencing what is the new normal, with everyday realities changing as the impacts of climate change continue to manifest themselves. The climate change phenomenon is hardly a theoretical idea anymore; it is here and is only projected to get worse if stronger action at the global level is not taken. In the past few days, several communities in Guyana’s hinterland, Region 9 (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo), have been reeling from the impacts of climate change – the changes in the weather pattern.
The region has been battling with floods, the worst seen since the 1980s, and everything from road linkages to school lessons have been disrupted.
Provision of services, including essential health services, has been made difficult and with climate change impacts, there are emerging health risks.

Health Link
Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy told the Guyana Chronicle there is a definite link between climate change and health issues and stressed that the world is seeing the “independent impact” of climate change in areas like cancer and asthma.
“The threat to health is diverse and not just in one area…even if there are no floods, the increase in the temperature will have severe impacts on people’s lives,” Ramsammy said.
In this context, the Health Minister said there is a need to prioritise, starting with vector control.
Ramsammy said the world is already witnessing an increase in infections diseases; a case in point is the West Nile Virus in the United States.
The main route of human infection is through the bite of an infected mosquito; and according to reports from the United States, the West Nile infection cases number 663 in 2009.
The Health Minister said, “Countries like Guyana, at some time, can expect West Nile to reach here.”
He pointed to the cost of climate change and said even before Guyanese are affected, resources will have to be used to detect it, to put surveillance systems in place.
Ramsammy stressed that with Guyana’s advancement of the LCDS, the global community is being pushed to address all aspects of climate change, they are being pushed to look at the wider picture.

Devastating Agriculture
The wider picture includes food security and the erratic weather caused by climate change is eating into yields.
In Region 9, over 200 farms are affected and farmers have not managed to save their entire crops, while others have been forced to move their livestock to higher ground.
To date, some of the initiatives rolled out to advance agriculture and, by extension, food security, in the hinterland region are:
* The Moco Moco rice and beans project, which was started in 2010, and has recoded success to date;
* The establishment of a 10 acre model/demonstration farm established to demonstrate use of savannah lands for year-round production of crops at Moco-Moco;
* The introduction of the drip irrigation system at St. Ignatius and Annai to allow for timely and consistent distribution of water along the root zones of plants, uniform distribution, and reduction of wastage;
* The introduction of the Texana breed at Point Ranch, in addition to other support provided in the livestock sub-sector;
* Rehabilitation of the plant nursery at Karasabai; and
* Technical support for the establishment of a 20 acre cashew plot at Shulinab, among others.
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud visited the affected Region 9 on Tuesday and reiterated the need for climate smart practices in moving forward with agricultural activity in the region.
Climate Smart agriculture is one of the platforms from which adaptation is being promoted, and it seeks to ensure that agricultural activities are undertaken with an understanding of certain facts. These include the need to increase production, while increasing the sector’s resiliency and advancing practices aimed at mitigating climate change impacts.
Persaud contends that climate smart agriculture includes the development of flood and drought resistant rice strains in the rice sector; improved mechanisation in the sugar industry; increased use of genetic systems to advance the livestock sector; and the use of new technologies for other crops and fisheries sectors.
The Guyana Rice Producers’ Association (RPA) General Secretary, Mr. Dharamkumar Seeraj, told the Guyana Chronicle that farmers are one group that lives the realities of climate change each day.
Seeraj explained that farmers, more than any other group of citizens, have a direct link to climate change, considering that most of the cultivatable lands are under sea level; and with the erratic weather patterns; even farmers in the hinterlands are on guard.
“There is not a full comprehension of climate change in the scientific way, the farmers do not understand fully the causes and effects; but what they do know is that there are changes….farmers appreciate the changes and have to be supported in preparing to deal with them,” he said.
Climate change is here and both public and private sector stakeholders are being forced to respond to the devastation that it threatens.
Leading Guyana’s response is the country’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), piloted by President Bharrat Jagdeo.

Regional Coordination
CARICOM’s Programme Manager for Agriculture and Industry, Mr. Sergio Garcia, lauded the vision reflected in Guyana’s LCDS, but noted that at the level of the region, there needs to be more coordination.
In an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle, he said that in the move to adapt and mitigate the impacts of climate change, the Caribbean Region has to form linkages through better coordination.
“The Caribbean Region is the second most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change…we have the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), but we need more coordination,” he said.
The CCCCC coordinates the Caribbean region’s response to climate change. Officially opened in August 2005, the Centre is the official repository and clearing house for regional climate change data, providing climate change-related policy advice and guidelines to CARICOM Member States through the CARICOM Secretariat.
In this role, the Centre is recognised by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and other international agencies as the focal point for climate change issues in the Caribbean.
Garcia noted that innovation is the way to go to address the use of ecological principles in the climate change fight.
He stressed that while the agriculture sector is one of the main areas that will feel the brunt of climate change impacts, many other sectors will also be affected.
“We have to build the capacity to address climate change…we have to prepare,” he warns.
Garcia said development is a process; and in the development of the Caribbean Region, stakeholders must consider the changing realities caused by climate change before moving forward.