PLEASE permit me space in your letters column to respond to a letter written by Janette Bulkan in the Stabroek News of Saturday, September 8, 2012 under the caption, “Where is the document explaining the rights and responsibilities of a Village Council “opting in” to the LCDS?”

Kindly allow me to state the following:
(1) Janette Bulkan, an LCDS prophet of doom has once again and suddenly emerged from her dungeon in Florida to question the “opt in” mechanism for Amerindian villages to participate in Guyana’s LCDS.
(2) Bulkan, an unpatriotic twit is known for her wicked and mischievous campaign against Guyana’s LCDS both locally and overseas in which she failed miserably. It must also be known that Bulkan has a political agenda against the Government of Guyana.
(3) Bulkan even wrote to Norway not to fund Guyana’s LCDs. But Norway ignored her and quickly dispatched her letter to its garbage collection. Others did the same and suffered the same fate.
(4) Bulkan is not qualified to speak or write on indigenous people’s rights issues, since she never sought the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of Guyana’s indigenous peoples when she wrote to Norway not to fund Guyana’s LCDS.
(5) Janette Bulkan must therefore be recognised and isolated for being unpatriotic towards her home country Guyana, since she doesn’t want Guyanese and more particularly Guyana’s indigenous peoples to benefit both socially and economically from Guyana’s LCDS where our forests are protected to fight against Global Climate Change and its dangerous consequences.
(6) Bulkan’s opposition to Guyana’s LCDS is like a lone voice crying in the wilderness, since both the strategy and its REDD+ Initiative are success stories with the flowing of funds for their effective implementation for the benefit of all Guyanese. Definitely, Bulkan should be the last person on earth to speak or write about Guyana’s LCDS.
(7) Mr. Ashton Simon, an indigenous  specialist of the Patamona tribe was absolutely correct and in order when he said that it will be useless for the LCDS documents to be printed in indigenous languages, since over 95% of indigenous peoples will not be able to read their own language if it is written, printed and available for reading. (Guyana Chronicle, Saturday Sept 8th, 2012)
(8) The argument therefore by Bulkan and others that the LCDS documents for use in the Amerindian communities should be printed in indigenous languages to help in the LCDS consultations process was a ploy to frustrate the LCDS consultations in the Amerindian communities.
(9) But while the Region 7, Upper Mazaruni Toshaos are claiming or have claimed that the LCDS documents are difficult to understand, they did not find the highly constructive contents of a letter written by the Amerindian People’s Association(APA) dated 10th March 2010 to Norway not to fund the LCDS difficult to understand. Also the Toshaos, while they find the LCDS documents difficult to understand, did not find a resource material difficult to understand at an APA workshop on climate change facilitated by Vemund Olsen of Rainforest Foundation Norway at the Regency Suites in Georgetown. My contention is that the LCDS document entitled “Frequently Asked Questions” was far way easier to understand than the resource material used by Vemund Olsen for the APA workshop on Climate Change a few years ago.
(10)  It is important for Bulkan to know that it is not a “Village Council” that would “opt-in” to the LCDS, but a “Village”, since it is not the Toshao or a Village Council who will have  to make the “opting-in” decision, but the majority or two-thirds of village residents who are entitled to vote at a village general meeting.
(11)  The “opt-in” mechanism for Amerindian communities into Guyana’s LCDS was discussed at the MSSC level and its concept paper approved. The MSSC took a decision that the concept paper be sent to the National Toshaos Council (NTC) for consideration and review. This was done in 2010 and again at the recently held NTC conference. It must be noted therefore that in 2010 all the Amerindian communities were provided with copies of the “opt-in” concept paper and again at the recently held NTC conference. Bulkan is not living in Guyana and therefore needs to get her facts straightened out. All the MSSC minutes are on the LCDS website for public information.
(12)  Bulkan wants the “opting-in” mechanism for Amerindian communities to be printed in Amerindian languages. This is directly a call by Bulkan to frustrate Amerindian communities from participating in Guyana’s LCDS, since there will be problems for Amerindian communities reading their languages in print.
(13)  Yes, three Amerindian organisations (NADF, GOIP & TAAMOG) in collaboration with the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) did follow-up LCDS consultations in five villages of the Upper Mazaruni, Region 7 (Paruima, Waramadong, Warawalta, Kako & Jawalla) in September 2009. All five villages expressed that they understood the LCDS and will give their support only in principle, since they need their land issues to be solved. The problem here is that the said villages acted on poor advice and took the government to court where their land matter currently is over 10 years ago. The government stands ready to solve the land issues of the Upper Mazaruni communities, but cannot do so because of the said court matter.
(14)  Mr. Editor, even a CXC student knows that the Government of Guyana is firmly committed to the rights of Guyana’s indigenous peoples and will ensure that their participation in Guyana’s LCDS will apply the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). No Amerindian village will be forced into the LCDS and neither will there be any deadlines.