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The minister said Forbes Magazine would not have published such an article, particularly in light of the accolades “if it was not deemed worthwhile.”
Ms. Rodrigues-Birkett told the Guyana Chronicle, in an interview, that it is pleasing to note the advocacy that is gaining momentum which, she said, gives credence to the notion that it is not only the developed world that possesses the talent to bring about change.
“The message is that we have to put aside political pettiness and implement the LCDS,” she maintained.
The Foreign Affairs Minister said, sometimes, where persons live in a country they are not quite aware of the impact being made on the international scene by the efforts of their leaders, pointing to how the LCDS has been recognised not just by Forbes Magazine.
The internationally acclaimed magazine, this past week, highlighted the efforts of Guyana, under the stewardship of then President Bharrat Jagdeo, to secure the financing pact with Norway, a model being pressed on the international scene for other developing countries to adopt.
Too long
Rodrigues-Birkett, weighing in on the publication, said, for too long, persons have been of the opinion that developing countries did not possess the talent to undertake such far reaching initiatives.
She declared that the LCDS and its acknowledgement have dispelled that notion.
According to her: “The Forbes article begs the question that, if social and economic development is to be sustainable, we might well want to answer President Jagdeo’s audacious and simple question.”
She said the article, in dealing with the pitfalls that have been associated with sustainable development, points to a beacon of hope in the Guyana/Norway pact.
It says: “…one initiative involving two very different bedfellows is worth noting, precisely because it hasn’t lost sight of the forest for the trees when it comes to balancing sustainability with development. The two bedfellows in this case are the Governments of Guyana and Norway.
“On first glance, these two nations couldn’t be more different. One is a developed northern European nation of 4.7 million people, with a GDP of $265 billion and a geography with far more fjords than forests. The other is a developing nation whose population is only slightly larger than North Dakota’s, has a GDP of about $5 billion and is home to one of the largest and most important tropical forests in the world.
“Where this starts to get interesting is that Guyana has embarked on a long-term commitment to a Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) whereby it will avoid tropical deforestation and degradation, create low carbon infrastructure, such as hydroelectric power plants and provide its people with the tools they need to succeed without plundering the nation’s vast ecological and natural resources.
“This type of activity has a name in those circles that wake up to a cup of fair-trade coffee every morning. It’s called REDD, which stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. And it’s got some serious science behind it. Every grade school student knows that trees take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. But what they may not know is that deforestation accounts for about 20 percent of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and that keeping trees vertical and forests healthy is one of the simplest things we can do to address global climate change.
But with all the economic pressures to develop these natural resources, what’s a developing country with huge tracts of forested land to do? Many choose to harvest these resources; a few even try to use them to bring their people out of poverty and into a higher standard of living. That’s development. But there’s nothing sustainable about it.
Which is why Guyana’s story is so unusual and so compelling. Guyana, led by then President Bharrat Jagdeo, had the audacity, in 2008, to ask a deceptively simple question: Isn’t there a better way?
Isn’t there a better way to provide the people of Guyana with the development they crave? Can there be another way to grow the economy without cutting down old growth forests, degrading the pristine ecosystems that are home to thousands of species of plants and animals (some that live nowhere else on earth) and following the old model of cut first, ask questions later?
Big caveat
“The answer turns out to be yes, but with a big caveat. Guyana has been able to do what few developing forested countries have done – resist the economic forces to cut their natural resources for cash (something that would provide development, but would be a sustainability disaster for both their land and our climate). They’ve kept more than 99.5 percent of their trees vertical and their forests healthy.
But here’s the caveat: They’ve been able to do this with the direct investment of countries like Norway, which has pledged some $250 million in payments to Guyana for avoiding deforestation and degradation. Norway is paying for measured results by Guyana in delivering services that cool the planet’s climate by avoiding the destruction of trees.
It’s a win-win. The world gets closer to stopping runaway climate change while countries like Guyana can develop what President Jagdeo calls new economies – built on inclusive green growth. Guyana has leveraged funds to deploy foreign investment for clean energy and social good, bringing foreign investment into the country for a first-of-its kind hydroelectric project, solar panels in villages and computers to families without the means to acquire them otherwise.
“One of the keys to the Norway agreement is that the activities of Guyana are verified by outside third parties who examine both actual forest loss through scientific sensing equipment as well as social impacts. These verification systems are critically important to assure everyone involved that progress is truly being made.
“Of course, this kind of work doesn’t come without problems. Guyana still faces criticism on indigenous rights issues, land tenure issues and whether or not the payments from Norway will end up as just another form of traditional development aid. These critics should be heard. But no one said that changing the world was going to be easy. And the fact is, the lessons learned from the problems in Guyana will serve as a road map for other forested countries who follow in their footsteps.
“The money paid by Norway to Guyana is something of an analogue for what could happen if there were a global trading programme for REDD. Such a programme makes sense on a number of levels, but first and foremost, it’s the single easiest and cheapest way to, significantly, reduce GHG emissions that cause global warming. The hope, of course, is that the Guyana model can be applied to any number of developing countries with forests that need to be protected and people who want some of the benefits that we enjoy in the developed world,” the magazine posited.
