RATHER than depending on aid, Guyana should harness its natural assets, as the revenues that could be earned off these, if handled carefully and prudently, could dwarf any conceivable flow of aid.

In fact, in developing and struggling societies, a greater sense of awareness and care should be demonstrated when it comes to managing natural assets, because these have enormous transformative potential.
Executive Director of the Environmental Community Health Organisation (ECHO), Mr. Royston King, made those observations in a press statement he issued a few days ago.
Within recent times, he said, Guyana’s stewardship of its natural resources has been attracting various comments from local and international groups and organizations. Mining, logging, hydro-power and fishing in Guyana’s waters, the distribution of lands and the discovery of peat in the area of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport at Timehri, East Bank Demerara have been brought to the fore by public commentators.
Fishing, in particular, has been placed in the spotlight because it is closer to the ordinary citizen; it is part of the culture in our local and indigenous communities, King noted.
However, globally, restoring environmental order and eradicating poverty have become the two most important challenges. These two confluence at a common point: The struggle to reconcile global prosperity with an ethical approach to protecting the natural world.
Prosperity and the sustainability of the natural world have a reciprocal effect on each other. In fact, they are intrinsically linked, and failure in either will result in the non-achievement of both.
“The natural environment is the key asset of poor and struggling nations. If it is managed responsibly, it will push them to success and prosperity. Still, the rush to achieve prosperity is really facilitating the plunder of the environment.
“Clearly, the tension between development and mismanagement of natural resources is affecting the way governments order their priorities, and the development of local communities,” King said.
However, what is fundamentally problematic is that natural assets have no owner/s. As a result, they are subject to unequal distribution (the strong take advantage of the weak), rent-seeking, uncertainty and abuse, King observed.
There are two forms of natural assets: Those that are subsurface, and those that are transnational. Natural assets below the surface of the earth, in specific geographic locations, need to be effectively and efficiently managed through good governance.
This includes inclusionary management, where local people are invited to share in the decision-making process on how the assets can best be managed; participatory planning and knowledge management, a public awareness and education thrust on the value and benefits of those assets to citizens; and constantly evaluating our activities in an ethical manner to see if we are doing justice to future generations.
Transnational assets are natural resources that do not respect frontiers. Examples of these are carbon and fish. Looking specifically at fish in Guyana, King said there is need for stricter regulations and the monitoring of what is happening on our seas.
“Then we need to ask ourselves fundamental questions like: What is the subsidy given to this industry? Who is benefiting from this facility? What is the total revenue received annually from this industry?”
Centuries ago, he recalled, overfishing was not such an intensely troubling issue for governments and local communities. However, the steady development of appropriate fishing technologies simultaneously increases fears and the actual potential for and destruction of biodiversity.
“Technologies create scarcity. Scarcity rights have to be protected. Otherwise management of those natural assets becomes unfair, unethical and inefficient.
“But Guyana and other individual Caribbean nations cannot adequately individually protect this natural asset – fish – in the Caribbean seas. Some small Caribbean islands, with 60,000 and 80,000 people, do not have the wherewithal to monitor their waters.
“Therefore, they should work together to invest in creating wider expertise to study and report on the impact of our human endeavours on marine life, increase funding to protect biodiversity, look at a national integrated management strategy with specific provisions for the conservation of biodiversity, and manage an aggressive education programme for people in Caribbean countries.”
More importantly, King said it is his belief that globally and locally, systems must be put in place that would allow citizens to be properly informed about the current and emerging issues affecting natural assets; the roles they are expected to play; and how they can benefit from the efficient management of such natural resources.
Again, more resources in the form of money, training on leadership, and mobilizing resources and organizing skills should be available to environmental non-governmental organizations. “This will enhance their capacity and ability to manage the deficit created by governments, who are more concerned about satisfying corporations at the expense of protecting the interest of citizens who elected them to secure their human and constitutional rights.
“Finally, the main determinant for decisions on the use of natural assets should be a sense of responsibility towards the global poor and the future of our world,” King said.