Norway transfers additional US$35M to Guyana

-accumulated US$80M earmarked for Amaila hydro project

A TOTAL of US$35M will be transferred to Guyana by Norway, the fourth payment for climate services and continued low deforestation, as part of the country’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).The announcement was made by President Donald Ramotar, in an address to the nation last evening, who stated that the payment was based on Guyana’s deforestation rate in 2012, as well as the country’s progress on indicators related to agreed goals for forest governance.

“Today’s announcement is also a strong rebuttal to those who have tried for several years to kill our Low Carbon Development Strategy and the Guyana-Norway partnership. For many years, vested interests in Guyana tried repeatedly to prevent our country from receiving this money from Norway.” – President Donald Ramotar

“Today, the Government of Norway announced the latest payment under the Guyana-Norway forests and climate change partnership. Norway will pay Guyana US$35M for the global climate services provided by our forest during 2012,” he said.

FUNDING FOR AMAILA
He stated that the US$35M will go towards the Government’s Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP).
Last year, Norway transferred some US$45M for the project and coupled with yesterday’s transfer of US$35, the Amaila project now stands to benefit from an accumulated sum of US$80M.
Norway is expected to transfer the US$80M to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), to be used as Guyana’s equity contribution to the AFHP.
Slated to be this nation’s most ambitious undertaking, the Amaila Falls Hydro Project (AFHP) is touted to be able to provide Guyanese with a cheaper, reliable and sustainable electricity supply. It involves the construction of a hydropower plant in the area of West-Central Guyana, where the Amaila and Kuribrong Rivers meet. Electricity produced there would be delivered to Georgetown and Guyana’s second largest town, Linden.
The AFHP is anticipated to result in substantial savings to the nation’s coffers, particularly in terms of foreign exchange and the purchase of heavy fuel oil.
Additionally, the potential benefits of a more stable and reliable source of energy through the advancement of hydroelectricity was also targeted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), last December, as an area for continued focus.
The IMF has been joined by several other regional bodies that have underlined the benefits of hydropower in Guyana.

SIGNIFICANT FUNDING
To date, Guyana has earned US$150M in payments from Norway, inclusive of the latest transfer of $35M, since the partnership started – US$80M for the Amaila hydro project and approximately US$70M of the Norway monies has been deposited in the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF), which is channelling investment into LCDS projects.
Additionally, the President noted that Guyana can expect a fifth installment of monies from Norway.
“In the coming months the independent, international validation of deforestation rates in 2013 will be completed and Guyana will receive the fifth payment under our partnership with Norway. We expect that this will be an even higher payment than the one announced today (yesterday) – and the total payments earned by Guyana will soon come close to US$200M, all of which is being invested in our Low Carbon Development Strategy,” he said.

REBUTTAL
According to him, the announcement is a “strong rebuttal” to the naysayers who have opposed the LCDS.
He said: “It is a strong rebuttal to those who have tried for several years to kill our Low Carbon Development Strategy and the Guyana-Norway partnership. For many years, vested interests in Guyana tried repeatedly to prevent our country from receiving this money from Norway.
“On failing to do so, some politicians tried in three successive national budgets to stop the money from being invested in our people’s future.”
The Head of State referred to the disagreements between his Administration and the combined Opposition to the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP), as the most recent evidence of such opposition.
“I hope that they will now abandon their efforts to destroy one of Guyana’s most pioneering national initiatives,” he charged.
Mr. Ramotar stated too that inking the international partnership with the Government of Norway in late 2009, resulted in the economic calculations around how we use forests are changing, and we are selling our forest’s climate services through the world’s second largest Interim REDD+ partnership.
“It hasn’t been an easy road at times. But we prevailed against these setbacks, and money is now flowing into our priority investments – both from our own budgetary resources and from the money we have received from Norway,” he said.

TRANSFORMATIVE PROJECTS
The President highlighted too that most of the monies from Norway have been invested into “transformative projects” that bring “real benefits to the Guyanese people. “Most of this money is now allocated to transformative projects, and in most cases, it is flowing to create real benefits for Guyanese,” he said.
Evidence of this, he said, in seen in the fact that:
* Over 11,000 Amerindian homes have electricity for the first time – powered by solar units;
* Low carbon industries, such as eco-tourism, are growing fast in the Rupununi, as much as 20 per cent a year;
* Guyana’s business process outsourcing sector has more than doubled employment in less than five years;
* Innovative initiatives in agricultural development are taking off;
* Guyana is becoming world’s most inclusive digital society, as 90,000 vulnerable households gain access to computers and training, via the One Laptop Per Family programme;
* Guyana has been able to work with local banks and other financial institutions to stimulate the creation of 2,200 low carbon jobs over three years, in small businesses and vulnerable communities; and
* Some 187 Amerindian villages, communities and settlements produced impressive Community Development Plans and have benefited from advances from the LCDS Amerindian Development Fund. In the last year, 26 of them received funding through this programme – creating low carbon opportunities in ecotourism, sustainable agriculture and manufacturing. In the coming year, the remainder of the plans will start to be implemented, among others.
Mr. Ramotar said: “Alongside these priority investments, we are continuing to upgrade our domestic standards and capabilities in our traditional sectors. Global certification of our standards will facilitate increased investment in Guyana and improve the potential for value added industrial activity, all while ensuring that our natural resources are managed in a sustainable and accountable way.”

LEADING THE WAY
The Head of State was emphatic in asserting that Guyana is leading the way in its response to climate change. “Guyana is on the threshold of achieving what few countries anywhere in the world have managed to achieve. We should stop to reflect on the fact that we have spent five years building the foundations of a genuinely low carbon economy,” he said.
He pointed out that Guyana is maintaining 99.5 per cent of our forest, simultaneously generating jobs and economic growth from sustainable forestry and mining practices – creating low carbon jobs; and invest in critical infrastructure projects.
Mr. Ramotar said: “Our LCDS is grounded in a recognition that climate change is a clear expression of the inequality and injustice that exist in our world – as a problem primarily caused by rich countries, but whose negative impact is felt primarily by poor countries.”
“Five years ago, Guyana was one of the first countries in the world to set out a vision on what practical steps were needed to begin correcting this global injustice and we called on the world to act before it was too late. But we did more than that.”
He made it clear that Guyana has set out a vision, in addition to advocating for global action. “We said that we too would play our part in fighting this global challenge if partnership for international action was forthcoming.”

A NATIONAL CALL
To this end, he called on all Guyanese to recognise that democratic politics is not a competition of ideas, which will make Guyana better, but one that responds to the needs of the Guyanese people.
“Make your politicians know that democratic politics should be about a competition of ideas to make our country better. It should not be a battle between those who seek to build and those who seek to destroy,” he said.
Response to this call, the President stated, will improve our national politics.
“I will work with anyone in our society who sincerely wants to take this opportunity to show that we can plot a better path for all our people. Let’s leave those who seek to destroy our development behind us, let’s keep working to build a new economy, and let’s prove to the international community that countries from the developing world can lead the way to global solutions,” Mr. Ramotar appealed.
Since 2009, Norway has been contributing to Guyana’s efforts to enhance economic development while maintaining over 99.5 per cent of its 185, 000 square kilometer forest.

(By Vanessa Narine)