THE Guyana Local Government Officers Union (GLGOU) has called on the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) to establish a “vibrant and innovative” environmental goods and service sector.During a press conference at City Hall earlier this week, President of the GLGOU Dale Beresford urged that the proposed sector include “providers of waste management and recycling techniques and services, producers of environmental technologies, providers of energy efficiency and renewable energy techniques and supplies of environmental monitoring services.”
Beresford alluded to the fact that the role of the government in solving climate crisis was also fundamental, given that the corporations have demonstrated that they are part of the problem, unable to deliver solutions the world needs given that the market does not respond to the general interest.
Further, highlighting solutions to the climate challenge would require a substantive transformation of the current social/ economic development paradigm, including industrial change.
“This is not about some technical changes to energy production or transport systems; it is not just about adapting diesel engines to pollute less or transitioning from fossil to renewable energy. What is required is a re-definition of the predominant model of production and consumption,” said Beresford.
A green economy requires both a healthy, educated and informed workforce with green jobs, skills and consumers with awareness of sustainable consumption, asserted the GLGOU president while adding that “A green economy must also invest in people and social capital.”
These can be accomplished through healthcare, education services and access to social safety nets.
He mentioned the fact that emphasis on investing in people helps to safeguard respect for human rights, including rights of children, women and employees. And he noted that investments in people should help empower individuals and groups to become agents of positive societal change,while employees and managers should explore opportunities to collaborate in building workplaces that are greener, safer and more decent.
GREEN JOBS
The green economy, he further urged, will create job opportunities (green jobs) in some sectors, while shedding jobs in others and the formulation of any green economic policies, programmes and projects should identify new goods and services as well as transitional arrangements that can accommodate the shifting of jobs within and across sectors.
However, the effort will require inter-agency and inter-ministerial collaboration and coordination, so as to ensure that the predicted net positive benefits in job-creation becomes a reality.
Some of the proper economic opportunities, he noted, will be found in sectors such as agriculture, forestry, water, waste management and sanitation services, where green economic interventions can enhance livelihoods.
“An investment in natural capital is also an investment in human capital – through enhancing food and nutrition security – particularly in low-income and environmentally vulnerable areas, while it can also support social entrepreneurship and small business development, but entrepreneurs and informal businesses in poor communities desperately need public institutions that facilitate their access to markets and green business opportunities,” said the GLGOU President.
NEW MOTIVES
As such, in order to embark on new initiatives which will enhance the M&CC’s service capacity, they will have to acquire more funds which can go towards these initiatives. Some ofwhich will serve as a pilot, and example for other businesses.
The GLGOU, he noted, had written to the Ministry of Communities to use a ticketing system or parking meters, which would prove fruitful, given the influx of vehicles that the country has seen over the past few years.
Apart from that, the regularisation of the public minibus park is another plan which they proposed to the ministry. This will come in the sense that minibus operators will pay a fee, after which they will acquire a card which will allow them to park at the bus park.
He suggested that in order to have a positive impact, the M&CC “cannot continue to operate in an 18-19th century environment and must seek to mordernise and include a new scope of services, which will help to promote a green economy.

By Navendra Seoraj