Dear Sir,
THE NEWS about Liza Destiny uniquely sets the context for a paradigm shift in our thinking, interactions and relationships with our society, the natural environment and economics. (Liza Destiny sets sail to Guyana/ Guyana Chronicle Newspaper/19/7/2019). Indeed, this is a new and exciting time for Guyana, and with anticipated oil money and wealth, an extremely bright future for all Guyanese.

But how do we, as a nation, make optimum use of the expected substantial flow of money to our treasury? Whilst much has been said about how the Central Government should use revenues from the production of oil and gas, not a lot has been said about the drivers and the determinants that should inform a National Comprehensive Strategy on the use of oil revenues. Yet, this strategy is vital to shaping the government’s approach and designing a module to utilising oil money in a way that would sustainably benefit all Guyanese.
That notwithstanding, I would like to make a few comments on two important sectors that should be considered for special attention and treatment in investing oil revenues: The agricultural and the energy [renewables] sectors. I would say that a fundamental determinant of any comprehensive strategy dealing with oil revenues must be an intentional and a deliberate decision on the part of the authorities to investment in our agricultural sector, which, by its very nature, has clear and strong linkages to rural development. I will distil only two of the many reasons why this is important: Poverty alleviation and the security of the integrity of the environment.

First, like many other developing countries, poverty is a major concern in our local communities and our society as a whole. This is linked to a number of factors, including poor education, poor health, unemployment and poor environmental conditions.
Unemployment [about 12% in Guyana] is a notable one, because it contributes in various ways to the other factors related to poverty. At the moment, there is much excitement among young Guyanese about working in oil and gas. However, over the last few weeks, ExxonMobil’s Country Manager has provided information on the amount of money spent to date by the corporation, and the increasing number of Guyanese Exxon continues to employ.

Still, there will be a large number of employable local people who will remain unemployed, because not everyone in that category (employable) has the education, training, technical and other skills to be employed in the oil-and-gas sector. And again, that sector cannot employ all who can and wish to be employed, even if it wanted to. Therefore, unemployment will continue to be a major source of concern in many neighbourhoods. This presents a good opportunity for the authorities to contemplate investing in a sector; the agricultural sector, that can provide employment to snatch those who are affected out of the tight clasping hands of relative and absolute poverty.

For Guyana, agriculture is the heartbeat of our economy. Understanding this, our leaders took certain decisions, including: Establishing the Guyana School of Agriculture in 1963; the Department of Agriculture at the University of Guyana in 1977, with specialised and technical programmes added in 1996, 2015 and 2017. This knowledge also shaped the Feed, Clothe and House the Nation Plan (FCH) in 1972; the National Strategy for Agriculture in Guyana 2013 – 2020, and a number of other initiatives and programmes. In particular, the architecture of the FCH plan was designed to use the enormous potentials from this sector to do two critical things: Economically empower every Guyanese, and make Guyana self-reliant.

Available information seems to suggest that this plan engendered an increased awareness and collective action to make the best use of our agricultural resources abundant throughout Guyana. Here, the word abundant should not be associated with irresponsible consumerism, waste or reckless plundering of resources. Its reference is to the repository of all organic materials within our natural resources portfolio that can sustain our nation without degrading the environment.

Nevertheless, at this time, decades later, the agricultural sector has remained essentially underdeveloped in production, both for the local and overseas markets. It is therefore not unreasonable to conclude that what is urgently needed is a renewed focus and emphasis on it at the national level. The approach must be to revitalise this important sector through recapitalization; investing more heavily in the sector, and in programmes and activities to develop rural economies and social infrastructure. Oil revenues should be directed particularly towards promoting research and development in agricultural projects and extension, improving access to financial services, providing diverse investment incentives, and increasing direct access of the poor farmers to support services and productive facilities and services.

Also, revenues from the production of oil and gas should be used to: Improve human capital in rural areas through health, education and other social services; put in place systems that improve access to markets, ensure the sharing of relevant information and technologies, and provide legal and regulatory measures that promote social, environmental and economic interests; up-grade markets and marketing arrangements, roads, bridges and dams, and communication infrastructure. I would note too that modernised infrastructural and communications facilities are really important, because they would collapse space and time between urban and rural areas, and allow for more sustained development of rural economies, food security, improved standard of living and better quality of life for citizens in those far- flung regions, and even a more cohesive society.

Second, environmental integrity could be sustained by investing substantially in agriculture to encourage and facilitate best practices. For example: Soil care and management. A main aspect of this is maintaining or even increasing soil-organic matter. Soil-organic matter functions as a crucial source and place for nutrients, as a substrate for microbial activity, and as a safeguard against fluctuations in acidity, water content, and contaminants.
Again, the improvement of soil-organic matter can assist in mitigating the increase of atmospheric CO2; this helps with climate change. Another important function of soil- organic matter is that it provides better soil structure, which enables improved water penetration, less runoff, better drainage, increased stability, and reduced wind and water erosion.

Then there is the question of environmental integrity. This is crucial in the struggle against climate change. This is why Guyana is part of the Guiana Shield Project, a carbon cover of about 270 million hectares. A significant amount, about 16%, of the world’s fresh water is part of this project, along with vast amounts of biodiversity. Therefore, revenues could be used to invest in appropriate technologies, including data processing and analytical systems that would allow the authorities to accurately track, monitor, record and report what is happening with our forests. Our trees are the lungs of the earth; a living ocean, live trees are approximately 50% of water by weight. Imagine the amount of water flowing in our rainforest, its importance to nature and the catastrophic damage that would be done to the ecosystems if this indispensable carbon-cover is degraded or destroyed. I remain strong on this point that there could be no higher priority or more sensible and noble investment than to secure the integrity of the natural environment.

Unless we protect it, then we and all the world would cease to exist in our present physical state. Also, our oceans, rivers, lakes and other watercourses need to be aggressively protected. Even now, mining activities are contaminating some of our rivers, used by generations of local residents, in those areas, for farming and doing daily chores such as cooking and washing. No amount of money can repair the damage done to waterways vital to farming communities. We must invest to prevent pollution of our rivers. On the up side, the authorities should seriously think about processing water for export; there is a ready massive market. As I write this letter, Chennai the first city of India is faced with a water crisis. In fact, report from concerned international organizations suggest that about 844 million people are experiencing social, health, environment and economic challenges for lack of clean portable water supplies in those parts of the world.

Finally, there is the energy sector [renewable and green energy]. Solar, geothermal energy and hydropower could almost free Guyana from fossil fuels. I have long held the view and still do hold it that the social, public health, environmental and economic benefits of renewables could easily outstrip those of fossil fuels. For example, the use of fossils emits CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Solar energy decreases air pollution and reduces related public health issues, including certain respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses facilitated by pollution. This not only translates into savings, in the national treasury, in the public health sector but also allows for a clean and safe environment, a healthier nation and a strong national economy. Therefore, while the production of oil and gas exacts a heavy cost on the environment renewables provide a benefit to the ecosystems and to mankind.

It is clear then that there is wisdom in government substantially investing oil revenues in the appropriate technologies for renewable and green energy projects. Vital to this is the formulation of a sustainable energy roadmap that would help with a long- term vision, approaches and models, policies, smart goals, and effective governance systems. In this era of climate change and global warming, green energy is the energy of the future. And therefore we must invest now in it.

Regards,
Royston King