-at panel discussion on Climate Change
The University of Guyana, in collaboration with the British High Commission, hosted a panel discussion at the Regency Suites Hotel Wednesday, with specific emphasis on Climate Change -challenges and opportunities for Guyana. The panellists were Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud; Executive Director, Conservation International Guyana, Dr. David Singh; Chief Executive Officer (ag), Guyana Energy Agency, Mahender Sharma; People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) member Winston Murray; and Major General (retired), Joseph Singh.
The session was the final of four public discussions planned by the University and the British High Commission over the past few months. The forum also entertained questions and comments on the various topics presented by panelists.
Deputy High Commissioner, British High Commission, Simon Bond, expressed the hope that the event would be useful in highlighting the various aspects of the climate change debate and encourage discussions on challenges and opportunities for Guyana and the wider region.
He said that UG has a very important national role to play on climate change, given the key importance of the interface between education, academic research and public policy.
Bond noted that President Jagdeo continues to be an extremely effective and respective voice at the global level.
Guyana has a key voice in discussions on the Reduction of Emissions, Deforestation and Degradation Plus (REDD+) issues which is further boosted by the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Norway, and the progress made on multilateral forest initiatives. Internationally, people are watching closely how Guyana takes forward its initiatives, Bond stated.
Dr. David Singh, who provided an overview of climate change in an international context, said that Guyana is situated in the right place at the right time.
He said the principles of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) are the principles of low emission development, and the agreement signed between Norway and Guyana in November, 2009, highlights two of the main values of the LCDS which have realized the commitment of US$250M by 2015 for Guyana.
The LCDS, he noted, provides an early national commitment by a developing country to participate in the global climate solution and it is a model approach of how a country with high forest cover and low deforestation rate may participate in the global climate solution.
During the course of the initial consultations last year, it was evident that stakeholders across the country embraced the principles of low emission development, Dr. Singh said.
“What we are observing are indeed the dynamics associated with understanding the means by which we can embrace low carbon or low emission development,” he stated.
Alluding to examples of concrete steps which can be taken to implement the LCDS within an international context which represents both challenges and opportunities, Dr. Singh pointed out that the Georgetown/Lethem road is a critical and important part of Guyana’s development.
He said the country’s Brazilian neighbours understand the economic and political importance of this segment of the Manaus/Atlantic Ocean road corridor, and have for years included it in planned development for northern Brazil.
Dr. Singh said that Brazil has a large dynamic and human population that can rapidly move into Guyana for both logging and agricultural activities, and implementation of REDD+ and other conservation measures in Brazil lead to high potential for international leakage of deforestation and degradation into Guyana via the plan’s transnational highway.
Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud, who provided an overview of the challenges and opportunities of climate change for the country from a governmental sphere, noted that Guyana is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
He said sea level is projected to rise at a rate of one centimeter per year and about 40 to 60 cm by the end of the 21st century. A rise in sea level in the country’s case without necessary protection means the inundation of wetlands and lowlands, acceleration of coastal erosion, flooding, the threatening or disruption of coastal structures, and increase in salinity of rivers and aquifers.
“Adapting to climate change is certainly one of the biggest challenges for Guyana. This, if not addressed, can be far more impactful than any social economical or political challenge we can envisage,” Minister Persaud said.
He highlighted that total adaptation is expected to exceed about US$1B, a conservative estimate. For Guyana’s sea defence to ensure that they are bolstered and prepared for the effects of climate change would require close to US$5M per kilometer, while the drainage and irrigation system on the coast, to get it to an adequate level where the country can adequately adapt and adjust the effects of climate change, requires close to US$500M.
“As a nation, we are therefore compelled to find viable adaptation options and financing to confront the threat of climate change and to secure national development and prosperity for all of our people. In this context, our vast pristine rain forest has provided us with an unprecedented opportunity for national economic development and global climate security,” the Minister stated.
Initial findings, the Agriculture Minister noted, suggest that Guyana’s forest could generate economic value to the nation between $430M to about $2B per year, through its services, including off-setting carbon. To realize this benefit, Guyana has embarked on a low carbon growth path guided by the Low Carbon Development Strategy which is still being finalised.
Minister Persaud stated that the LCDS is an innovative approach on how to stimulate the creation of a low deforestation, low carbon climate resilient economy. It is simply a development model to address the challenges of adaptation while expanding economic opportunities and prosperity for the country’s citizens.
People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) member, Winston Murray, who highlighted the challenges and opportunities of climate change in the economic context, supported the principle that Guyana should be compensated for the conservation of its forest in the fight against climate change.
He said it is estimated that deforestation contributes to 17 percent of green house gas emissions worldwide, and if the increase in global temperature is to be limited to no more than two degrees by 2050 to avoid catastrophic consequences for the world, then avoided deforestation could be an important contributor to the achievement of that objective.
Murray pointed out that avoided deforestation comes at an economic price to the country’s forest, citing that mining, harvesting of the forest, economic livelihood of indigenous communities for whom the forest may be part of their utilisable environment, and agriculture and cattle rearing are all economic activities that are linked to the forest. These things have an economic value to the country.
“The government through the President of the Republic, President Jagdeo, has done an excellent job in trying to advocate for the economic value of our forest to the world to be recognized, and for Guyana to be adequately compensated,” Murray stated.
The forum also saw discussions by Major General (retired) Joseph Singh as it relates to the challenges and opportunities of climate change on civil society, and Chief Executive Officer, Guyana Energy Agency, Mahender Sharma’s presentation on renewable energy.(GINA)