After Cabinet discussion…
CABINET, at its Tuesday meeting, noted that the “reality of climate change is here to stay and Guyana will respond,” Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon reported yesterday.

Speaking at his weekly post-Cabinet media briefing, at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown, he said the post-Copenhagen wrap-up threw light on Guyana’s assessment of developments in climate change, particularly, those likely to be influenced by the outcome of the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change in Denmark.

Luncheon disclosed that Cabinet also paid attention to the local reactions to the summit.

“And it is Cabinet’s contention that the reality of climate change is here to stay and, in the face of international action, some might say inaction, the likely course is uncertain but may worsen,” he added.

Luncheon said, that, of course, is a reflection of the lack of definitive commitments at Copenhagen.

“Cabinet ruled that Guyana will respond to climate change and our nexus is, one, the convergence to a climate neutral economy and, two, in expanding the role of forests in mitigation and adaptation, which is now enshrined in the international agreement and does, indeed, provide a realities basis for our commitment to the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS),”he informed.

Alluding to the commitment of economic and financial support being less than is required and even less than expected, Luncheon said: “We are thankful that foresight, probably, played a role that saved us from the full impact of the Copenhagen Summit uncertainty where financial support was concerned, because we had, previously, already agreed to the Guyana/Norway agreement.”

That deal secures up to US$250M over the next five years to support Guyana’s climate change model.

Negative reviews
Luncheon declared that the negative reviews of the summit locally are understandable, as well, on the international scene.

“But we would want to recognise that the political inputs had quite a bit to do with convergence around the scientific solution – what was the solution that science called for – the state of the economy, the financial sector internationally, the levels of governance in many of the developed and the developing world – all of them had to play a role,” he stated.

“And it is unfortunate that there wasn’t enough convergence at the scientific and the political and the technical level, to bring about what was the ultimate ambition – a legally binding international treaty,” Luncheon lamented.

However, he said forest and its role in mitigation and adaptation is now enshrined.

“A historical wrong has been corrected,” the HPS concluded

Luncheon said the Administration will continue to focus and respond to the local negatives when it is merely misguided and uninformed.

“A big one is that the Guyana/Norway agreement commits us or leaves us to hamstringing the level of the operations of the mining and the forestry sectors. So far from the truth.

“We committed to historical levels of operations in these areas and, indeed, many of the specifics of our commitment were based on matters that these two sectors themselves were addressing previously and independent of any LCDS discussion,” he reminded.

Luncheon said the improvement in forest management that the LCDS has mandated has been an ongoing activity and, in the mining sector, damages and environmental protection are areas that were previously being addressed and studied and aspects being implemented even before the low carbon strategy.

He observed that another misunderstanding of the agreement, which is in the local media, deals with national capacity in the implementation of the agreement, particularly, at the technical and the MRV (Monitoring, Reporting and Verification) level.

Stumbling block
“Governance here has been thrown up as a major stumbling block and one that would unravel disagreement. If you read, literally, what the critics and the negativists are saying, it is as though this is our first encounter with governance and its engagement with an international entity and the international community,” Luncheon remarked.

He pointed out that Government has held together the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration, the local and international stakeholders and the Diaspora over four successive PPP/C administrations, from 1992 to present.

“And I will go further, to say we have made pledges in the Guyana/Norway agreement that are based on the background of our consistent achievements in governance and improving governance over these years,” Luncheon said.

The HPS said capacity, also at a professional level, would have to get experts to come in and assist in this new area of skills. But, at the end of the day, Guyanese would be provided with the opportunity to develop a new marketable skill in forest management as it relates to climate change.