The importance of energy conservation in the light of high oil prices and an increased awareness of the realities of climate change were the focus of a symposium organised by the University of Guyana (UG) on the occasion of Earth Day, yesterday.
Science Advisor to the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre Dr Ulric Trotz told the audience that several technical issues still need to be worked out to successfully address the quantification of carbon discharged from the atmosphere through forests like Guyana’s. He said that this was important since carbon sequestration could be a means for countries like Guyana to benefit economically. He said such countries have to rally for local action and these efforts have to be more than just foreign companies buying themselves clean through cheap credits.
Trotz said that people may be able to change their farming systems to make them friendlier to the environment. He also pointed out that non-till methods, crop rotation and mulching could all help in sequestering carbon. “Building in timber is another way in sequestering carbon,” he said. He explained too that prudent forest management is a way of coping with climate change. Trotz said that this puts Guyana’s standing forests as a tremendous resource, which can bring money into the country. He noted that the commoditisation of carbon has provided a commercial impetus for people to start storing carbon.
In her presentation, Dr Raquel Thomas, Director of Resource Management at the Iwokrama International Centre, said standing forests must be valued. She said forests cover 30 per cent of the earth’s land surface and that only five per cent of the world’s tropical forests remain and those house almost 50 per cent of the world’s biodiversity. She noted that Guyana’s emissions are among the lowest in the world.
Thomas slammed the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol which gives countries incentives to replant after they would have destroyed their forests. “The CDM does not benefit countries like Guyana… we do hope that within a year or 18 months, changes to the Kyoto Protocol would lead to something that could benefit Guyana,” she said. Thomas also said “We cannot avoid looking at the links to poverty alleviation… we have to focus on the economics. We are talking about livelihoods,” adding that standing forests are not treated with sufficient urgency.
“The issue of standing forests is treated like a poor cousin in global political and public debates on climate change,” she said. “Standing forests must be valued,” Thomas said, adding that it must be more than just a conservation value. “Eco-system services must become commercially saleable.”
Thomas said business and livelihood drive deforestation and so relevant and real opportunities have to be found to alleviate poverty. The director said too that there is a lack of sufficient information for trading in relation to valuing eco-system services and sustainable forest management.
Meanwhile, Professor Suresh Narine, Head of the Institute for Applied Science and Technology, noted that although biofuel might be a solution for the energy woes of Guyana, it might not work on a world scale. He said that even if all the available lands were cultivated for biofuel production, this might not be sufficient for all of the world’s energy demands. Narine said in Guyana agricultural land did not have to be displaced for ethanol production since there was land aplenty.
Others who made presentations at the symposium were acting CEO of the Guyana Energy Agency Mahender Sharma, Senior Lecturer, SEES Dr Patrick Williams, Commissioner, Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission Andrew Bishop and Manager Guyana Shield Eco-Region Project, United Nations Development Programme Dr Patrick Chesney.
The seminar was hosted by UG’s School of Earth and Environmental Sciences and held at Hotel Tower.
