-IDB study warns
Under-resourced management of the Lethem to Georgetown road will not only lead to forest loss but weak natural resources management regimes could leave the area along the highway vulnerable to various interests, according to an Inter-American Deve-lopment Bank funded study.
The ‘Climate Change and Biodiversity Mainstreaming through Avoided Deforesta-tion – Guyana Case Study’ project focused on the Georgetown -Lethem Trans-portation Corridor (GLTC). It sought to provide a conceptual and analytical framework for assessing the needs, challenges and opportunities for Guyana in the context of REDD and to assess the application of a REDD framework on national development and biodiversity. It focused on understanding and documenting the potential carbon emissions that would result from deforestation directly and indirectly attributed to the Lethem-Georgetown road, highlighting the related threats to biodiversity.
REDD (Reduced Emis-sions from Deforestation and Degradation) is a concept that refers to avoiding the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and using forests as carbon sinks to abate future CO2 emissions. With the loss and depletion of forests a major issue for global climate change discussions, Guyana has been lobbying for the inclusion of forest conservation in this framework so that the country can receive revenues for conserving its forests (REDD+).
According to the study, Guyana is distinguished as a High Forest Low Deforesta-tion country due to its high forest cover and currently low rates of deforestation. This situation is due in part to the limited accessibility of forest resources and markets but is likely to change substantially with the proposed upgrading of the Georgetown – Lethem road, the study, done by conservation organization, Conserva-tion International (CI) and other partners, noted.
Conservationist Dr David Singh of CI-Guyana had told Stabroek News in July that the Linden to Lethem road will have one of the biggest impacts on the forest. He said figures show that about two million hectares of forest will be lost through the project unless there is a framework to pay for and provide alternative development to what would traditionally occur along such a road.
At the official opening of the Takutu Bridge – linking Guyana and Brazil overland, last week – President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil had announced that the paving of Lethem to Linden highway would be the next challenge. A Brazilian Technical Mission will be in Georgetown at the end of this month to study the financial conditions for the project.
With the corridor being upgraded, traditional agriculture and natural resource extraction sectors of the economy will expand as forest resources and lands become more accessible unless alternative incentives are created, the study said.
“The reduction of the transportation distance to a deep water port from northern Brazil by as much a 500 km means that northern Brazil and Guyana will become the new frontiers for development and expansion in the greater Amazon,” it said. It stated that if the situation is compared to similar conditions in the greater Amazon Basin over the last several years, the resultant level of deforestation and degradation of Guyana’s forests will be significant. It said that this has global climate implications given that forest loss contributes as much as 18% of greenhouse gas emissions contributing to global warming and other spin-off climate change effects.
The construction of an all-weather road would improve accessibility to previously unattractive terrain spurring the potential proliferation in economic activities and housing developments and housing developments. The progression of economic activity and settlements along the GLTC may also trigger an increase in unregulated logging, mining, hunting and land clearing activities by migrants or settlers that would now dwell within e proximity to these resources. “Additionally, it can also be predicted that with an improved transportation service, investments in the agricultural and recreational sectors along the road will increase. Land clearance and the consequential degradation and loss of forest, habitats and biodiversity will compromise current efforts to protect its intact forest… and attendant biodiversity,” the study noted.
It asserted that measures are needed to ameliorate this scenario and noted that Guyana has launched a Low Carbon Development Stra-tegy in June that proposes to maintain its forests in return for revenues that will be used to invest in low carbon development initiatives. It said that it is expected that these revenues will be realized from a suitable REDD framework. However, it noted that in the absence of REDD revenues, the country will be faced with no alternative but to continue along a traditional development path “which will have enormous impacts on forests driven by the upgraded GLTC. “
It added: “While acknowledging that actions such as effective land use planning and monitoring and enforcement can curb excessive rates of deforestation/degradation the capacity of the existing institutional framework and the availability of resources for the management of natural resources will be seriously put to the test unless there is a game change such as a successful REDD framework. “
Meantime, it also pointed out that despite the efforts of the government to promote forest conservation, there is currently inadequate financial and human resources and appropriate technology, which will significantly constrain these conservation attempts. It pointed out that the large group of institutions created by legislation governing land and natural resources tend to operate independently and with limited coordination except at the highest level of decision making.
The study noted that Guyana has achieved international prominence but needs to engage further in the United Nations negotiations to ensure it is able to benefit from REDD+. Ensuring the right rules are accepted internationally needs to be complimented by domestic institutions and legislation that are able to effectively support REDD+ activities within Guyana. This includes appropriate engagement with Amerindian communities and other stakeholders, it stated. It noted that the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities feature as a key issue within the international negotiations and while the government has taken commendable steps to present titles and to grant further titles to communities, additional work is needed.
It had earlier noted that while the government may wish to conserve its forests, economic and social forces might transcend that wish or cause the government to reconsider its policies, particularly if the promised revenues from international carbon markets fail to materialize.
