Head of the National Toshaos Council (NTC) Derrick John says that consultations with Amerindian communities on REDD+ initiatives is at a standstill because of lack of funding.
“I think that the process need to be speed up,” John told Stabroek News last week. John said that the NTC is pushing for more consultations because more is needed. He said that the NTC has applied to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for funding for consultations and has also been working “tirelessly” with the government to get more funding.
Some activists and Amerindian communities have criticised the limited consultations on REDD+ and the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) initiatives. An audit by Rainfore st Alliance (RA) of Guyana’s performance in meeting REDD+ Enabling Indicators under the Guyana-Norway climate and forests partnership released last December concluded that three of the 10 indicators were met, three were not met and four were partially met. Guyana has to work towards meeting these indicators in order to receive money under the US$250 million partnership. In terms of the indicator – protection of the rights of indigenous peoples – the report said that the verification team concluded that during the audit period, the Government of Guyana (GoG) failed to consistently “enable the effective participation and engagement of indigenous peoples” or effectively “enable indigenous communities to…opt in.” Multiple stakeholders indicate that the GoG has failed to document and address land titling concerns of many Amerindian communities within the time frame established by the Amerindian Act, the report said, while adding that attention to, and negotiation over, untitled community lands and extensions appears to have stalled. Several cases make it clear that free, prior and informed consent has been lacking in the REDD+/LCDS process, particularly with respect to territorial rights and the REDD+ opt-in process that will soon be available to forest-dependent Amerindian communities, it said.
“The opt-in mechanism appears to suffer because of a lack of understanding by the very people who need to make a decision on how to proceed. Finally, many indigenous people feel that their voices are not heard, particularly with respect to land rights, and that their views are not adequately represented in the LCDS process or under the current composition and operations of the MSSC (Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee),” the report said adding that the indicator is not met.
Almost four years into the five-year forest protection partnership with Norway, an ‘opt-in’ mechanism for forested Amerindian communities is still to be finalised.
Asked about the status of the document recently, Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai said that the ministry has done “what we should facilitate.” She said that the NTC has said it will be seeking source of funding and it is about to have that on its agenda to propel the discussion forward.
She said that the NTC made a committed and responsible response to the concept, which was formulated from the recommendations and voice of the people when they were doing the public awareness campaign.
The minister said that the NTC has said months ago that it will deliberate over the draft. She said that at the last NTC meeting, all the toshaos with the exception of the members of the Upper Mazaruni village councils agreed that the draft that they have in their possession was a working document which they are willing to have discourse over. “To this point, I understand that they are still considering it,” she said.
Sukhai said that it is the duty of the village council to pursue the opt-in document at the community level. The NTC has a responsibility to work with them because government will not be accused of a top-down approach or fashioning an opt-in mechanism for indigenous people, she asserted.
The minister said too that there is no final copy of the document “because it’s with the people” and she had no idea when it will be completed. “I have no idea when there will be one…it depends on the people…and there may not be any major changes,” she said, while explaining that at the last NTC when the toshaos signed on to a resolution it “signalled to the government that some of the issues represented here are more or less positively received.”
