A group of civil society organisations is concerned at indications that government is walking away from renewing the Norway-Guyana forests protection agreement and has also expressed dissatisfaction that the administration is dismissive of its views on the upcoming climate change meeting in Paris.
In a statement issued by the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), the Guyana Policy Forum informed that 23 organisations, representative of youth, business, faith-based, disabilities, human rights, trade union, indigenous, welfare and environmental concerns, met on Wednesday with a view to being updated on preparation for the Paris talks from both civic and official presenters.
However, a variety of last-minute excuses from officials undermined the balanced ventilation of positions the organisers had hoped for, the statement said. Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman could not be contacted by Stabroek News on the civil society statement yesterday as his phone was off.
The statement said the groups expressed dissatisfaction over the manner in which civic concerns have been discounted from the preparatory process for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties meeting in Paris, known as COP 21. Countries across the globe have committed to create a new international climate agreement by the conclusion of COP 21, in Paris, in December. The COP 21 meeting will seek a binding agreement on how to share the burden of capping global warming at 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels or lower.
Apart from criticism of the failure to incorporate recommendations from civic caucuses into the revised draft document, the meeting also heard complaints over the lack of clarity on the future of the Guyana-Norway agreement.
“Criticisms of the COP 21 process focused on two main areas: the manner in which civic attempts to cooperate with the process, despite the short time made available, were set aside and the lack of clear information on the government’s intentions with respect to the Norway- Guyana Agreement which has been suspended since the new government took office,” the statement said.
The group recalled that government verbally presented its intended Nationally Determined Contributions (iNDC) to a public audience on September 9th, after which a deadline of 24 hours was placed on receiving written comments from civil society. “Despite considerable effort made by assorted civic groups and indigenous organisations it was noted in the meeting that the final document failed to take their recommendations into account,” the statement said.
iNDCs are national climate action plans/goals for the post-2020 time period that countries submit to the UNFCCC in preparation for a new international climate agreement. The grouping said that efforts have been made to communicate these concerns to President David Granger, who reportedly remains responsible for the Office of Climate Change.
“Both the disregard itself and the failure to explain this disregard of civic and indigenous opinion is generating skepticism over the disconnect that seems to exist between the willingness of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MNRE) to include civic organisations in the process but without reflecting this inclusion in the outcomes. The frustration is grounded in the expectation of higher levels of transparency than pertained in the past,” the statement said.
Damaging
According to the statement, similar levels of frustration and bewilderment were also expressed over indications that the government is walking away from any renewal of the Norway-Guyana Agreement. “In particular, how government plans to generate equivalent levels of income for development from alternative sources to Norway needs urgent explanation,” the statement asserted.
Under the agreement, which was signed in 2009, Guyana could earn up to US$250 million in performance-based payments for the period up until 2015, based on an independent verification of Guyana’s deforestation and forest degradation rates and progress on REDD+ enabling activities. REDD+ is a global initiative that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Guyana has so far earned US$190 million under the partnership.
Last month, Director of Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative Per Fredrik Pharo told Stabroek News that there are currently no discussions on extending the forests partnership between Guyana and Norway but talks can start when the agreed deliverables of the current partnership are met.
The statement from the civil society organisations said that the success of the REDD+ experiment lies in Guyana having developed and tested reliable monitoring, reporting and verification schemes (MRVS) for measuring de-forestation rates, both at national and community levels. “Guyana’s success has generated considerable international attention. As a result, emitter countries in particular are more open to funding the REDD+ process,” the statement said.
It declared that were Guyana to vigorously promote REDD+ success, it stands to generate even higher sums than the US$250 million over five years guaranteed by the Norway partnership. “Indeed, under the best scenario, Guyana stands to earn up to US$90 million per annum under the Agreement. Actual earnings from the Norwegian Fund was only between [US$40 and US$50] million given the previous government’s preference for encouraging gold-mining due to high gold prices,” the grouping said.
It pointed out that one of the unfinished projects under the current partnership aims to develop the ‘opt-in’ mechanism whereby Amerindian communities become eligible for direct payment for forest conservation.
Failure to complete the partnership “removes the possibility of a second round of the Norway agreement,” the statement said.
“Equally damaging will be the image of Guyana as an unreliable partner at a time when other forest-rich countries are lining up to join the REDD+ scheme. Ironically, having done the groundwork to verify the reliability of REDD+ technically, Guyana may well find itself out in the cold in Paris, both literally and figuratively,” it added.
The statement said that at the end of the meeting, a decision was taken to collate all civic submissions to the iNDC process in a single ‘shadow’ document in a last-ditch attempt to have the iNDC modified prior to October 31, the very final date such amendments can be made.
The document would also provide civil society with a more unified basis for participation in a new consultation which is to take place in early November, according to information provided to the meeting by the ministry, it added.
