The opposition PPP has complained to the Norwegian government about comments by Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman that the party had farmed out all productive forests before leaving office and said it would support the suspension of projects if its concerns are not addressed.
In a letter to Per Fredrik Pharo, the Director of Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative, opposition Chief Whip Gail Teixeira asked that Pharo engage Trotman and request him to substantiate his recent statements. “Without being held accountable for their statements and actions, the PPP fears that the APNU+AFC government will continue to undermine the basic foundations of the Guyana-Norway partnership,” she wrote.
“In that situation, the PPP will have no choice but to support Norway putting on hold projects and funds to be administered under the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) pending independent investigation of Minister Trotman’s claims. This is the only course of action that would protect the partnership’s central elements from further damage, and would be the only responsible course of action in the long-term interest of Guyanese,” Teixeira declared.
During the debate on the 2016 national budget earlier this month, Trotman said that the former PPP/C government allocated all of the country’s productive forests prior to demitting office. “When we assumed government we were met with an alarming situation where we discovered that 100% or all of our productive forest was allocated by the past government,” Trotman told the National Assembly during his contribution to the budget debate.
“How could a responsible government preside over the allocation of all, not some, but all of its productive forest? What about future generations?” he questioned.
In her letter to Pharo on behalf of the PPP, Teixeira expressed “grave concern” about what she described as the APNU+AFC government’s “continued lies and attacks” on the integrity of the Guyana-Norway partnership on climate change and forests.
She pointed to Trotman’s comments as well as statements by Minister of Finance Winston Jordan in his August 2015 budget speech when he said it would be “a downright criminal act of deception were we to proceed with Amaila Falls.” The Amaila Falls Hydropower Power (AFHP) project was the flagship project of the Guyana-Norway forests partnership which ended last year. The feasibility of the project is currently being reviewed.
According to Teixeira, Jordan said that the AFHP will cost the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) US$2.6 billion over 20 years. However, she argued that it will save GPL US$2 billion over 20 years. She added that Jordan also “inaccurately” stated that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) agreed with the APNU+AFC’s plans to shelve the AFHP.
Sithe Global walked as developer of the US$858.2 million, 165 megawatt hydro venture since 2013 after the then main opposition APNU voted against the Hydro Electric Power Amendment Bill 2013 and a motion to increase the ceiling of loan guarantees.
Irresponsible
According to Teixeira, the “irresponsible” public statements on Guyana’s forestry management and the Amaila Falls project seek to tarnish the PPP’s track record on forest conservation, sustainable forest management and climate change. “The statements also deliberately question the integrity of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and the Guyana-Norway partnership for which forest conservation is a key pillar and the Amaila Falls Hydropower project is a flagship project,” she said.
The PPP called on Trotman to issue a full retraction and apologise to the people of Guyana and said that his statements are not based on any facts.
The letter noted that as shown in publicly available and internationally verified reports, Guyana’s forests cover an area of 18,483,000 hectares. Teixeira pointed to the breakdown of this area as summarised in the latest Monitoring, Report and Verification (MRV) report under the partnership which says that that State Forest Area amounts to 12 249 000 hectares, titled Amerindian lands (including newly titled lands) amounts to 2 582 000 hectares, State Lands to 2 560 000 hectares, and protected areas to 1 091 000 hectares.
The PPP/C Chief Whip said they have called on Trotman to explain to what he is referring when he makes the claim that 100% of the forest was allocated by the PPP/C Government. According to Teixeira, about seven million hectares have been allocated for concessions, which is less than 38% of Guyana’s forest or about 55% of the State Forest Estate and of the seven million hectares, about five million hectares are allocated through large concessions. She added that of the five million hectares, about 2.8 million hectares of large concessions were allocated by PPP/C governments between 1992 and 2015, and about half of the large concessions were issued by the PNC government before 1992, including the current largest concession for Barama Company Limited at 1.7 million hectares.
“In summary, the PPP/C Government allocated approximately 15% of Guyana’s forest to large concessions, about the same as the PNC Government,” she declared. She added that to date, 5.5 million hectares, or close to half the State Forest Estate, remains unallocated.
Independently verified
According to Teixeira, forest management standards within the allocated concessions are among the highest in the world. “Deforestation and degradation, as well as governance standards, have been independently verified and assessed since the commencement of the Guyana-Norway partnership on forests in 2009. The most recent Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) report dated October 2015 shows that Guyana’s forest cover has a deforestation rate of 0.062%, one of the lowest rates in the world,” she asserted.
She said they fear that Trotman’s attacks are symptomatic of a wider attack on the Guyana-Norway partnership.
“There have been no meetings of the LCDS Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee (MSSC) since the Government took office, despite the fact that two of the current Government’s Ministers were Members of the MSSC since its inception. Information about GRIF-funded projects is no longer available on the LCDS website. Amerindian and other stakeholders are no longer consulted about the LCDS or the Guyana-Norway partnership,” she declared.
Further, Teixeira pointed out that the heads of the LCDS Project Management Office and the Office of Climate Change were not retained by the new government. She also pointed to the resignation of head of NICIL Winston Brassington who was the Technical Lead for the AFHP. She said this was after “a relentless attack on him and his family by agents of the Government.”
According to Teixeira, the PPP has real concerns about the government’s commitment to the standards required by the partnership – especially as they relate to transparency, accountability and the quality of technical work.
“We have noted that your pause on disbursing money to Guyana since the new Government assumed office has not been lifted, despite the fact that a payment of US$40 million remains pending. We have also noted that there is no progress towards a new agreement, despite the fact that the last payment under the partnership was to be paid for performance up to the end of 2014,” she wrote.
According to Teixeira, the PPP continues to believe that the Guyana-Norway partnership can be good for Guyana and for the world and therefore, the government must show it is serious about adhering to the standards the agreement requires.
She said the leader of the opposition previously called for an independent and factual investigation into the AFHP and they are pleased to see that this may now take place.
“Our goal is to see the Guyana-Norway partnership regain its original high levels of ambition and to get back to progressively building a model that the world can look to for proof that national development and responsible stewardship of the environment can be compatible activities. We will support the Government in any action that is in line with this vision, but we cannot stay silent when the partnership is being progressively undermined,” Teixeira declared.
