Our national track record will show that there exists no innate culture of respect for and serious adherence to environmental laws across the spectrum of communities and workplaces in Guyana. The records will also show that a lack of mindfulness of environmental laws and their responsible application applies to workplaces in both the public and private sectors. Part of the reason for this has to do with inattention to a lack of monitoring and enforcement capacity. That apart, it is also a matter of indifference. There is evidence, at various pretty basic levels, that as a nation we do not care sufficiently about the environment as we ought to. In the private sector we have heard, astonishingly, about the high cost of maintaining worthwhile bona fides. Frankly, the less said about that point of view, the better.
In the instance of public sector workplaces there has been a tendency, over time, for the state to gloss over and allow ‘to ride’ transgressions in Ministries and other state agencies until the anomalies simply become unbearable. When that point is reached, then, perhaps, some measure of mostly cosmetic action is taken.
The August 1995 breach of a tailings pond at the gold mining operations of Omai Gold Mines Ltd which saw hundreds of gallons of cyanide-laced slurry emptied into the Omat River and then into the Essequibo River, compelling the authorities to declare a large area a disaster zone, is regarded as the high water mark of environmental mishaps to have occurred in Guyana. As far as gold mining is concerned the huge gap between the geographic spread of mining operations and the reach of our monitoring and remedying capability means that our understanding of the prevalence and seriousness of the application of cyanide in mining operations and the attendant environmental damage is strictly limited; so that even with due mindfulness of environmental laws, which, on the basis of the available evidence is far from the case, the indiscriminate use of cyanide in gold–recovery operations is still commonplace in the sector.
Then there is the impact of what, these days, is the increasing tendency of foreign investors in the extractive sectors to leave behind their lofty environmental ‘principles’ upon arriving in foreign countries to exploit those sectors, and clothe themselves in altogether different operational rules that leave behind any mindfulness of the need to attach those ‘principles’ to their local operations. That, according to reports, would appear to be the case with both Bosai’s Chinese-run bauxite mining operations and the majority Russian-owned Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. whose environmental bona fides in their routine operations are, from all accounts, unacceptable. Contextually, it has to be said that the recent imposition by the EPA of a $1 million fine on BOSAI arising out of the recent spill from its tailings pond which impacted residents in the Linden community of Noitgedacht and the wider environment and the order that the company halt the discharge of waste from its processing of bauxite into its tailings pond is reflective of a demonstration by the authorities of a seriousness about its environmental bona fides that is as rare as it is welcome. Whether, of course, it is reflective of signs of a radically- altered state of mind is of course another matter.
In other ways too, there are signs that the EPA is beginning to demonstrate an enhanced measure of seriousness in the execution of its responsibilities. There is, however, still a long road to travel. In recent years the incidents associated with mercury-related casualties arising out of the ‘processing’ operations at the Guyana Gold Board and the reported illnesses arising out of what we were told was the presence of harmful fungi in the complex that still houses the Guyana Revenue Authority are examples of gaping holes in the environmental defences of some state-run entities.
Insofar as the private sector is concerned the challenge may be even greater if we add to the existing commonplace and long-standing environmental infractions that obtain across many if not most of the sectors and what, in some instances has been a shocking indifference to addressing those anomalies. To all of this must also be added the likelihood that what is believed to be the anticipated invasion by foreign investors and what may well be their temptation provided by our own indifference to emulate the prevailing pattern inattentiveness to our national environmental profile.
All of this is simply a quiet reminder that in pursuit of the developmental goals that we eagerly anticipate arising out of our recent good fortune that need hardly be repeated here, there will be the need to fashion a national posture towards matching our environmental profile with our growth aspirations, lest we will find the latter to be frustratingly elusive.
