The Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) and representatives from several district councils on Saturday met with the verifier of a controversial carbon credits scheme under which this country is to receive US$750m over 10 years with 15% of the monies to go to Indigenous communities.
In a statement yesterday, the APA said that it, the Moruca District Council (MDC), Upper Mazaruni District Council (UMDC), North Pakaraimas District Council (NPDC) and South Rupununi District Council (SRDC) met with the verifier Aster Global on June 24, at Cara Lodge in Georgetown.
It followed the rejection by the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) Secretariat in May of a complaint by the APA that there had not been Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) given by indigenous communities to the scheme. Aster Global had been interviewed as part of the complaint process.
Aster Global, the APA statement pointed out yesterday, has been contracted as the auditor of Guyana’s carbon credits scheme to ensure compliance with the ART Secretariat’s TREES (The REDD+ Environmental Excellence) Standard. Aster Global was represented at the meeting by its Principal Scientist and lead auditor Kevin Markham and Forester/GIS Remote Sensing Specialist Sandesh Shrestha. Franklin Paniagua, ART’s Director of Policy was also part of the team at Saturday’s meeting.
The APA delegation was led by Executive Director Jean La Rose and included Executive Committee members – Vice President Junisha Johnny, Secretary David Wilson, Assistant Secretary John Campbell, Treasurer Earl Thomas, Assistant Treasurer Reynold Hutson, and Youth Representative Kemal Robinson. Other APA Secretariat staff, including Governance and Rights Coordinator Laura George, was also present at the meeting. George, the statement said is APA’s lead on carbon credits and forestry governance.
Waramuri Toshao Vivian Edwards represented the MDC, UMDC Chair and Toshao of Kako Mario Hastings and Paruima Toshao Lennox Percy represented the Mazaruni district and NPDC Chair Clifton Pereira represented the North Pakaraimas council and SRDC’s Communications Officer Immaculata Casimero the South Rupununi council.
Markham told the meeting that Guyana is entering its second crediting phase (2021-2025) and his team was conducting site visits for the verification of the credits and compliance with the TREES standards. He said that the meeting with the APA emanated from the comments submitted during the last crediting phase (2016-2020) and subsequent complaints to the ART Secretariat.
In his introduction, the statement said that Markham explained that his team met with communities in Regions 1, 2 and 5 along with government and other stakeholders. He added that the team’s priorities were based on the “useful comments” submitted by the APA.
During the meeting, Markham asked a series of questions about concerns raised during the last crediting period particularly relating to the processes employed to arrive at the benefit-sharing agreement, the National Toshaos Council (NTC) resolution endorsing the Low Carbon Development Strategy 2023 and the overall consultation period led by the government. Markham also committed to follow-up meetings if necessary, with the APA and District Councils to ensure that all their questions are addressed.
The statement said that the District Councils representatives took the lead during the discussion and presented the Aster Global team with information relating to the law, processes, and guidelines of free, prior and informed consent.
The meeting was also used as an opportunity to glean answers from Aster Global’s team about the work they do and how they ensure compliance with the TREE Standards.
Clarify
In May, the complaint by the APA which could have delayed future payments under the US$750m carbon credits scheme was rejected by the ART Secretariat which nevertheless said that the process helped to clarify matters and avenues of improvement.
The APA lodged the complaint on March 8th and it was rejected on May 18th.
According to a statement from the ART Secretariat, on 8 March 2023, a letter was submitted to the ART Secretariat by the APA alleging various shortcomings in the process surrounding the issuance of TREES credits to the Government of Guyana for the 2016-2020 period. Following ART’s established complaint process, the ART Secretariat commissioned a review, which was conducted by Charlotte Young, Winrock International’s General Counsel and Chief Risk and Compliance Officer. The ART Secretariat said that Young is not involved in the ART Secretariat’s operations, was not involved in the processes surrounding the Government of Guyana’s interactions with ART, and reports directly to the Winrock Board of Directors Audit Committee. Winrock International describes itself as a nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase economic opportunity, sustain natural resources, and protect the environment.
The ART Secretariat said that the review, which included stakeholder interviews and a close examination of the validation and verification process, determined that ART’s processes were complied with. In fact, it found that ART had made exceptions to its process to extend the public comments period from one month to nine months to allow as many comments as possible to be included in, and evaluated as part of, the validation and verification process.
The full results of the review were published on 18th May 2023, on the ART website, together with the original letter from APA and responses from the Government of Guyana and the Chairman of the National Toshaos Council.
In conducting the review, the statement said that Winrock’s General Counsel interviewed representatives from APA, the Government of Guyana, Aster Global (the Validation and Verification Body, or VVB), and the ART Secretariat. The statement said that the review focused on the primary issue that appears throughout APA’s comments and complaints: that concerns were raised by APA, but those concerns were not heard or considered during the validation and verification process.
According to the statement, the review carefully examined this process, including how stakeholder comments were addressed by the Government of Guyana, particularly those related to consultations and FPIC for REDD+ activities, as well as how the VVB folded the comments into their audit plan as they evaluated whether the government here met the requirements of TREES. The review also provided detailed responses to relevant comments and complaints, while clarifying that many of APA’s concerns relate to disputes with the Government of Guyana that lay outside of ART’s mandate. Notably, the statement said that ART does not act as a judge or arbiter of intra-governmental disputes.
“The review concludes that the processes in ART’s TREES Standard were properly followed with respect to the issuance of carbon credits to the Government of Guyana for the 2016-2020 time-period and that, with limited exceptions, all concerns raised in the complaints were evaluated by the VVB during the 2016-2020 validation and verification. After reviewing the evidence collected in its entirety, the validation and verification process for the 2016-2020 period concluded that the Government of Guyana was in conformance with all requirements of TREES as detailed in the verification report”, the statement said.
