The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is helping Guyana to explore the opportunities for benefiting financially from foregoing the exploitation of its forests.
Under an agreement between the Guyana government and the UNDP, Stabroek News has learnt, the UNDP's Sustainable Energy and Environment Division (SEED) will be undertaking a project to assess the economic possibilities for doing so. A consultant from SEED is expectedhere in a fortnight to work on issues associated with an economic valuation of the Iwokrama Forest.
The project will investigate the size of the carbon reduction market in which Iwokrama and other forest areas in Guyana may be able to sell reduction services under the targets set by the recent conference on global climate change, and the quantity of carbon reduction services that may be offered to the international community, through either foregoing timber harvesting on particular forest areas, or the introduction of reduced impact timber harvesting techniques.
Investigations will also be conducted to assess the potential for selling carbon storage as well as to determine the nature and quantity of any opportunity costs associated with foregoing timber harvesting options; and the net costs of the introduction of reduced impact logging to timber harvesting companies.
At the end of the project, the consultant will produce a summary of the overall economic potential of the Iwokrama forest, with particular emphasis on globally important forest functions such as carbon storage and carbon sequestration. Two other related reports on "the potential for selling carbon storage in Iwokrama and other Guyana foresst" and the "valuation of the Iwokrama forest" are also expected to be produced by the SEED consultant.
Last month, Costa Rica launched a programme to save more than 1.25million acres of its forests by selling companies in the developed worldallowances to emit carbon gases. The programme could earn Costa RicaUS$20 million this year and as much as US$300 million over the life of the project.
The sale of emission credits is being made possible under the agreement on the guidelines on global climate change at a conference held in Kyoto,Japan in December and is the first of its kind. The Costa Rican credits areto be sold to industrial companies in the developed world which emit carbon gases. The emission of carbon gases has been linked to the rise in global temperatures through the greenhouse effect.
Just under a month ago (April 27) we editorialised on the exciting possibilities for forest conservation here arising out of the carbon creditssale initiative which had been embedded in the global climate change agreement in December in Kyoto, Japan.
Despite what should clearly be the entire country's enthusiasm at this noble initiative, the response has been lukewarm - barely troubling the mercury in the thermometer. In a country flailing in choppy waters for new ideas to conserve forests and boost earnings, it is incredible that this initiative has not been seized upon with greater zeal.
The responsibility for doing so lies primarily with the government since it is entrusted with overseeing the national patrimony. There has not yet been a public statement that we know of by the government on the carbon credits scheme.
Through the newspaper's industry we carried a report on May 11 about the impending visit of an expert from the UNDP's Sustainable Energy and Environment Division who would be addressing some of these issues and putting up three reports on various areas including the capacity and feasibility of Iwokrama and other forested areas entering the carbon gases reduction market. Given the amount of work this expert is expected to do, it seems unlikely that Guyana could be in a state of readiness to reap the benefits of the Kyoto plan any time soon, unlike Costa Rica.
There are two areas where the government must be accountable in respect of the carbon credits plan.
The second is this. Were our environment, forestry and foreign affairs officials alive to the prospect that this initiative was a marketable one and could actually be ratified at the Kyoto gathering? Did the relevant government officials then act accordingly in pursuit of this initiative? Were we present in any capacity at the Kyoto summit and have we met or will meet any attendant obligations before we can benefit from the initiative?
This is the test of whether our officials in these various fields were on the ball and doing the job they profess to do. Can we have answers?
Too often officials speak blandly about the implications of international gatherings - which they attend - on Guyana when they have as much hope of real impact as encountering a mosquito-free area of Georgetown. The Kyoto gathering as it relates to the forests scheme offers great potential for real impact.
We urge the government again to level with its citizens on this exciting initiative and its stand on it.
First, though it might be taken for granted, the government has not weighed in publicly with a yea or nay to this initiative. While the majority of right thinking people would unreservedly commit their support to this initiative there could be reasons for the state not to support it.
On balance, the carbon credits scheme is something we feel is eminently suitable and we commend it again to the government. It should be accommodated in its forestry policy which quite naturally should reflect a mix of uses for forests in addition to those areas set aside purely for conservation.
The steady stream of foreign businessmen meeting top officials and professing interest in large concessions can be seen as an indicator of the government's present thinking on forest use. We urge that it be tempered by a hardnosed assessment, acre for acre, of the returns to the country of traditional operations compared to the possibilities of the carbon credits scheme.
An environmental economist is due here next week to undertake a project to assess the economic possibilities of selling Guyana's carbon storage potential.
Informed sources have told Stabroek News, that the expert, Tamar Bello, is due here from the United Kingdom, to carry out the project under the auspices of the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Sustainable Energy and Environmental Division. Bello is a graduate of London University in environmental and resource economics
An agreement between the Guyana Government and the UNDP, is expected to be signed shortly to fund Bello's activities. This agreement is one of two the UNDP will be signing with the government to help it to explore the possible benefits to be derived from forest conservation.
The other agreement is to fund a project to be undertaken under the UN Biodiversity Convention, to which Guyana is also a signatory
The sale of carbon storage offers the opportunity for Guyana to conserve its forests by selling its carbon storage capacity through foregoing timber harvesting of some of its forest areas or through the introduction of reduced impact timber harvesting techniques.
The possibility of selling carbon storage is being facilitated by the guidelines agreed at the December conference on climate change, which was held in Kyoto, Japan.
As a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Control, Guyana can participate in the Kyoto programme once it could come up with a proposal acceptable to companies in the developed world which emit carbon gases.
Last month, Costa Rica launched a scheme to save 1.2 million acres of its forests, which could earn it as much as US$20 million this year and US$300 million over the life of the project
Questions have been raised here as to why Guyana is not yet in a position to take advantage of this scheme.
An argument had arisen between them, because the granman,without knowlegde of his subjects, had applied for a logging-concession in their area, in the name of the exploitation company Sorejo Mining. The village leaders disapproved of this conduct in a meeting last week in Pikin Slee and they decidedto go to the Granman to talk with him about this matter. Atthis meeting in Pikin Slee 23 of the 25 villages which are inthe logging concession applied for by the Granman, were repre-sented. This concession is between the Suriname and the Saramacca river, from Pokigron to Semoisi. Last sunday a delegation of about 30 men went to the residence of the Granman inAsidonhopo. Among the 30 men were the village leaders of Abenaston, Gunzi, Futuna Keba, Pikin Slee, Kambalua, Padala-fanti, Guyana en Pamboko. The other village leaders were absent because of fear for reprisals. The Granman who, at the request of the government, wanted to move the meeting to next week, was forced to meet with the village leaders when he was confronted with them. At the start, there was a lot of tensi-on, but after a declaration of the Granman the tension easedand at the end of the meeting there was an relieved atmosphere of unity and brotherhood. Three urgent matters were discussed:the concession application, the land rights and the economic activities in the Saramaccan habitats.
Concession: The village leaders made it clear to the Granman that they came to him because of the rumours that he had applied for a concession in the Upper-Surinam area without their consultati-on. They wanted to know what was true of these rumours. The Granman admitted that he had applied for a concession but thatit had not yet been honoured. If that would have been thecase, he would have definitely informed them. He said that hehad applied for the concession to make it safe for his subjects, because else the concession could fall into the handsof multinationals. The trend nowadays is that large enterpe-neurs can easily get lands, but if he has already applied forthe area, it would be difficult to take it away from them andto give it to a company. The village leaders agreed that the interests of the Saramaccan population must be guarded. They had some more problems with the fact that the Granman had not applied for the concession just in his own name but also those of two other men (Johan and Rene Pansa). Therefor they had assumed that the entire river would not benefit from the concession.
Rights: The meeting recognized the fact that, according to the law,the Surinamese Government has authority over the entire territory of Surinam, including those of the interior. According to them the government doesn't take into account when they handout concessions,that the people of the interior have lived there for alomst 200 years. They give concessions thoughtlessly, which are in the habitats of the people of the interior,as a result of which they get into trouble with stangers ontheir "kostgrondjes", who claim that the area is theirs. The village leaders agreed unanimously that they have a right tolive in their territory and they want to discuss the landrights issue with the government. According to them the government has to establish what the population is entitled to,to avoid future problems. Demarcation of Saramaccan territory is a necessity and they asked the Granman to join them in their struggle for the legal recognition of their land rights.The Granman showed himself willing to join them in the struggle. He was also a supporter of cooperation with his subjects,to reach a compromise with the government, in order to acquire a piece of land.
Activities: The Saramaccan village leaders are not at all pleased with the effects of shady logging and mining activities which take place in the interior at this moment by people from the interior, people from the city and strangers. The granman declared that he had heard about these activities but that he didn' tknow who were active at the logging and minig concessions inthe Saramaccan forrests. The village leaders found it hard to believe that, although the Granman is recognized by the government, that he wasn't informed about concessionaries whowant to work in the area. The asked the Granman to make sure that the large-scale logging activities in their habitats would be stopped.