Science Advisor at the Caribbean Climate Change Centre in Belize, Dr Ulric Trotz, says that the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) is an exciting concept that should be depoliticized by Guyanese.
Since the LCDS is being used as a new paradigm for development, Dr Trotz suggested a coalition effort and support from both sides of the political spectrum to augment the country’s prospects.
“We’ve taken a very bold step; it’s basically one of the first countries to do this and I think it’s a splendid opportunity for us to build bridges and work together as Guyanese for the future development of our country.” Dr Trotz said that underlying the implementation of the LCDS is a demand for academic integrity and technical capacity.
During preliminary negotiations, there was an agreement to compensate countries with degraded forests for their replanting efforts.
“And we said ‘wait a minute, what about countries without degraded forests, and we were pointing to the fact that rewarding countries with degraded forests to put those forests back was really a perverse incentive.” Dr Trotz, a former Dean of the University of Guyana, said that this would have sent a message to countries like Guyana to cut down their intact, tropical forests and they would be rewarded.
However, using Guyana’s standing forests as a negotiating tool, a group of enthusiasts headed by President Bharrat Jagdeo managed to convince the convention to adopt the Redd+ mechanism which would reward countries with preserved forests.
Guyana is the only country involved in a local experiment, the Norway Pilot Project, which will have international overtones.
“So we are at the forefront of a very important global experiment and it’s important that it does not fail,” Dr Trotz said.
Addressing the significance of an International Biodiversity Centre to Guyana, the climate change expert said that the centre will assist in the implementation of the LCDS.
He added that it will inform global policy and thinking on how to manage tropical resources:
“When we talk about biodiversity, we think only about animals in the jungle but that’s not all. There is also agro-biodiversity which is critical to food security.”
He pointed out that the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARI) along with Iwokrama which was a gift to the international community of 352,000 hectares of pristine forests to develop an approach to sustainability in utilisation of forests.
Dr Trotz remarked that the idea is not to stymie development but to use natural resources in such a way that it is not destroyed or compromises the ability of future generations to benefit.
“We in Guyana have a chance to be a leading light for global community that is grappling with these issues of deforestation.”
Recently, President Jagdeo was in the Congo discussing with Asian and Amazonian countries strategies to ensure the natural resources of the countries remain intact.
The University of Guyana is expected to conduct a feasibility study on the establishment of the International Centre for Biodiversity Research and Low Carbon Development.
A three-day consultation on the development of the research centre concluded on June 23 with over 60 stakeholders participating in the working sessions.
Several stakeholders have drafted a proposed conceptual framework for the establishment of the centre which will serve the purpose of assisting the region in making informed decisions based on technical facts of research findings.
Some of the participants included World Wildlife Fund, Environmental Protection Agency, UNDP, IICA, the Clinton Foundation, Organisation of Tropical Studies, Private Sector Commission, Guyana School of Agriculture, Alabama University, World Bank, Office of Climate Change, Conservation International, Iwokrama, Inter- American Development Bank, and a multidisciplinary team from the University of Guyana.
The sessions were intent on garnering a diversity of opinions from the wide cross- section of interest groups and figure out a common ground with the best possible alternatives.
The conceptual framework will now be used to inform the terms of reference which the University of Guyana will use to guide a feasibility study for the centre.
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