Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has rejected the Opposition’s criticism of the government’s financially successful Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), contrasting it against the Opposition’s replacement Green State Development Strategy (GSDS), which he noted failed to make any impact during the APNU/AFC’s tenure from 2015 to 2020.
Jagdeo reminded on Thursday that the LCDS can boast of having already enabled Guyana to earn almost US$1 billion in deforestation incentives and contributing to Amerindian land titling, Amerindian community development projects, climate adaptation initiatives, and renewable energy projects. In comparison, nothing was ever earned or accomplished under the GSDS, conceptualised by the APNU/AFC, he told members of the media at his weekly press conference on Thursday.
“Under the Green State Strategy in five years they [APNU+AFC) earned not a cent,” Jagdeo underlined.
His comment came in response to remarks from Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton, that 50 per cent of Guyana’s earnings from carbon credits should go towards indigenous communities. Indigenous communities are scheduled to receive an increased 26.5 percent of this year’s incremental payout from Guyana’s US$750 million deal with Hess Corporation.
“Norton said he would’ve given 50 percent but 50 percent of zero is zero. Because under the Green State Strategy in five years they earned not a cent,” Jagdeo said.
Under Guyana’s carbon credit payments in 2023 US$22.5 million (GUY$4.7 billion) was dispersed across 242 indigenous villages in Guyana’s hinterland region accounting for 15 percent of the 2023 payment that the government received. In 2024 the communities are on schedule to receive another $4.8 billion.
Defence to GSDS lack of accomplishments
Meanwhile, on Friday at his weekly LOO press conference, Norton defended the GSDS lack of accomplishments given that the APNU Government took four years to finish the document and was not able to publish it until 2019, months after the APNU/AFC Government fell to a No Confidence Motion.
Norton said that notwithstanding the GSDS lack of track record should the APNU be returned to government that party will be turning back to the GSDS, albeit creating a revamped version that borrows from the LCDS.
“Nobody is saying no to the LCDS… As to the question of moving forward we will embrace the Green Strategy… we will have to revisit it and determine what elements we move forward with and what new elements we will put. There are elements of the LCDS that are useful and can be continued but have to be widened,” Norton said.
First launched in 2009, the Low-carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) sets out the government’s vision for inclusive, sustainable development that creates a model low-carbon economy.
At the centre of the strategy is the objective of creating economic incentives for Guyana’s forest preservation, in order to offset loss of income that would have otherwise been gained from the clearing of the forests for agriculture, mining, infrastructure, and other uses.
Essentially, ensuring that forests are worth more alive than dead.The strategy was looked at as a global model for promoting broad-based economic development while also avoiding deforestation-led development. The strategy places emphasis on investments in indigenous communities, job creation, sustainability planning and initiatives that seek to protect the coast and Hinterland from climate change.
In the first major accomplishment under this initiative Guyana and Norway signed a US$250 million agreement enabling Guyana to earn payments for forest climate services.
In 2022 the LCDS 2030 was laid in the National Assembly following seven months of consultations. In December 2022 another landmark achievement was accomplished under the LCDS when Guyana inked the historic US$750M multi-year agreement for the sale of high-quality carbon credits to Hess Corporation.
Meanwhile, launched in 2019 the GSDS was touted by the APNU+AFC as providing a comprehensive set of strategic action lines to guide public investment, seeking to reflect a holistic view of social, economic and environmental well-being, in line with the country’s commitments to the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and Goals (SDGs).
