By: Tassia Dickenson
The Central Rupununi Village of Moco Moco, nestled near the Kanuku Mountain Range in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Essequibo) is aiming to utilise its $24 million carbon credit grant to boost economic activities in the community, through the opening of a supermarket and an industrial arts centre.
Toshao George Thomas told INews that the village only recently submitted their plan to the relevant authorities for approval, after which, the sums are expected to be released so community leaders can embark on the projects.
Other plans for the community are to upgrade its youth centre and construct a building to host community meetings.
“One of the things we would like to do is upgrade a youth center we have. We built that a number of years ago for youths to do business in. We did some renovations last year from the COVID-19 investment fund and then now we’re planning to open a mini supermarket. That would be run by the youths of the community, to build capacity for business and management and of course, bring in an income that can be more self-sufficient,” George explained to this publication.
He further outlined that the industrial arts centre will feature skills training such as joinery and welding, the new fort will facilitate meetings under better conditions and the mini supermarket will aid in teaching youths about business as well as letting them earn an income so they can offset personal expenses.
“Those plans…were submitted to the Ministry [and] the Ministry already acknowledged, [we’re] waiting now to…get the disbursement. We submitted ours only…two weeks ago and we got our reply (acknowledgment) last week,” George shared.
There are 999 stairways to the top of the mountain but before you reach the top, the Moco Moco Hydro project sits below. The hydro station was hit by a mudslide in July 2003 which forced work on the project to discontinue. Efforts were being made to resuscitate to facility but a fire a few years later destroyed the power plant. The building still stands and it is a part of Sky Valley tours which takes you 999 stairs up.
$4.7B distribution
In February this year, a total of 241 Amerindian communities across the country received grants, ranging from $10 to $35 million each. This initiative followed the historic agreement signed with Hess Corporation for Guyana’s carbon credits in 2022 that will see the country earning US$750 million for its forest. A total of $4.7 billion (US$22.5 million), which represents 15 per cent of Hess’ payment for Guyana’s carbon credits, was disbursed in the various communities.
Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo had explained that a strict mechanism will be followed to ensure accountability and transparency regarding how the funds will be expended. Each community is required to create separate bank accounts so the spending of the funds can be properly monitored. Moreover, the community cannot utilise the funds until a finance committee is named and the village development plan is completed and endorsed by the village.
Jagdeo had expressed that the plans should be focused on either empowerment projects in the social sector, job creation, and/or on food security efforts.
More opportunities
With more than half of the carbon sink in Guyana’s vast forest cover still available, Jagdeo had revealed that government is now looking at a competitive process to sell the remaining forest carbon.
The Hess deal had come after Guyana was the first country to receive certification of some 33.7 million carbon credits by the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) on December 1, 2022.
The 33.7 million credits being sold to Hess Corp is just 30 per cent of the carbon sink contained in Guyana’s vast forest cover. The country’s more than 18 million hectares of forests are estimated to store approximately 20 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
The remaining 70 per cent of Guyana’s carbon credit will be put on the market for future sale agreements
Guyana is also one of the few credits in the forestry sector that can now be sold in the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) market, which is the compliance market for abating airlines emission.
With Guyana now a leading trader in the global forest carbon market, the Vice President had noted that Government is looking at ways to increase earns from those transactions.
According to Jagdeo, a significant portion of these earnings will be injected into the development of indigenous communities across the country.
“If we extrapolate, we will get over US$2 billion earnings from this sector, [of] which significant parts will go to the indigenous communities – over US$400 million going to the Indigenous communities… That would help to transform the lives of the 240-something villages that are now beneficiaries of this credit… more money than they’ve ever had…,” Jagdeo had explained.
