Govt, Parliament committed to tackling climate change – AG Nandlall tells IPU Assembly

…Speaker Nadir calls for binding Parliamentary resolution

Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall SC has reiterated the Guyana Government’s commitment to continue to take actions and implement policies through the Parliament to tackle climate change.
Nandlall made this remark at the 144TH Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly being held in Bali, Indonesia under the theme: “Getting to zero: Mobilizing Parliaments to act on climate action.”

“Our government and our Parliament will continue to aggressively enact laws and regulations, promulgate and implement policies on climate change and promote low carbon development in every area of national life. The time for talk is over. The time for action is now,” the Guyanese AG told the IPU Assembly.
According to the Legal Affairs Minister, indifference and inaction to the climate crisis will lead to definite destruction especially since the world is far behind its target to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees celsius.
“The coming decade therefore must be the decade of decisive action. Climate change affects us all – rich, poor, developed and developed States – but its effects are more severe on the poorest and most vulnerable – especially SIDS and low-lying coastal states. For us, it is a question of survival,” he posited.
To this end, AG Nandlall called for more ambitious goals to reduce emissions, and for countries to honour their commitments especially the world’s foremost polluters who should be made to implement steeper emission cuts. He also urged that the pledge of US$100B per annum, made one decade ago to support climate action, to be met.

Another area the Minister further highlighted that is critical to combatting climate change is forest preservation.
“Forest rich countries must be provided with the incentives necessary to keep their forests intact and reduce deforestation and forest degradation. Mindful that deforestation contributes 16 per cent to annual global emissions and in recognition of the ecosystem and climate services provided by forests, it is imperative that we finalise the rules for carbon markets and REDD+ so as to properly value tropical forests and the climate services which they provide,” the AG stated.
He informed that Guyana is already a net carbon sink with its 18 million hectares of largely intact forests sequestering approximately 154 million tons of CO2 annually. With some of the highest forest cover on the earth along with one of the lowest deforestation rates, Nandlall noted that the country is part of the ‘Guiana Shield’ which stores about a fifth of the worlds fresh water and about 18 per cent of the worlds tropical carbon along with extremely high levels of biodiversity and endemism.

“Therefore, Guyana is already playing is part in addressing and will continue to do so. We will maintain our forests – almost the size of England and Scotland combined, storing 20 gigatons of carbon – a global assets. We will work with local communities in conserving, protecting and sustainably managing our forests, biodiversity and freshwater supplies.”
“We will decouple economic growth and emissions through a progressively cleaner energy mix with the aim of reducing our carbon emissions by 70 per cent by the year 2030. We will invest in low carbon opportunities for jobs, ecosystem services and social inclusion though and expanded Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS),” AG Nandlall asserted.
The current People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government in October 2021 launched its revised and expanded LCDS 2030, which sets out an ambitious agenda towards carbon neutrality, among other things. The document is currently out for public consultation and is slated to be finalized this month end.
However, during his remarks, Speaker of Guyana’s National Assembly Manzoor Nadir, who is leading Guyana’s delegation in Bali, called for countries to institute parliamentary resolutions to bind respective governments towards climate action.
Nadir pointed out that climate change is like Russian invasion of Ukraine, where everyone knows that it is happening but fail to take serious actions to mitigate and stop it.
“Like all countries here, we are at the frontline of the negative impacts of climate change… Guyana is making a commitment, and for us to get to zero – all of us will have to unite and be a hero,” he opined.
Further expressing his satisfaction with countries like South Korea and Zimbabwe implementing parliamentary resolutions, the Guyanese National Assembly Speaker urged that this be replicated globally.
“Guyana will have to pass, at its Parliament, a resolution that will bind its government and future governments. Why? We have a democracy where government’s change and when govt change, policy changes. The one glue would be to have a resolution of Parliament… and this is a recommendation we want to make to other countries whose parliament have not done so,” Speaker Nadir stated.
His remarks, however, were followed by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change Opposition Chief Whip, Christopher Jones, who in his presentation to the IPU Assembly, spoke about the Green State Development Strategy (GSDS) that was developed and implemented by the David Granger-led APNU/AFC Coalition government but has since been scrapped and replaced by the PPP/C’s revised LCDS initiative.
Nevertheless, Jones also highlighted Guyana’s vulnerability to climate change as a low-lying state.
“My country, Guyana, is one of the countries of the world that is vulnerable to Climate Change and rising sea levels. It is important to note that close to 80 per cent of Guyana’s population live in the low-lying coastal regions. The Capital City of Georgetown relies on sea-walls for protection,” he stated.
Jones went onto remind that the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its 2021 report listed Georgetown as one of nine cities that will be underwater by 2030, which he emphasized is only “a mere eight years from now.” (G8)