Dear Editor,
The utterances of Ms. Janet Bulkan are highly contentious and misleading, and are an attempt to discredit Guyana’s Carbon Model and the credits certified under ART TREES.
The statements made by members of the Coalition for Rainforest Nation (CFRN) were the basis of her utterances, which are riddled with inaccuracies and falsehood.
Rather than fact-check, the author of the presentation made very misleading and incorrect assumptions, and in a way attacks Guyana’s Carbon Credit Model. And rather than fact-check, Ms. Bulkan went on to give credence to such fallacy.
I want to challenge the author of that statement to prove that our credits and baselines are fictional inventions. The fact is that the said CFRN founder has been unable to convince anyone that the product and systems he is trying to market are validation that he is not wrong and does not understand market-based carbon trading. The world is not going to buy what he is advocating.
ART TREES is an internationally accepted and accredited standard, and Guyana’s leading role on the international front on climate change has come to light. Ever since this record -setting achievement by Guyana, forces unheard of for years and decades have popped up and want to discredit the certification and sale of carbon credits. Locally, some of our very own, including well-known groups purporting to represent Indigenous villages, have been spreading false information and attempting to take bread from fellow Amerindians.
I am again calling on any groups that have any evidence to say or suggest that Indigenous villages have not accepted, feel their rights have been violated, have not supported the carbon credit system under ART TREES, and don’t want to participate in the certification and sale of carbon credits to let them produce the facts. Let the villages speak for themselves, let’s have the hard evidence, not hearsay.
I would urge the Government to continue looking after the interest of Indigenous people by maximising the resource potential, including carbon credits’ sale, for Indigenous communities. I appeal to the ART TREES Secretariat and the ART TREES Certifier that groups are making dangerous and wicked allegations, and there are no facts, evidence, or documents to back these allegations. The High Court of Guyana has made a ruling on a case on Traditional and Ancestral Lands/Rights, the Land Titling Project which was stalled from 2015 to 2020 is again accelerating.
Across Indigenous villages, there is unity in support of the Carbon Credit Scheme and the sale of the credits. They have not given any group mandate to speak on their behalf, so don’t mislead people. I call on my fellow Amerindian brothers and their villages to stand up and not let a certain group take the bread out of your mouth. This is what they are trying to do, to stop funds and benefits from going directly to you and your villages.
Thank you,
Peter Persaud
