VP affirms youth, Indigenous communities & other groups involvement in LCDS 2030

…says inclusive consultations adopted from inception

When the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) was initially developed, consultations with youths, indigenous communities, and other stakeholders were conducted at the highest level. As of 2024, President Dr. Irfaan Ali continues to uphold this inclusive approach for LCDS 2030. During a discussion on LCDS 2030 at the Arthur Chung Convention Center (ACCC) on Tuesday, a significant concern raised by the audience was the matter of consultations, specifically questioning the government’s efforts to involve youths in these discussions.
According to Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, however, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has always practiced an inclusive approach. This approach dates back to the time when he, as the then President of Guyana, spearheaded the development of the first LCDS.
“Right from the beginning, when I set up the multi-stakeholder grouping, we had on that the indigenous NGO’s, we had miners, people in the forestry sector, young people, women, all the people in academia. And once a month we used to meet, chaired as President. And we discussed the LCDS throughout. That’s how the model was built,” Jagdeo said.
“The money that we earned; we’ve dedicated it to different sectors. And if you look at the growth in these sectors, for example indigenous people and the ICT (Information and communications technology) programme. We’ve done that. Land titling was another one. Some adaptation measures. Some people got small loans from the LCDS funds. Some of it will go towards the solar farm the President is speaking about, just from the first set of resources. The second set, it will go mainly towards adaptation.”
According to Jagdeo, young people were integrally involved in the consultations that came up with these strategies for using the LCDS funds. According to Jagdeo, even now with President Ali at the helm, young people continue to be integrally involved in the consultations for using the funds. As a matter of fact, Jagdeo pointed out that many of the Toshaos themselves are youths, as well as village leaders along the coast.
“Young people are part of our strategy overall. And they were involved at the highest level. And until now, President Ali still has retained that structure. And he meets with this similar group, with young people involved,” Jagdeo explained.
“So, they’re still having that high level discussion on the expanded LCDS and the implementation of the programmes. So young people are fully involved. If you look at the village level, in the Amerindian communities, it’s unbelievable how many young people are involved.”

Dialogue
Meanwhile Erik Solheim, who as the then Norwegian Minister of the Environment signed the Norway agreement with Guyana in 2009, also emphasised the need for consultations. He used as an example his own time in office, when it came to implementing important environmental changes.
The consultations Solheim did on behalf of the Norwegian Government, helped smooth things over with local populations… that and the fact that communities clearly saw how it would benefit them.
“When I was Minister of Environment in Norway, a much richer country than Guyana, if you tried to implement national parks above the head of the local people, it always failed. Because they were up in arms. They protested and didn’t accept the rules. You can’t send the police or army to put them in place.”
“So, you need to have a dialogue with them. And many times, I made some compromises with, say, the local farmers. And then they said yes, with these compromises we’re all on board. This is something good for our community,” Solheim said.
First launched in 2009, the 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.
This is 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. Meanwhile, the Dr. Irfaan Ali led Administration launched the more updated LCDS 2030 in 2022.
This document which 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$750 million multi-year agreement for the sale of high-quality carbon credits to Hess Corporation. (G3)