‘Opt in Mechanism’ provides prospect for Amerindian titled lands to be included in LCDS model

– Nokta

Georgetown, GINA, August 9, 2012

Head of the Climate Change Unit, Office of the President, Shyam Nokta today discussed the opt in mechanism with Amerindian leaders on the final day of the National Toshaos Council (NTC) meeting, explaining that currently only state lands are involved in the forest conservation agreement, with the Kingdom of Norway.

As the country moves ahead with the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), it is important that the ‘opt in mechanism’ is finalised, which will bring some clarity to misconceptions which were peddled on the strategy by detractors.

Citing the need for negativity to be a thing of the past, Nokta put to rest some of the speculations pointing out that the ‘opt in mechanism’ presents an opportunity for Amerindian titled lands with forest to be included in the model and receive payments based on performance. In the interim, communities that are not willing to opt-in, will still benefit from financing to be derived.

“Amerindians and all Guyanese will benefit from the projects under the LCDS. Secondly, as the LCDS progresses, the principle of free, prior and informed consent will apply to the ‘Opt in Mechanism’….once villages decide to opt-in they will be provided with information to assist their decision,” he said.

Nokta pointed out that the LCDS has gained the country international recognition as one of the most progressive of its kind, with countries not only embracing its concept, but also calling on Guyana to help in shaping a green economy.

“Only yesterday (Wednesday), we returned from a visit to neighbouring Suriname where there is interest in pursuing REDD+ and where we have set up a cooperation framework to share our experiences,” he said.

Guyana is one of few countries in the world to be paid for climate services its forest provides, and according to Nokta, while the partnership has been deemed highly ambitious, there have been many challenges.

During the first year of the partnership between Guyana and Norway which saw the country earning US$30M, efforts were apace to have the requisite necessities in determining forest size data in place and the establishment of a Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV), system implemented.

“As we (country), move forward, there were many who tried to stop Norway from making a second payment, even though our country has earned the money. Norway rejected those arguments, and we were paid our second payment of US$40M for the climate services our forest had delivered,” he said.

In addition, the agreement in year three caters for financing for several projects, hence the inking of the US$6M agreement on August 9, which will see the commencement of developmental projects in hinterland communities.

Nokta stated that while efforts were apace to rectify hindrances in the first and second years, Guyana is currently undergoing an independent verification process which will pave the way for the country to receive the third payment for its forest preservation.

While reaffirming that Guyana and Norway’s partnership will continue to stay the course, he stated that a significant amount of money will go towards Amerindian development with the approval and completion of Community Development Plans (CDPs). Of the sum, $360M will be made available for the Amerindian Development Fund.

In addition, the Head of Clime Change Unit spoke of Guyana’s commitment to ensuring that Amerindians benefit from rights to their lands, through a titling process. To date, the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs has granted 96 titles to Amerindian communities.

“As outlined in the LCDS, Government will continue to work to progress titling, demarcation and extension requests…we all recognise that this is a costly exercise which is why one of the priority projects under the LCDS to receive funding will support land titling,” Nokta said.

Prior, a proposed ‘Opt in Mechanism’ was highlighted in the May 2010 version of the LCDS and in 2011 an Opt in Concept paper was considered by the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee and presented to the NTC for review.