Guyana: Climate Change — Challenges and Paradoxes of Resource Abundance by Audreyanna Thomas

​Guyana has an excellent opportunity to be one of the best resource-rich countries. However, it  needs to  reorganize creative  institutional approaches, while   establishing and adhering to accepted principles, values and norms for achieving sustainable development. The big picture should  focus on What’s the future for Sustainable Development should look like in Guyana and the Caribbean?  My response assumes  a long term 20-50 year perspective  with emphasis on the acceleration of a low carbon and climate resilient agenda aligning oil and gas and a green economy.   It  straddles three areas: Governance and Institutions; Social Justice and Sustainable Business Approach. 
 
Governance and Institution Strengthening 
The overall focus ought to be on a broader sustainable development approach including  the economic, social and environmental. Therefore legislative, administrative and institutional reforms are critical to effective  governance towards Guyana becoming a model for climate change.

• Legislative reforms require resolving the tensions between International Investment Law, International Human Rights Law and Environmental Laws. For example are the issues around mangroves and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA);   decisions around Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs);  and compliance with the Environmental Protection Act.  It is important to note that traditionally, International Investment Law, to a large extent, takes  precedent over Human Rights and Environmental Laws. However there is now an opportunity for Guyana to harmonize or bring a greater degree of balance between investment, human rights and environmental laws in Guyana and the Caribbean. It is also feasible to develop a  project to focus on an examination of the conflicts and tensions between International Investment  and  International Human Rights Laws  through a collaborative venture including, for example,   the University of Guyana's Green Institute (UGGI) and the Faculty of Law.

 

• Institutional Reforms are critical. A relevant example is the Pact of Mexico which was the agreement between the three major political parties in Mexico that allowed for legislative, administrative, and institutional reforms and ushered in a new era of changes in the economic structure of the energy markets that  opened the hydrocarbons industry in Mexico.

 

• Social Justice  is a key component around which Guyana has to build  a model oil and gas producing country, as well as having a green economy focus. This model must reflect best practices in the redistribution of power and wealth to enhance the well-being of citizens through equal access, for example to healthcare, education, justice, and economic opportunities. 

 
The Necessary Enabling Conditions 
The development of reforms is one dimension. However,  their effective implementation requires a series of enabling conditions, among them access to resources: equity, diversity, inclusivity 

• Access to Resources is a main principle of social justice. As a model oil and gas producing country, in pursuit of  a green economy, Guyana’s development strategy must ensure equal  access to education, employment and health care, among others. As a resources-rich country combining oil and gas and the green growth economy, there is need to develop and implement public policy  that ensures better access to resources by citizens. In other words development must not only be seen, it must be felt also.

 

• Equity  is not the same as equality. As such, the aspiration should be to ensure that in order to achieve social justice and ensure equal opportunities for its citizens it is important to provide and distribute resources equitably. This means focusing on the specific needs of different communities and the individuals within them. Being a resource-rich country creates greater opportunities for policies to reduce systemic barriers and for policies to be implemented in more inclusive ways. Some  examples of resource-rich countries which are using their resources to advance development are developed countries – United States, Canada, Australia, and Norway; while developing countries are: Botswana and Chile.

 

• Diversity: As a model resource-rich country Guyana will have an opportunity to make resources available for better assessments of factors that create barriers in the society and develop programmes to overcome those barriers.

 

• Inclusivity and Participation are critical elements for Guyana to become a model country. Being a resource-rich country presents another opportunity to not merely develop policies in an inclusive way but also to implement them in an inclusive manner. There are opportunities for greater collaboration between UG and organizations such as, the Guyana Extractive Industries,  Transparency Initiative – Multi-Stakeholder Group (GYEITI- MSG) to increase participation of a wider cross section of the society - public, private, and civil society sectors.  There is also the elements of citizens and the development research, capacity building, etc. on the benefits of an inclusive approach to oil and gas governance and green growth. A CARICOM approach is a useful pursuit. 

 
Greater participation and inclusion would also reduce management conflicts by  fostering multi-stakeholder participation in the development of international investment agreements, not necessarily on the details but on  the broad components which can include various stakeholders, for example civil society. In this regard, Canada provides a good example of devising and implementing environmental protection policies. 

• Human Rights: Adhering to human rights obligations is a prerequisite for  Guyana being a model country.  Human rights are closely connected to social justice and it is  impossible to have one without the other. Within the University of Guyana,  UGGI can collaborate with the Law Faculty to promote the harmonization of environmental  and human rights obligations as well as  norms and more human rights compliant investments.

 
 
Sustainable Business Approach 
A sustainable approach to business and investment is critical. It will need to focus on integrated policies, strategies, and programmes in the economic, social and environment approaches to sustainable development.  Lessons to be learned exist in some private sector examples. These include the Business Roundtable which consists over 200 top corporations in the United States formed in 2019; United Nations Global Compact. Most appropriate however, is the CARICOM option for an energy partnership between Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname. (Please see link https://villagevoicenews.com/2021/10/28/proposed-guyana-trinidad-and-tobago-and-suriname-regional-energy-partnership/)
 
Conclusions 
My response to the question -- What would you like to tell Caribbean leaders and their delegations to COP 26-- is that emphasis should be placed on:

• Governance and Institutions: rethinking economic practices combined and human rights.
• Social Justice: fostering access to resources, diversity, equity, inclusivity and  participation
• Sustainable business approaches which highlight integrated policies, strategies, and programmes in the economic, social and environment approaches to sustainable development.
• Building a viable  post COVID-19  Guyana and Caribbean economy working on achieving  a regional energy policy combined with climate resilience strategy. 
• Sustainable and creative leadership: A good example of new thinking around this area is the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) programme, ‘The Future We Want’  https://www.cisl.cam.ac.uk/news/blog/developing-leadership-future-we  00224841846c) want?_cldee=dGhvbW9neUB5YWhvby5jb20%3d&recipientid=contact-5e7b5a49ce56e011b3ed7aeffdc904e0 9ed9aef7337d44739f0ddf84d01d18fc&esid=c81e947f-2630-ec11-b6e6-00224841846c)

 
About the author Ms. Audreyanna Thomas is Managing Director - Global Perspective Inc. (GPI) in Guyana and former  steering committee member of the SIDS Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC).  She has been  engaged in research in foreign direct investment, cross sectoral governance, the rule of law,  human rights and gender  in Oil and Gas/extractive  industries  with special reference to Guyana’s economic transition. She holds a Bachelor’s in Communications from UG and a post graduate degree from Loyola, University Chicago and  post graduate attachment to  and University of Cambridge, UK.