11/4/2021 Guyana: Climate Change — Challenges and Paradoxes of Resource Abundance by Audreyanna ThomasRead NowGuyana 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.
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
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.
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:
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.
2 Comments
11/5/2021 03:30:10 am
This is a very useful contribution on the whole, but "social justice" might be considered the overarching vision that would guide Guyana.
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Cyri Adams l
11/5/2021 01:53:29 pm
Thanks very much for the information provided. As a concerned Guyanese, it is very distressing, to put it mildly, to understand WHY the Parties and Politicians CANNOT(would not) come together " for the BENEFIT OF ALL GUYANESE and GUYANA, to work together in establishing the necessary/needed FRAMEWORK (Legislation, Institutions, policies, etc.); to ensure that we negotiate/get the best deals from the Companies involved in exploring OUR oil resources??
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AuthorEdward and Auriol Greene Directors, GOFAD. Archives
April 2022
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