Rainforest preservation: Pilot scheme to examine demand for fair compensation

Rainforest preservation:
Pilot scheme to examine demand for fair compensation
By Neil Marks
Guyana Chronicle, 9 October 2007

UNDP Resident Representative Mr. Aboubacry Tall, far right, hands over
the agreement to Director General of Iwokrama Dr David Singh. Looking
on from left are Acting head of the European Commission delegation in
Guyana Mrs Manuela Pinheiro, Project Manager Mr. Patrick Chesney,
Chairman of the GSI steering committee Major General (rtd) Joe Singh
and Presidential Advisor on Sustainable Development Mr. Navin
Chandarpal. (Cullen Bess-Nelson photo)
A PILOT scheme by the Iwokrama rainforest conservation project is to
examine the concepts and practices of payment for ecosystem services as
Guyana and other forest rich nations demand fair compensation for
preserving the rainforest.


Robust discussions will begin at the United Nations Climate Change
Conference in Bali early December towards a new agreement to replace
the Kyoto Protocol when it ends in 2012. The Kyoto Protocol is the
first international agreement to fight global warming and was signed by
141 nations.

The pilot project will be executed by the Iwokrama rainforest
conservation project, and will be managed by the United Nations
Development programme (UNDP), officials said yesterday.

It forms part of the second phase of the Guiana Shield Initiative
(GSI), which aims to promote sustainable development among the six
countries of the shield. The second phase of the GSI project has
sponsorship altogether to the tune of 2.2 M Euros, coming from the
European Union, the Dutch Government, UNDP and the World Conservation
Union’s Netherlands office.

The Guyana Shield eco-region extends through parts of Colombia,
Venezuela, Brazil, and all of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

The GSI Phase 2 Project aims to promote the sustainable development of
the Guiana Shield by means of an integrated eco-regional policy,
institutional, and financial management framework, designed to enable
the countries and their local communities to benefit from their natural
resources. One key element of the project is to set up and implement
field-based pilot projects.

This is to allow for experimentation of various compensation systems
and start up several innovative livelihood projects to generate income
for those living in or near the project area.

At the launching ceremony at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown,
Presidential Advisor on Sustainable Development Mr. Navin Chandarpal
called for greater collaboration on developing the position for Bali
that countries that preserve forests should be rewarded.

“If we are to preserve our forests with minimum deforestation, we have
to have alternative resources for our economies to grow”, said
Chandarpal.

President Bharrat Jagdeo has knocked the Kyoto Protocol for providing
“perverse” benefits.

The Kyoto Protocol allows developed countries or companies with high
greenhouse gas emissions to buy carbon credits from countries engaged
in replanting forests that were cut down for timber, or other purposes.
It provides no incentives to countries like Guyana which has preserved
its forests over time.

However, Guyana has a potentially big market for carbon credits, and
does not benefit because of the protocol’s stipulations. The Iwokrama
forest holds an estimated 120 million tonnes of carbon, with half of it
dedicated as a wilderness preserve, and the other half for business
activities such as sustainable timber harvesting.

Iwokrama manages one million acres of forest in Guyana, and the forest
conservation project could attract private buyers who see the value of
conservation, according to officials.

For trading purposes, one carbon credit is considered equivalent to one
tonne of CO2 emissions. Credits can be exchanged between businesses or
bought and sold in international markets at the prevailing market
price.

Director General of the Iwokrama International Centre, Dr David Singh
said yesterday Iwokrama was conceived in the run up to the Rio Summit,
to demonstrate how countries endowed with forests could develop by
conserving and using forests in a sustainable and equitable manner.

“It therefore has its roots in the international discourse in climate
change and biodiversity conservation, and remains an important
international initiative for establishing the role of forests in
climate stability and for sustainable management of forest ecosystems,”
he said.

According to Singh, countries like Guyana are net providers of both
ecosystem goods and services. Reimbursement is based on the value
associated with the goods itself, and very little on the services
provided.

“When we market a forest product from a certified sustainably managed
forest, under principles of fair trade, we are not only providing a
product of intrinsic value, but we are also contributing to a guarantee
of a future for generations of the world to come,” Singh posited.

“We must therefore understand what the ecosystem provides to the world,
and then we must take to the international marketplace the values of
the goods and services provided by our ecosystem, and ensure that there
is fairness and equity in the payment for the entire bundle of goods
and service they provide,” he added.

Singh said Iwokrama serves the unique purpose of linking biodiversity
with climate change. As part of a vast wetland which spans the forest
and savannah areas south of the forest, it is extremely representative
of the Guiana Shield Ecoregion.

The strong collaborative management arrangement in place with the North
Rupununi people provides a stable management environment and
opportunity to study and develop models of present and
intergenerational equity in the solutions we seek to climate change,
Singh said.

Acting head of the European Commission delegation in Guyana Mrs Manuela
Pinheiro announced that in the following weeks or maybe even days the
Delegation will participate in the launching of another environmental
project on sustainable forestry management whose title is “Support to
Forestry Research Network” that will benefit directly Iwokrama and
contribute substantially to the efforts of the Government of Guyana
towards increasing environmental awareness and sustainability.

She said the EC has proposed a global alliance to help developing
countries most affected by climate changes, that includes helping
developing countries take advantage from the global carbon market.

The first occasion to discuss the alliance with developing partners
will be the European Development Days in Lisbon from November 7-9.

Pinheiro noted that in January 2006, the European Commission proposed
the creation of a “Thematic programme for environment and sustainable
management of natural resources including energy”. She said the
proposal acknowledges that two thirds of the planet’s key ecosystems
services are being degraded or used unsustainably and present an
obstacle to achieving the MDGs, as demonstrated by the recent
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.

Mrs Pinheiro noted that EU has taken the lead in reaching international
agreement on environmental commitments and has been promoting the need
to help developing countries fulfil their resulting obligations.