Guyana presses adaptation in climate change battle

Guyana country representative on the HLAC is Mr. Shyam Nokta, Head of the Office of Climate Change in the Office of the President, and Chairman of the National Climate Change Committee.

According to Nokta, who attended a meeting of the HLAC in Port of Spain, Trinidad last month, at the current stage of the process, specialists are working on the macro-economy, agriculture, energy, tourism and water sectors, and preliminary reports have been completed.

These studies have been taking a comprehensive look at the sectors in the region, and examining the implications of future climate change, using several modeling frameworks. The studies have also been covering the work being done in other regions of the world.

Nokta emphasised that adapting to climate change is a critical issue for many developing countries, including the small island developing states (SIDS) and low-lying coastal states of the Caribbean. He indicated that adaptation will be one of the key areas of focus for the Copenhagen Climate Meeting, and as a region, the Caribbean has been working closely with the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in the UN negotiating process leading up to Copenhagen.

Elaborating on the context of adaptation nationally, Nokta said adaptation to climate change is an ongoing activity, particularly along Guyana’s coastal regions which are below sea level and where the majority of the country’s population resides. He indicated that adaptation to climate change is an integral part of the LCDS.

Referring to Guyana’s draft Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), he pointed out that in the coastal regions, including Georgetown, flooding is a major adaptation challenge for Guyana.

By 2030, the annual loss due to flooding in Guyana is projected to be US$150 million (or close to 10 per cent of current GDP). Additionally, an extreme event similar to the serious flooding in 2005, which resulted in losses equivalent to 60 per cent of GDP, could result in some US$0.8 billion in losses and harm to more than 320,000 people.

Given these potential losses, investing in the most beneficial adaptation measures would significantly increase estimated national income in Guyana, and would likely be essential to attracting investors.

The Office of the President has identified a portfolio of urgent, near-term investments in the highest priority areas where the population and economic activity are concentrated. These investments include:

Upgrading infrastructure and assets to protect against flooding through urgent, near-term measures by maintaining and upgrading drainage systems; maintaining and reinforcing the ocean seawall, which protects most of the low-lying coastal areas from the Atlantic; and repairing the conservancy (which protects Georgetown and most of the East Coast from overflow water). In addition, these initiatives include implementation initiatives to improve sanitation and water and flood-proofing health clinics.

Addressing systematic and behavioral concerns: These initiatives include strengthening building codes and expanding the early warning system and building an emergency response system.

Developing financial and risk/insurance measures to boost resiliency post-flooding. These are contingent funds (cash reserve and contingent capital) to provide immediate financial ability to respond following the flooding.

Switching to flood resistant crops.

Establishing the climate change adaptation needs of Guyana’s hinterland regions, including forest communities. Initial scoping work has identified the need to empolder communities, build new river defenses, and introduce new seed varieties for crops.

According to Nokta, funds garnered from the implementation of the LCDS could help to further support current initiatives in these areas.

A concept paper noted that in spite of various initiatives, Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries continue to experience challenges in addressing the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Additionally, it said the impending economic impacts of global climate change on developing countries, and in particular small island economies, are cause for concern.

It is expected that at the end of this project, key decision-making stakeholders in Latin America and the Caribbean would be aware of impending climate change, as well as the projected impacts on the economies of their countries, and be so empowered to take collective action in planning for these impacts.

The paper said that in this regard, regional climate change policies should be integrated into the development of national action plans to address changes expected to be associated with impending climate change.

The independent review for the British government by former World Bank economist, Sir Nicholas Stern titled, ‘The Economics of Climate Change’, examines the evidence on the economic impacts of climate change itself, and explores the economics of stabilising greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

It also considers the complex policy challenges involved in managing the transition to a low-carbon economy, and in ensuring that societies can adapt to the consequences of climate change that can no longer be avoided.

The Stern Review considers the economic costs of the impacts of climate change, and the costs and benefits of action to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that cause it.

The current ECLAC project is being executed in collaboration with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) over a two-year period. It will benefit the national energy agencies and research centres in the Caribbean and Finance and Environmental ministries initially in nine Caribbean countries, including Guyana.

ECLAC is the lead agency managing the project, with a Caribbean Steering Committee overseeing the implementation in this sub region.

It is within this context that ECLAC, in collaboration with the CCCCC, would convene a meeting of the HLAC to continue its mandate for consulting with regional stakeholders to arrive at a common strategy and position at the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark in December.

The HLAC meetings, in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit, hope to arrive at a regional coordinated approach to the post-2012 Kyoto Protocol negotiations so that the Caribbean region would present a united, uniformed and strengthened position at the meeting.