Gov’t takes strong stance against APA’s complaint on suspension of carbon credits issuance

The Office of the Vice President has taken a strong stance against the recent complaint made by the Amerindian Peoples’ Association (APA) to the Architecture for REDD+ Transaction Secretariat, to suspend the issuance of carbon credits to Guyana, which threatens future payments to Amerindian villages and local communities.

At a recent press conference, Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo informed Guyanese of the complaint that was issued in secret by the APA.

The National Toshaos’ Council’s (NTC) chairman has also stated that the APA did not inform or consult with indigenous villages or any representative group of the Indigenous peoples of its intentions.

The complaint filed by the APA pertains to the structure of the verification reports and the sections of the Guyana Application documents under the Articulated Plan, which demonstrate that the applicant has acknowledged and understands the public reporting process under ART.

These reports provide the context and rationale supporting the Independent Verifier’s decision to grant full approval for Guyana’s credits.

“The Office of the Vice President notes that the APA is also deliberately hiding their involvement in the very audit process about which they are complaining about. As part of the audit of Guyana’s application for 2016-2020, the independent verifier conducted an assessment mission to Guyana in April 2022. Field visits were made to several Indigenous Villages to inform their findings,” the VP’s Office said in a statement Saturday. 

It is important to note that the verifier conducted over 20 sessions with various stakeholders as part of the public scoping in the audit process.

The APA was invited and participated in the independent verifier’s session and was also allowed to follow up with the auditor at the end of the stakeholders’ meeting if needed.

However, the APA did not express any concerns or make any requests to the auditors during the audit process. Rather, it initiated a complaints process without providing any justification.

The vice president’s office contends that the APA’s claims of not being consulted on Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030 (LCDS) and the lack of translation into local indigenous languages are unfounded, as evidence available to the public proves otherwise.

It was highlighted that the APA was invited to participate in consultations for over two years, but did not attend meetings or participate in any way.

Resources were also provided for them to assist with the distribution of the draft LCDS to communities all across the country.

“The public should note that after the consultation period was completed, other members of the steering committee discovered hundreds of the copies of the draft LCDS 2030, given to the APA to help with distribution and consultation, were still sitting in the APA’s headquarters in the city,” the release stated.

Meanwhile, a main concern expressed by the APA in its press release is related to its default position on any programme that will benefit Amerindian people.

The APA argued that there needs to be more consultations and that development cannot take place unless the conditions and ultimatums it sets are met to its satisfaction.

While debunking those claims, the VP’s office explained that the initial three-month consultation period, announced by the president in October 2021, was extended to a seven-month process of consultations on Guyana’s LCDS 2030, and was executed from December 2021 to June 2022. 

Over seven months, thousands of people were consulted through four-hour cluster sessions, which covered more than 200 Indigenous communities. During these sessions, Guyana’s jurisdictional/national approach to ART TREES was discussed, and the benefits-sharing mechanism was a key part of each session.

In addition, Guyana’s ART TREES engagement was also endorsed, approved, and debated through various channels. The National Toshaos’ Council Conference in July 2022 passed a resolution supporting the engagement, which was also approved by a Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee overseeing the LCDS.  

The engagement was further tabled and debated in the Parliament, with a resolution passed in August 2022.

“The APA’s accusations are also unfounded as the government is on record in saying that consultation is not a not a one-off process… The public should note that the APA opted to absent themselves from those meetings which considered stakeholders’ feedback and later claimed they had the meeting dates confused,” the missive pointed out.

The Office of the VP said it is deeply concerned and disheartened by the fact that thousands of citizens across hundreds of indigenous villages and local communities, who are working to identify ways to advance the developmental priorities for their people, remain completely unaware of the fact that the APA has called for the suspension of funds that are crucial for financing these priorities.

It has, therefore, called on the APA to provide the public with an explanation as to why it is preventing Indigenous villages and local communities from accessing carbon credits revenue from 2016 that are already in their bank accounts.

The organisation must also provide viable options for the 242 villages and communities to meet their most pressing needs and those they have developed for their own development.