FOLLOWING a decision by a global body to reject a claim made by the Amerindian People’s Association (APA) against the government’s efforts to bring benefits from the multi-million US dollar carbon credits arrangement to Amerindian villages, that organisation has once again failed in its appeal of the previous decision.
A statement from the Office of Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, follows below:
“The Amerindian People’s Association (APA) has failed in its attempt to appeal a decision that was made by an Independent Reviewer, regarding the Guyana application under the carbon credits programme. In its Release dated October 27, 2023, the APA expressed dissatisfaction that the ART Secretariat has not given in to its machinations, which seemingly attempted to bias the ART process with several of APA’s demands.
“The APA’s appeal was tabled in July 2023, and followed its first failed attempt at stopping Guyana’s ART Trees crediting, which effectively meant stopping carbon credits revenues flowing to Amerindian Villages. In May 2023, the Independent Reviewer who examined the APA’s complaint, concluded that the process set forth in the ART Standards was followed by Guyana, and that concerns expressed by the APA were not supported facts and, in several cases, inaccurate, and, further, that specific issues pointed to in the APA’s submission did not reflect an understanding of the role of the ART Standard.
“The Independent Verification concluded with a rejection of the complaint made by the APA, as well as its associated call for the suspension of Guyana’s ART-TREES carbon credits. Further, the Independent Reviewer concluded that the APA’s claims that it had not been appropriately consulted on Guyana’s ART-TREES issuance process, were verifiably false.
“The original complaint by the APA and the recent Appeal which has now failed, were both done in secret and without the knowledge or support of any indigenous communities in Guyana, and without the knowledge or support of any of their elected leaders. Once the existence of the complaint (March 2023) and the Appeal (July 2023) were made public (by other parties, not by the APA), not a single indigenous community supported it.
“Importantly, the National Toshaos’ Council (NTC) spoke up on behalf of indigenous communities to ensure that their voices would be heard. The NTC is comprised of leaders from every indigenous community in Guyana. Those leaders are elected by their own communities, unlike those of the APA. The NTC continues to speak up on behalf of communities across the country, including raising issues with the Government to ensure that communities receive the benefits from the sale of carbon credits that they rightly expected.
“At the recently held NTC Council Conference in August 2023, there was no support expressed for the APA’s appeal. The question arose at the time of the complaint in March 2023 and again at the time of the Appeal in July 2023, as to who the APA is purporting to represent and whether there has been Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) by Amerindian Villages.
“The ART Secretariat is likely respond formally to the APA’s exit from the Appeal process. It is clear that APA’s attempt to accuse the ART Secretariat on grounds of fairness, legitimacy and transparency backfired. The APA, through filing its Appeal without appropriately seeking the free prior and informed consent of the stakeholders which they claim to represent, has now been exposed as guilty of breaching the FPIC principle, of being unfair in advancing an agenda that has failed to secure widespread buy-in from Indigenous people in Guyana, and for a lack of transparency in its operations.
“Further, the APA’s Appeal been exposed, via international independent review, as being nothing more than a failed political attempt to stymie the development of Amerindian Villages, once again. Meanwhile, Guyana has earned US$150 million in payments from the sale of ART-TREES credits for the year 2023. A total of 85% of this money is being invested in multi-community and national priorities identified by stakeholders during the seven-month consultation on the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030, while 15% – or GYD 4.7 Billion – has been directly transferred to village bank accounts for investment in village plans, put together by villages themselves. This Programme will see continuous financing flows to villages.
“A total of 242 communities have completed Village Plans to the standards required by village-led processes. In all cases, the village processes must culminate with a vote of approval from at least two-thirds of all adult villagers present at village meetings (in many villages, support has been unanimous). All 242 communities have their own carbon credit bank accounts and finance committees chosen by villagers and community members.
“Currently, over 500 projects are being implemented at Village level, led by Amerindian people. Projects that are being financed include priorities as varied as building shade houses, improving local guesthouses for tourism, supporting cassava farming, providing craft classes, and purchasing village tractors. These projects, financed by carbon credits revenues, are transforming village livelihoods through climate adaptation and resilience actions.”