13 May 2009
The recent April meeting among indigenous leaders of the Guiana Shield revealed their concerns about the IIRSA project and the lack of clarity around REDD and climate change. The indigenous leaders and their political counterparts agreed that there would be more participation and joint decision-making processes in the future about topics affecting the indigenous groups' land.
During the week of April 14, 2009, the three indigenous organizations of the Guiana Shield Region as well as the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) and the Amazon Alliance organized the Guiana Shield Regional Meetings. The participating indengous organizations were the Amerindian Peoples Assocaition (APA) of Guyana, the Organisatie Van Inheemsen (OIS) of Suriname, and the Fédération de Organisations Autchtones de Guyana Village Amérindien (FOAG) of French Guiana.
The Guiana Shield Meeting was convened to provide a space for NGOs and the indigenous organizations of the Guiana Shield Amazon to exchange ideas, set priorities and create a cohesive strategy to strengthen the Amazonian movement in view of major threats facing the indigenous peoples and their environment. With these goals in mind, the meetings, including a special session with representatives of the government of the three countries and multilateral institutions, were expected to allow for a deeper understanding of Climate Change, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD), the initiative of Integration and Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA) and the impacts of mining activities in the Guiana Shield Amazon. The participants came from French Guyana, Suriname, and Guyana to develop a clear plan for collaborative action for the remainder of 2009.
By the end of the three-day conference, the indigenous peoples of the Guiana Shield Region agreed upon several resolutions and commitments for which "All actors must recognize and act accordingly, that forests are not merely trade able commodities in climate change and or carbon sinks but represent other values for indigenous peoples who have cared for them over many centuries.” The participants of the meetings also agreed that any decisions on issues that affect the ecological diversity of the rainforest and the indigenous peoples at the government level, should be made keeping the principles of free prior and informed consent (FPIC) through an ample process of consultations and participation of the leaders of the indigenous communities of the Guiana Shield ("Indigenous leaders of the Guianas meet in Georgetown" Kaieteur News, 12 April 2009).
One of the presentations during the meeting was given by Manolo Morales Feijoo, the Executive Director of ECOLEX in Ecuador. Morales spoke for his organization and several other communities who have been affected by the IIRSA megaproject, an integration project in areas of transportation, energy, and telecommunications. Morales voiced concerns about the presence and administration of IIRSA in the Guyana Shield saying that the IIRSA has not addressed the debilitating social and environmental impacts nor has the project welcomed participation from civil society.
The resolutions of the Guyana Shield Meeting, including Mr. Morales presentation, reflect the growing concerns of the indigenous people of the Guiana Shield regarding the lack of information they have about the issues and threats that their communities face. The illegal and unregulated mining which uses mercury for the extraction process is one of the major threats not only to the health of indigenous peoples but to the entire ecosystems of the rainforest. Furthermore, during the meetings the indigenous leaders told the government officials that they do not know anything about Carbon Trading and REDD, and actually, without the relevant information, those terms are confusing. In response, President Bharrat Jagedo of Guyana promised to clarify the terms for the communities.
There is a great risk not understanding the projects that are born from them: around 600 indigenous tribes live across the Amazon, many of whom live in voluntary isolation. The fact is that “almost 20 per cent of the forest has disappeared over the past 40 years and each year between 7,000 and 17,000 square miles are destroyed, with scientists predicting that, if development plans for the Amazon continue unchecked, its entirety will be at the tipping point or brink of permanent ecological collapse within the next 10 to 20 years” (Indigenous peoples of Guiana Shield agree on action plan). If the indigenous leaders do not understand the current changes in their own forests then surely the collapse will come to pass. The leaders left hopeful that these terms, and upcoming decisions would be made in a participatory manner with wide consultation among indigenous groups.
At the same time, President Jagedo stood by his earlier position that indigenous groups need to be less dependent on the forest. Both he and the agriculture minister, Robert Persaud, would like to see the indigenous groups of the Guiana Shield be able to grow crops for sustenance as well as exportation. Similarly, President Jagedo and his ministers are also taking a strict stance on licensing: timber companies must have a forestry license in order to be able to export logs. Still, Jagedo would prefer that there were a shift from exportation of forest products to value-added in country activities.
According to some predictions, Guyana’s forests - who is seen as a leader in climate change models - will generate $580 million and from that money $100 million will be set aside for Amerindian communities and land.
Guiana Shield Regional Meeting Report