President
Jagan
MESSAGE FROM HIS EXCELLENCY DR CHEDDI JAGAN
PRESIDENT OF THE COOPERATIVE REPUBLIC OF GUYANA
IN HONOUR OF ENERGY WEEK 1994
Energy is one of the most vital physical needs of humanity. In our world, people’s access to sources of energy is a crucial factor in the development of nations.
The industrial revolution was a very important juncture in world history, because of the decisive manner in which it allowed some countries to advance and caused others to fall into varying states of dependency. In this division, those who controlled the traditional sources of energy became dominant.
Guyana, like so many other developing countries has been a victim of this dependence which was intensified by centuries of colonial bondage. We have not been able to strike oil, although being in the geographical neighbourhood of three significant oil producers. Yet at the same time, our consumption habits are generally oil (petroleum) based.
Electricity in every home and factory is an assumed service crucial to essential processes as well as for devices for comfort and luxury. And most of the electricity we generate is oil based. Our transportation services - motor cycles, cars, buses, trucks, boats or aeroplanes are also oil based. So too are our instruments of production whether in manufacturing, construction or agriculture.
The result is that Guyana consumes annually petroleum products imported at a cost of over US$60 million. When we take our fuel bill and add it to our debt payments we arrive at the impossible situation where imports eat up most of our export earnings.
While serious attempts are being made to reduce drastically our debt and to increase our exports, drastic reduction in our oil import bill must be vigorously pursued if we are to improve significantly our country.
For Government, this is a top priority. A team of top officials in the energy sector worked for several months on a complete review of the energy sector and made recommendations for a new thrust in the satisfaction of Guyana’s energy needs. I am happy to say that Cabinet has recently approved of a national energy plan which places emphasis on a rapid shift towards the utilisation of renewable sources of energy.
Indeed, steps have already been taken in this direction. Discussions are going on with potential investors for the development of a major hydropower station and for the utilisation of bagasse at sugar estates to produce electricity. When completed, these projects will make a meaningful contribution to the reduction of our dependence on imported fuel.
Meanwhile, efforts are also being made to develop mini and micro hydropower stations and small units on locations at rice mills and sawmills to utilise their industrial waste to generate electricity.
Government is also prepared to support efforts by the business community to develop all feasible ventures for the utilisation of renewable sources of energy. Solar power and wide power can be put to a wide range of uses. The initial capital cost is often a discouragement although the long term benefits are compensatory.
The Institute of Applied Science and Technology and the Energy Authority have been given the task of identifying simple and low cost devices and to popularise them among all Guyanese. The lending institutions are expected to play their part also in helping interested customers to acquire such devices.
Renewable sources of energy are not only a source of balance of payments improvement, but also are more environmentally friendly than the use of fossil fuels. There is therefore an added incentive for us to pursue very seriously these alternative forms.
A few days ago, when I opened the 5th Caricom Regional Science, Technology and Mathematics Fair, I saw several very innovative displays by the students, some of whom are still in primary school. These included very simple arrangements for the use of alternative sources of energy. I hope that the IAST and entrepreneurs can use this inspiration from our younger generations to duplicate their efforts on a commercial scale.
Another lesson from the students of the Caribbean was the need to save on energy. Energy conservation is the other major plank of our national energy policy. Too much energy is being wasted on a daily basis. In homes and offices, unnecessary lights, air conditioners, fans, etc. not only increase the individual expenditure but also pushes up the national fuel bill. The same goes for transportation. Because of the huge increase in the number of buses and taxis on our roads, there is a large under-utilisation of individual vehicles.
We must not do things because we can personally afford to do so even if there is massive waste. We must think of the plight of the less fortunate and the country at large. Energy saved means dollars saved; dollars saved means greater and faster development.
Government is doing all it can to make the lives of Guyanese more comfortable. And this includes the improvement of our electricity service. You will recall the miserable situation my government inherited. Special efforts have been made to upgrade this service. Repairs have been done and new units have been put in place. Isolated areas have or are about to receive electricity.
We want to satisfy all of the nation’s needs. We do not have the means of doing so immediately. But we can reduce the wait by saving on material financial resources. I urge you on World energy Day, 1994 to safeguard and encourage the gains we are making.
Use energy wisely!
© Nadira Jagan-Brancier 2000
On behalf of the Government and People of Guyana, I bid a special welcome to our country to all participants of the 28th Annual General Meeting of the Caribbean Conservation Association.
You are meeting in a very exciting period of environmental development in the Caribbean. The Global Conference of Small Island Developing States which was held in April/May of this year provided an opportunity for a sharing of views on several important questions related to the sustainable development not only of island states but of developing countries as a whole.
The road to SIDS was very instructive for our Caribbean countries. After much discussion, we were able to work out a common regional position. This was later developed into a unified position of the AOSIS countries which gained the full support of the Group of 77 and China.
The negotiations which followed were very difficult. The needs of the developing countries though clearly and strongly expressed were not readily addressed by the developed world. The result is that the Final Agreement of SIDS presents a very comprehensive picture of what is required for the movement towards the sustainable development of our developing states but fails to identify a full commitment by the developed countries to give the levels of assistance which are necessary for us to achieve our objectives.
Two major lessors are obvious. The first is that whatever gains we made resulted from the high level of unity displayed by the developing countries. Without that unity, the concessions we got would have been much less. We must therefore recognise the need to maintain the greatest unity in our approach to all questions of a global nature.
The second lesson is that there is a limit we should place on our expectations of assistance from the developed countries. For several reasons, the levels of aid will not be any way near to what our countries need. We therefore have to look among ourselves to help one another.
Our Caribbean region must begin in a very serious way to pool our resources, carry out common exercises and give support to each other in our struggle to cope in a highly competitive world market.
I have pointed out before that less that 10 per cent of the imports of all CARICOM countries are bought from within the region. Market forces and recognition of individual tastes should be given a regional flavour. In a recognition of individual tastes should be given a regional flavour. In a Caribbean where tourism is dominant and where furniture is a major input, why should most of these be brought from outside when Guyana, for instance, we can satisfy all the furniture needs of the region at a very high quality? We have a similar situation with food and beverages.
Sustainable development of the countries of our region is based on several conditions being met. What these are and how they apply in specific cases is the subject of continuing debate. In the course of this debate critical dilemmas are emerging.
In Guyana, a deep socio-economic crisis had developed in the latter part of the decade of the seventies. This was characterised by huge budgetary and balance of payments deficits. Agreements with the International Monetary Fund have placed strong requirements on the government to ensure because of the weakness of our administrative, monitoring and enforcement agencies.
The Guyana Government is committed to the ideals of sustainable development. We are not prepared to allow anyone to ravage our forests. We are working to improve our capacity to protect our environment. But to do so we need resources - human, material and financial.
Our fundamental problem is financial. The present administration inherited a foreign debt of over 2 billion US dollars. About 75 per cent of our current revenues go towards foreign and local debt payments. Very little is left for development needs.
Discussion with International institutions for assistance in various fields have yielded and are yielding some results. However, the extent of such assistance will not allow us to decisively to break out of the vicious circle in which we are entrapped.
We are therefore preparing a more dynamic programme which will seek to supplement the assistance from international lending and donor agencies with direct payments from investors for the strengthening of administrative, monitoring and enforcement agencies in the natural resources sector.
The dilemma of countries like Guyana requires that maximum support be given to the efforts of these countries by regional and national organisations. We look to the Caribbean Conservation Association to play a critical role in mobilising Caribbean public opinion in support of our efforts for debt reduction and write-offs.
I was highly impressed at the SIDS conference with the role of the NGO’s which was co-ordinated by the Caribbean Conservation Association. The NGO’s made very vocal demands for a people oriented programme. I fully agree that development in the first place is about people and sustainablility parameters must always be considered with people’s welfare as the top priority.
So long as the debt burden continues, people’s basic needs cannot be met. And as we are seeing all around us, poverty is a major cause of environmental degradation.
If money cannot be found for the creation of respectable living wages and essential services, it is hardly likely that budgetary allocation can be made for projects to protect the environment. It is therefore a necessary condition for effective environmental protection that countries be free of the strangulation caused by their massive debt payment requirements.
For the sake of genuine sustainable human development, a crusade must be launched for the removal of the debt burdens of developing countries. And I wish to call on the Caribbean Conservation Association to take an active lead in this effort in the Caribbean.
With our limited resources, the region needs to tackle environmental issues in a collective way. The University of the West Indies, the University of Guyana, the research institutes, professional bodies and NGO’s need to cooperate meaningfully by sharing experts and experiences for the mutual benefit of all. The region has within it an abundance of skills. They need to be properly harnessed and made to work for the good of the Caribbean people.
In Guyana, in spite of our difficulties, we are making a strong effort to protect our environment. The National Environmental Action Plan was approved by the Parliament in June. The Environmental Protection Act is expected to be placed before Parliament when it resumes in October and immediately after its passage, the Environmental Protection Agency will be established.
We shall require assistance in many areas and we look forward to the Caribbean Conservation Association and other institutions and the experts in the region to support us in our efforts.
Caribbean participation will also be expected in the Iwokrama Rain Forest Programme. It is likely that by the end of this year, a medium-term programme would be adopted and the research programmes would be clearly identified. We look forward to a significant Caribbean participation in this very valuable international programme.
The road ahead is a hard one for the Caribbean people. But we can reduce the pressures by our collective efforts. Let us face the future with unity and determination.
I take great pleasure in declaring open this 28th Annual General Meeting of the Caribbean Conservation Association.
© Nadira Jagan-Brancier 2000
