The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs yesterday defended its role in indigenous villages’ spending of REDD funds, saying that it is fulfilling its part as “the facilitator of policies and investments that advance the self-identified needs of Amerindian communities.”
In a statement responding to an article published last week in Stabroek News, headlined `Amerindian ministry’s authority over REDD spending ‘inappropriate,’ says report,’ the Ministry said ongoing design of the detailed investments is being led by Amerindian communities. It accused Stabroek News of “one-sided” reporting and wrongly said the “inappropriate” tag was “implied” by this newspaper.
The “inappropriate” description was contained in the first Guyana country report on the real-time Evaluation of Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI). Oslo is providing support to Guyana to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in a deal potentially worth up to US$250 million by 2015. The support from its development aid budget is being channelled through NICFI. The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) commissioned the real time evaluation to assess NICFI’s support to the formulation and implementation of national REDD strategies and other REDD readiness efforts. The evaluation was conducted by a team of independent evaluators from the British company LTS International in collaboration with Indufor Oy, Ecometrica and Christian Michelsen Institute and several recommendations were made.
“It is not clear that Amerindian communities yet have sufficient knowledge to take fully informed decisions on “Opting-in” and further effort is indicated on this. The apparent mechanism by which any REDD funds accruing to communities would be spent, essentially through approval by the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, is inappropriate. Efforts to build capacity and leave communities in charge of their own affairs, while meeting appropriate transparency and accountability standards should be prioritized,” one of the recommendations state.
Yesterday, the Ministry said that each policy was put together in consultation with Amerindian villages during the extensive consultation that took place in 2009 and 2010. “Ongoing design of the detailed investments is being led by Amerindian communities,” it said. “Far from the Ministry exercising “inappropriate authority” as implied by the Stabroek News, they are each examples of the Ministry fulfilling its role as the facilitator of policies and investments that advance the self-identified needs of Amerindian communities,” the statement added.
The Norwegian report had further said that despite the comprehensive consultation process, it is not clear that titled Amerindian communities have sufficient knowledge required as yet to make informed decisions on “opting-in” to the LCDS and further effort is required on this. Further, it recommended more independence for the National Toshaos Council (NTC) from the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs. It pointed out that the NTC presents a system which has the potential to have a solidly clear, democratic mandate to represent Amerindian communities and more independence from the Ministry, such as its own separate Secretariat, would help greatly in this.
“Efforts to build capacity and leave communities in charge of their own affairs, while meeting appropriate transparency and accountability standards should be prioritised,” one of the recommendations states. The report observes that the “paternalistic” system does not seem to be adequate to meet the spirit of the Guyana-Norway Agreement.
It noted that Amerindian communities are allowed to opt in if they wish, and also to opt out subsequently. “The way in which this could be accommodated within an internationally agreed REDD mechanism does not seem to have been considered in detail and few Amerindian leaders had real understanding of the obligations and restrictions opting in would engender,” the report observes. Bottom of Form
It had also said that while the 2006 Amerindian Act and the progress with land titling both represent considerable progress compared with the earlier situation of Amerindians in Guyana, there are a number of important unresolved issues that are highly relevant.
The report pointed out that titled Amerindian communities will be allowed to “opt-in” to REDD and receive benefits from doing so but untitled Amerindian communities have no right to opt-in and until titling is completed, will derive no benefit from REDD. “The completion of the process of outstanding title claims needs to be resolved as a matter of urgency,” it said.
Further, the report said, resolution of the outstanding land titling is important but it is not understood why the costs included in LCDS to accomplish this need to be as high as stated.
It is unclear whether the use of current technology has been fully investigated, it says.
Yesterday, the Ministry said that there are three main policy areas within the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) that are of particular relevance to Amerindians.
It said that government has committed to addressing the resolution of all outstanding land titling, demarcation and extension requests by 2014, for all those villages that request this. It said that details on the 96 titled Amerindian villages, the 11 untitled villages, as well as the outstanding demarcations and extensions are detailed in the LCDS and these are updated annually with the next version to be placed on the LCDS website by the end of this month. “Approximately US$12.8 million has been earmarked to complete this process by 2014. In each case, village requests were made in accordance with the principles of free, prior and informed consent and the provisions set forth in the Amerindian Act”, the statement said.
Further, the statement said government has stated that villages with titled lands can participate directly in the REDD+ model. “All titled villages will be given an opportunity to opt in over the coming years, and until such time as the “opt in” process is completed, the Government will continue to work with all Amerindian villages to identify development priorities.
Based on consultations in 2009 and 2010, the priority this year will be the acceleration of the land titling and demarcation process as described above, as well as the distribution of 10,000 solar panels to Amerindian households,” it said.
It stated too that future REDD+ funds will be invested in Amerindian communities in accordance with individual Community Development Plans. “These are prepared by the villages themselves, with the support of the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs. To date, 166 Community Development Plans have been produced, and highlight village priorities such as income generation, access to IT and improved communications,” the ministry said.
