Dear Editor,
On 01 December 2022, Winrock/ART (Architecture for REDD+ Transactions) announced that it has issued 33.47 million jurisdictional carbon credits to Guyana, representing saved carbon in the forests of Guyana. Closely following the Winrock/ ART announcement, the Hess Corporation oil company (30 per cent co-venturer in the offshore Stabroek Block, and so a co-generator of huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions) announced that it had contracted to buy 30 per cent of these credits — 2.5 million carbon credits per year for 15 years (2016-2030) — for a notional US $750 million. That is a total of 37.5 million carbon credits, leaving an unexplained difference of 4 million carbon credits. It is not clear what Hess means by ’30 per cent’.
The announcement by Winrock/ART contains the following paragraph –
‘Endorsement for the government to sell credits from Guyana’s Indigenous lands – both titled and untitled – including the terms of benefit sharing, was given by the National Toshaos’ Council, which includes leaders elected by each community and is the legal representative of Indigenous peoples in Guyana’; see https://winrock.org/art-issues-worlds-first-jurisdictional-forestry-carbon-credits-to-guyana/.
The Amerindian Act (cap. 29:01, 2006) authorises the National Toshaos Council (NTC) in Part IV, sections 38-43. The functions of the NTC are stated in section 41. The Amerindian Act gives no authority to the NTC to provide such endorsement for the government to sell carbon credits from Amerindian titled and customary resources. The statement by Winrock/ART appears to be grossly incorrect and misleading.
Editor, through your newspaper, I ask the NTC to explain the legal basis of their endorsement of the government of Guyana’s move to make decisions over Indigenous titled lands.
Citizens may note that the decision-making process over State forests and State Lands to date has been centralized and opaque. There has been no published information on which forests are involved and whether the National Assembly and/or regional or local governments were part of the decision-making. I also ask the government of Guyana to publish the details of their agreement with Winrock, and all the background papers, and also to explain, in culturally appropriate wording for citizens of Guyana, how Winrock estimated 33.47 million jurisdictional carbon credits.
Yours truly
Janette Bulkan
