Climate project may end with rainforest destruction

Rocky Road

But the road through the rainforest is finished, after years of scandals, corruption charges and overruns. One of the companies that have taken part in the road construction, China Railway First Group, belongs to a group of companies that is blacklisted by the Council on Ethics of the Norwegian Petroleum Fund because of serious corruption.

The price of the road has amounted to around 400 million Norwegian kroner (USD 50 million), equivalent to about five percent of Guyana's national budget.

The road was planned to be used solely as a means of transportation to the power plant, according to the agreement with Norway and the Inter-American Development Bank. However, now Guyana's government wants to use the road that it has funded for entirely different purposes.

“The jungle has resources”

It is the Guyanese Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, who shares these plans in an interview with the Norwegian newspaper Bergens Tidende.

“The road is already there, it has been built. We must look at the opportunities it provides. It is built through the jungle and the jungle has resources, both minerals and timber”, says Winston Jordan. Bergens Tidende met Mr. Jordan and his ministerial colleague Raphael Trotman during the climate summit in Paris recently. Mr. Trotman is the minister in charge of governance, natural resources and environment.

The two ministers are talking about how the extraction of gold, minerals and tropical timber could lead to increased settlement in the rainforest. The consequence of these activities will be increased deforestation, contrary to the goal of the Norwegian international climate and forest initiative. Guyana receives payments from Norway to keep deforestation at a low level.  

“The road must be used”

“We simply cannot afford to leave this road unused or abandoned. The road is a major investment. We need a holistic approach that gives us new opportunities, such as mining and settlement”, finance minister Jordan says to Bergens Tidende. The country's infrastructure minister, David Patterson, said almost the same to the Guyanese press recently. He was also open to extending the road even further into the rainforest. The Rainforest Foundation Norway and several indigenous peoples’ organisations reacted to this new information. “This is shocking and serious”, says Lars Løvold, general manager of the organisation.

Warned against road

He says that the Rainforest Foundation warned against road construction to Amaila Falls several years ago. In a letter to former Norwegian Minister of the Environment, Erik Solheim, in 2011 the organisation pointed out that the road construction started before the environmental and social impact assessment was completed.

“We said at the time that the road to Amaila Falls should not be initiated until it was one hundred percent certain that the power plant would actually be constructed. Now the road is already finished and it opens up intact rainforest areas. The statements of the finance minister are in direct contradiction to the spirit of the agreement between Norway and Guyana. What he says, shows that we were right in our warnings that this road project should never have been initiated”, says Løvold, one of the senior spokespersons in Norway in the fight for rainforest conservation and indigenous peoples’ rights.

“The experience from many places in the world is that road construction in rainforest areas almost always leads to more deforestation and degradation”, says Løvold.

Threatens Norway Agreement

He believes Norwegian authorities should express a clear concern about the new signals from Guyana. “If there will now be uncontrolled access to the rainforest, this will, in our opinion, constitute a threat to the agreement between Norway and Guyana”, says Løvold.

The organisation has previously stated that the power plant development entails a reputational problem for Norway's international climate and forest initiative. The Rainforest Foundation has called for more active Norwegian involvement in Guyana after the South American country became a partner in the government's international climate and forest initiative.

“If you want to succeed in a country like Guyana it requires close monitoring and continuous contact with both government and civil society in the country, but that has unfortunately not been the case here”, says Løvold.

Flow of black money

The rainforest of Guyana conceals enormous deposits of gold and minerals. The open mines are causing most of the deforestation, in many places leading to major environmental damage from mercury contamination of rivers and soil. Much of the cash flow is unregulated and large quantities of gold are being smuggled out of the poor country.

Several reports and studies have previously determined that the road to the planned Norwegian-supported power plant could have dramatic consequences for the previously inaccessible rainforest in large areas around the road.

An expert panel appointed by the World Bank warned in a report from 2011 that the road is a far greater threat to the environment than the power plant and the dam that will flood a rainforest area of 23 square kilometres.

Great risk

"New and improved access to hitherto inaccessible areas poses a great risk for an invasion by people who want to initiate a wide range of activities. With regards to the Amaila Falls project, mining is the greatest risk”, said the report from the expert panel.

The Guyana Plateau in the Amazon is one of the most biodiverse areas in the world. Everything from the world’s largest spiders and snakes to 750 different bird species can be found here.  Another impact assessment commissioned by the Inter-American Development Bank points out that the road could open up for illegal logging and hunting and trade in exotic species on the international market.

Was supposed to secure

To prevent the power plant and the supply road from triggering such interference in the biological treasure trove, both Norway and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) required the use of safeguards that would prevent this type of negative impacts. Per-Fredrik Pharo, head of the Norwegian government's international climate and forest initiative, emphasises this point, and the same assurances were given by the previous government in Guyana.

“The road is built specifically for the hydropower plant, and there will be clear restrictions on who will be given the right to use it”, said Guyana's previous Minister of Environment, Robert Persaud, to Bergens Tidende in March 2015. In the same article the country's Commissioner of Forest, James Singh, made it clear that the road would not open up opportunities for new logging and mining activities in the rainforest.

Granted concessions

Nonetheless, according to the Guyanese newspaper Kaieteur News, illegal logging and mining are already taking place along the road. The country's Forestry Commission confirms that mining licences have already been allocated in the area in question. According to Guyanese media, the government has also been contacted by actors who want to use the road for extraction of gold and other resources.

A number of indigenous communities live in the affected area.

“It is most worrying that the present government of Guyana is talking about using roads to enable the building of new townships and colonisation of the forested interior. Much of the area in the hinterland is traditionally occupied by indigenous peoples. Allowing new townships and road building for mining and logging could generate major harmful impacts for indigenous communities and cause deforestation”, says Tom Griffiths. He works for the Forest Peoples Programme, an international organisation working for indigenous peoples’ rights in Guyana.

Indigenous concerns

Dr. Griffiths says the government of Guyana is bound by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and any proposal to settle the interior must consequently ensure full application of the FPIC (free, prior and informed consent) standard. This principle of participation is also written into the agreement between Norway and Guyana.

He believes Norwegian authorities now must raise the matter with Guyana because the road and all its potential consequences directly affect the low carbon development strategy in the country. This strategy is the basis for Norway's involvement in Guyana. The partnership has so far led to the payment of around one billion kroner from Norway (around USD 150 million).

“How can road construction and settlement be in line with this strategy?”, Dr. Griffiths asks.

Suffering

The indigenous organisation Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) in Guyana also demands that the government of the country respect the rights of the indigenous population, and that their interests are protected and heard in relation to the road plans.

“While it is understood that the road is already built, the government of Guyana must always remember the impacts that opening the forests and the lands to mining and logging can bring. Today, indigenous communities in Guyana suffer after unjust court rulings that protect mining operators. Meanwhile, the negative impacts of uncontrolled mining activities on the indigenous population are ignored. The authorities must ensure our peoples’ right to a safe and clean environment”, says Laura George, programme assistant at the APA headquarters in Guyana.

Can lead to cuts in payments

The Norwegian government is surprised by the latest developments in relation to the controversial Amazonian power plant. “This is new information for us. If it will be opened up for mining and logging in connection with the road to the power plant, this will have consequences for the forest area in Guyana - potentially also for the so-called intact forest areas. That will subsequently lead to a deduction in any payments from Norway in the future, in line with the framework laid down for the partnership”, says Per-Fredrik Pharo, head of the government's international climate and forest initiative.

The government is already holding back a payment to Guyana of 300 million kroner (USD 40 million). The reason is that Norway is waiting for a clarification from the government of Guyana about whether it will continue the green development strategy. The Amaila Falls power plant has been of major importance for this strategy.

Hypothetical question

Mr. Pharo does not want to speculate on what will be the consequences for the partnership if Guyana's government maintains that the power plant should not be built, and in addition, opens up the road for companies wishing to extract gold, minerals and tropical timber in the rainforest.

“I do not answer hypothetical questions. We have now agreed with Guyana on a process in relation to the Amaila Falls power plant”, Mr. Pharo responds.

The process he is referring to is a new study, initiated by Norway, to determine once and for all whether the power plant is economically sustainable for Guyana. Mr. Pharo rejects that Norway is pushing Guyana to proceed with the project, as has been suggested by some Guyanese media.

"A good project"

Bergens Tidende has previously reproduced the contents of an e-mail in which a government source in Guyana expresses strong dissatisfaction to several ministers in the country about Norway's eagerness to have the power plant built.

“Our starting point is that Amaila Falls is a good project, which the Inter-American Development Bank agrees with. If that turns out not to be the case after the impending review, we will of course support Guyana to put the plans aside. If this is the case, the country must come up with another good strategy for the development of green energy”, says Per-Fredrik Pharo.

He stresses that Norway will not discuss any extension of the partnership before the government of Guyana has complied with the terms of the current agreement in relation to improved governance in management of natural resources and until clarity has been reached on the issue of the country's future energy supply.

“Cannot go ahead”

Guyana's government maintains that the construction of the power plant is a bad idea. “Our position is the same. We cannot go ahead with the power plant in its current form. It's too expensive”, says finance minister Winston Jordan.

The finance minister says that Guyana accepts Norway's request for a new study, "because it can put a final end to the uncertainty around the project." Mr. Jordan says there are also environmental and technical aspects of the project that have been insufficiently examined.

Bergens Tidende has visited the Patamona people in Chenapou village. Indigenous representatives in this area say that the dam will flood large areas of forest that they use for hunting and fishing. They also claim that they have never been properly consulted about the plans for the power plant.

[1] http://www.bt.no/meninger/debatt/En-seier-for-verdens-klima-3331833.html

[2] All prices in USD featuring in this article have been added during the translation and reflect the exchange rates at the time when these were first announced publically.