Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

“Georgetown ain’t got a tree. We got the trees” — Amerindian Power & Participation in Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy

Airey, Sam and Krause, Torsten LU (2017) In Forests 8(3).
Abstract
International bi-lateral agreements to support the conservation of rainforests to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are growing in prevalence. In 2009, the governments of Guyana and Norway established Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). We examine the extent to which the participation and inclusion of Guyana’s indigenous population within the LCDS is being achieved. We conducted a single site case study, focussing on the experiences and perceptions from the Amerindian community of Chenapou. Based on 30 interviews, we find that a deficit of adequate dialogue and consultation has occurred in the six years since the LCDS was established. Moreover, key indigenous rights, inscribed at both a national and international level, have not... (More)
International bi-lateral agreements to support the conservation of rainforests to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are growing in prevalence. In 2009, the governments of Guyana and Norway established Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). We examine the extent to which the participation and inclusion of Guyana’s indigenous population within the LCDS is being achieved. We conducted a single site case study, focussing on the experiences and perceptions from the Amerindian community of Chenapou. Based on 30 interviews, we find that a deficit of adequate dialogue and consultation has occurred in the six years since the LCDS was established. Moreover, key indigenous rights, inscribed at both a national and international level, have not been upheld with respect to the community of Chenapou. Our findings identify consistent shortcomings to achieve genuine participation and the distinct and reinforced marginalisation of Amerindian communities within the LCDS. A further critique is the failure of the government to act on previous research, indicating a weakness of not including indigenous groups in the Guyana-Norway bi-lateral agreement. We conclude that, if the government is to uphold the rights of Amerindian communities in Guyana, significant adjustments are needed. A more contextualised governance, decentralising power and offering genuine participation and inclusion, is required to support the engagement of marginal forest-dependent communities in the management of their natural resources. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Sustainable development; participation; forest governance; REDD+; indigenous rights; Guyana; REDD+ impacts
in
Forests
volume
8
issue
3
article number
51
pages
24 pages
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • scopus:85014909512
  • wos:000398711600001
ISSN
1999-4907
DOI
10.3390/f8030051
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
473098ce-cf47-43ed-adef-8927df8b0c67
date added to LUP
2017-02-28 09:09:50
date last changed
2022-04-24 22:16:15
@article{473098ce-cf47-43ed-adef-8927df8b0c67,
  abstract     = {{International bi-lateral agreements to support the conservation of rainforests to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are growing in prevalence. In 2009, the governments of Guyana and Norway established Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). We examine the extent to which the participation and inclusion of Guyana’s indigenous population within the LCDS is being achieved. We conducted a single site case study, focussing on the experiences and perceptions from the Amerindian community of Chenapou. Based on 30 interviews, we find that a deficit of adequate dialogue and consultation has occurred in the six years since the LCDS was established. Moreover, key indigenous rights, inscribed at both a national and international level, have not been upheld with respect to the community of Chenapou. Our findings identify consistent shortcomings to achieve genuine participation and the distinct and reinforced marginalisation of Amerindian communities within the LCDS. A further critique is the failure of the government to act on previous research, indicating a weakness of not including indigenous groups in the Guyana-Norway bi-lateral agreement. We conclude that, if the government is to uphold the rights of Amerindian communities in Guyana, significant adjustments are needed. A more contextualised governance, decentralising power and offering genuine participation and inclusion, is required to support the engagement of marginal forest-dependent communities in the management of their natural resources.}},
  author       = {{Airey, Sam and Krause, Torsten}},
  issn         = {{1999-4907}},
  keywords     = {{Sustainable development; participation; forest governance; REDD+; indigenous rights; Guyana; REDD+ impacts}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  number       = {{3}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Forests}},
  title        = {{“Georgetown ain’t got a tree. We got the trees” — Amerindian Power & Participation in Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f8030051}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/f8030051}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}