Indigenous girls take active lead ...

by the Government of Guyana, as these communities have their village-sustainability plans developed , outlining the development needs of the village with a strong focus on maintaining the integrity of the forest ecosystems.”

She continued : “ I understand that the National Toshaos’ Council working with the government has been supporting villages in developing village-sustainability plans to advance this process This programme will showcase how villages can use carbon - credit payments to develop their respective communities , which will be a good thing for them.”

Further , MrsMartins added, “I am a big admirer of Dr Jagdeo and him championing environmental causes globally, putting Guyana on the world map with his LCDS in 2009, getting the Norway agreement , and in 2020 expanding on the LCDS 2030 , which provides an expanded vision to the original LCDS in 2009 That is obviously very remarkable, and I want to acknowledge Dr Jagdeo for prioritising this area and in bringing community-led action within national programmes LCDS 2030 has provided an opportunity for us to have the girls engage in work beyond what they are doing for the GMCS I have seen both President Ali and Vice President Jagdeo deliver on their promises of support to this and other initiatives on community development, especially in the area of women’s empowerment, and in very tangible ways. “President Ali right now has pledged and supported training 15 young indigenous girls in Region One in beekeeping, so they will also set up their own little bee enterprise And of course , we know that the mangroves provide the best honey in the country.”

Additionally , she explained, “I want to say clearly that our organization , which is just under 25 years old, could not have achieved all that it did without the invaluable support of the Government of Guyana, as well as the government agencies that we have worked with I want to give thanks for that and say that I am looking forward to working with them even closer going forward “ With the girls and the drone - monitoring of the mangroves, they could provide the information to a lot of the government agencies that would need it in the different regions For example , the RDC from Region One has asked us in times of flooding, when the farms were destroyed or roads were washed away, if they could have had access to this information, which will help them to manage those natural disasters more efficiently This proves that the LCDS 2030 is applicable at all levels – nationally and community level too.”

Mrs Martins said that this innovative application being piloted has many broad applications; according to her , the regional authorities have already networked with the girls , and she sees that they have already made use of the technology

It is also her hope that other agencies, such as the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, can utilize the services of the National Agricultural Research Extension Institute , to monitor gold mining and enhance agricultural development as well This, Mrs Martins said, would also give them the resources to train more girls, which will provide them with more opportunities to become ambassadors of the environment and aim in the fight against climate change Finally , Martins said that even though there is a lot more to be done, she is very optimistic that under the competent and genuine leadership of President Ali and Dr Jagdeo , they will implement the necessary measures so that Guyana’s forests and its people will continue to benefit

(This is part of a weekly series on LCDS .) The author can be contacted at cparkinson0206 @ gmail . com).