Land is our national patrimony and more can be done “to preserve, protect and pass it on” to the next generation, said former President David Granger on his ‘Public Interest’ programme. The Indigenous people need land as a source of economic sustenance; African-Guyanese cherish land as the source of their ancestral emancipation, Indian-Guyanese seek land for their farms and homes, and it is everyone’s precious patrimony.
Land comes with challenges. A Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) judge lamented that land litigation by Guyanese constitutes a huge volume of cases before the court. Land controversies cause conflict and retard development. This is the reason why the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition established a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to investigate complaints from Indigenous and African-Guyanese. The Coalition also proposed to establish the ‘State Land Resettlement Commission’ aimed at giving former sugar estate workers land for farming and a ‘National Squatter Resettlement Commission’ aimed at abolishing shanties, slums and squatter settlements, Mr. Granger said.
According to Granger, land has the potential to make Guyana food secure because of its abundant water resources, adequate topographic characteristics and agricultural production. “Land, however, is finite and not the same everywhere…arable land constitutes only 8.5 percent of the country. The coastlands, grasslands, highlands, islands, wetlands, rainforests, rivers, waterfalls and lakes are different but all open prospects for economic exploitation,” he noted.
The abuse and misuse of land by some forms of farming, logging and mining caused deforestation and degradation which damaged the environment. The former President explained that mining companies do not implement restoration measures after mines are closed. To make his case, he noted that the mining industry accounted for 89 per cent of deforestation (in 2015-2018) while river-mining pollutes waterways on which many hinterland residents rely. Environmental damage from bauxite mining worsened due to the expansion of exports by 400 percent during WWII. Logging and mining have impacted the rainforests and other habitats through deforestation, habitat fragmentation, and soil degradation. the Former President said.
Land could be better protected by rigorously enforcing reclamation and rehabilitation regulations and promoting sustainable production standards through the Guyana Forestry Commission, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission and Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Granger recalled the wise proverb that: ‘We do not inherit the land from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.’
