Guyana forest offer for Heads meeting

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56531209

Guyana forest offer for Heads meeting
By Johann Earle
Stabroek News, Thursday, October 18th 2007

From left to right: Indrajeit Coomaraswamy, Director of Economic
Affairs at the Commonwealth; Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh and
Deputy Secretary General of the Commonwealth Ransford Smith, speaking
at the closing press conference of the Commonwealth

The Commonwealth will next month take Guyana's offer of almost the
entire local rainforest for climate change initiatives to the Heads of
Government Meeting in Uganda in the hope of furthering action on
deriving benefits from standing forests.

So said the Communiqué issued by the Commonwealth Finance Ministers at
the end of their meeting yesterday, in which a number of commitments
were made for mitigation of climate change and for development
cooperation across a range of issues.

And the Meeting also endorsed President Bharrat Jagdeo's four
recommendations on what Commonwealth nations need to do to cut
greenhouse gases: reducing demand for emissions-intensive goods and
services; increasing efficiency in transport and energy usage;
switching to lower carbon technology for power, heat and transport and
reducing non-energy emissions by actions such as avoided deforestation.
President Jagdeo had announced his offer during his address to the
opening of the meeting on Monday night. He said that the offer, which
didn't mean transfer of ownership, will see the use of the forests in a
sustainable way that could be rewarded by various schemes.

Many countries of the Commonwealth are islands or comprise coastal
plains and therefore are vulnerable to climate change-caused changes to
the levels of the sea and in sea temperatures.

According to the Communiqué issued at the conclusion of the three-day
conference yesterday, Ministers of Finance recognised the critical role
of finance and planning ministries in addressing challenges of climate
change. The Ministers called for global efforts to mobilise and commit
financial resources to support these countries through common
frameworks.

They also expressed an appreciation that the issue will be discussed at
the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kampala, Uganda with a
view to building consensus in the area.

The Ministers called for a Commonwealth initiative on the economics of
climate change to help member states to develop and promote common
positions and take practical action on the basis of a clear
understanding of the implications of climate change for their
economies. "The aim should be to help Commonwealth member states to:
share experiences; disseminate best practices, strengthen planning in
the context of climate change; and build institutional capacity for
assessing and adapting to the impacts of climate change with particular
consideration of areas such as modelling sectoral impacts, managing
carbon offsets, and analysing the costs and benefits of proposed
actions," the Communiqué said. But asked about Australia's
non-participation in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Chairman of yesterday's
press conference Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh said that Australia
spoke of its position during the meeting. The Minister indicated that
the issue with Australia signing on to the Protocol is a process that
must be engaged with many parties.

The Communiqué said that the Ministers welcomed the presentation by
Keynote speaker on climate change Sunita Narain and said that it
informed their deliberations.

The Ministers recognised that the challenges presented by climate
change are global in nature and require global responses in accordance
with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities of
states.

The Communiqué said that the Ministers affirmed their commitment to
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),
"and taking account of the growing international resolve, they stressed
the importance of Commonwealth nations working together, and with other
nations, towards the successful launch of negotiations on a global and
comprehensive framework to address climate change, at the Conference of
Parties to the UNFCCC, in Bali in December 2007, and reaching a new
global agreement, in Copenhagen, in 2009."

Commonwealth Ministers of Finance also recognised that the cost of
inaction on climate change mitigation greatly outweighs the cost of
early action, stressing that former Crown nations are already
experiencing the effects of climate change.

They stressed that the magnitude and frequency of natural disasters and
the effects of global warming and climate change have serious negative
implications for growth and development of small states and other
environmentally vulnerable developing economies.

Speaking at the closing press conference, Dr Singh said that the
Meeting has stated its position in a very definitive way about its
direction with regard to climate change.

The Ministers noted that early analysis will help governments to
consider the implications of climate change for key sectors and to
evaluate proposals for action and that financing and policy frameworks
are needed to support adaptation by households, communities and firms
and to support innovation and application of low carbon technologies
and carbon markets.

The Communiqué said that enhancing existing funding mechanisms and
innovative sources of financing such as carbon taxes, charges, carbon
trading and blended finance, may well have a role to play. "Ministers
welcomed progress made with developing and implementing the World
Bank's Clean Energy Investment Framework.

The Ministers agreed that although greater use of clean technology will
be essential, it remains a challenge. "Technical, economic and policy
barriers need to be overcome, and international cooperation stepped up,
to facilitate technology development and transfer to the developing
countries," the Communiqué said.

Further, the Ministers acknowledged the work of Guyana's Iwokrama
International Centre and called for support to strengthen the Centre's
financial position to carry out its programme for the fulfilment of its
objectives and to ensure that it continues to be a model for
sustainable forest management involving local communities.