Guyana willing to deploy almost entire rainforest in climate change fight

Guyana willing to deploy almost
entire rainforest in climate change fight
- President Jagdeo
… says preservation efforts should
be rewarded
Kaieteur News, 16 October 2007

by Leonard Gildarie



It was a spectacular show for first-time visitors to Guyana. An
opportunity to view first- hand the cultural diversity of Guyana.

In addition, it is Guyana's third major event of the year with more
than 300 delegates of the Commonwealth countries gathered here for the
prestigious annual Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting.

But even the spectacular show at the end of the opening could not take
away from the impact of last night's speech by President Bharrat Jadgeo
at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers' Meeting
in which he addressed the theme of Climate Change.

Urging leaders to do something tangible, the President reiterated
Guyana's firm commitment in its fight against the effects of climate
change.

“When I met with then British Prime Minister Tony Blair last year I
outlined our offer to deploy almost our entire rainforest – which is
the size of England - in the long-term service of the world's battle
against climate change. That offer remains.”

Underscoring Guyana's commitment to resolving this critical issue, the
President threw the first salvo to the delegates promising that Guyana
is willing to commit unreservedly in the long-term battle against
climate change.

Over 40 countries were represented last evening at the ceremony held at
the National Cultural Centre.

Urging the delegates to do better in today's deliberation, the
President noted that “Climate change presents leaders with a
far-reaching responsibility for meaningful action. Future generations
will judge us by our actions in the face of this responsibility.”

Calling for reformation of organizations like the United Nations, the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to cope with the
challenges of the future, the president said that “we will be deprived
of the vehicles for global collective action that these challenges
urgently require.”

ACTION IS NEEDED

That climate change demands the attention of global leaders is no
longer in doubt, Jagdeo said. “We know that on current trends, average
global temperatures will rise by two to three degrees relative to
pre-industrial levels within the next fifty years. One sixth of the
world's population will be threatened by melting glaciers; hundreds of
millions will be at risk of starving; diseases such as malaria and
dengue fever will spread to new parts of the world; hundreds of
millions of people will become displaced; and eco-systems upon which so
much of the world's agriculture and medicine depend will be placed at
major risk.”

But Jagdeo was harsh on the carbon market issue which finances are
promised for countries that reforest. “However, while we must all
welcome the fact that much of the developed world has started to take
action, we must now work to ensure that this does not lead to a focus
only on measures that relate to the developed world. For example, the
new carbon market results in very little financial flows to the
developing world.”

Excluding countries like Guyana and others from the climate frameworks
will mean keeping from the debate perspectives from those in the
developing world that have much to offer on the climate change debate.

DIVERSION

President Jagdeo also slammed the decisions taken on the role of
aviation's impact on climate change and said that decisions are
“causing economic damage to the tourism and agriculture industries
throughout the developing world.

“In our own region, the Caribbean, the tourism industry has started to
suffer from developed world government policies which involve the
imposition of punitive climate change taxes on aviation to discourage
flying. This is a cruel irony when for years the same governments
encouraged Caribbean countries to urgently diversify into tourism to
maximize the value from one of the region's most competitive
advantages.”

The President in his recommendations for the battle against climate
change urged for

the United States and Australia to be part of the international
framework for addressing climate change and allowing large developing
countries, mainly China and India, to be recognized that on a per
capita basis, they are far lower emitters of greenhouse gases than much
of the world. Jagdeo also pinpointed the addressing of specific
concerns of the rest of the developing world as well as avoiding
tropical deforestation.

“Of particular interest to Guyana is avoiding tropical deforestation.
If we drive for two hours from where we meet tonight, we will be in the
Amazon Rainforest. Almost 80% of Guyana's surface area is covered by
rainforest, and the portion of the Amazon that is formed by the Guiana
Shield is the largest expanse of undisturbed tropical rainforest in the
world,” he noted.

Stressing the importance of the rainforest, the President disclosed
that it is one of the main sources of medicine for the world. “Yet it
is only in recent years that the immense contribution that the
rainforest makes to carbon sequestration has been added to an
understanding of this global asset.”

GUYANA'S FIGHT

Guyana has made sustained efforts to protect the rainforest –with one
million acres of rainforest donated to Iwokrama for preservation. “More
recently, in partnership with Conservation International, we have set
aside a major area of forest to devise mechanisms for the exchange of
economic value for eco-system services. However, valuable as these
individual initiatives have been they are not reflective of the scale
of global action on avoiding deforestation that is needed,” the
President stressed. “This is why it is particularly concerning that the
existing climate change framework actually contains perverse incentives
which would make it more economically viable to cut down our forest
than to preserve it.”

Avoiding tropical deforestation represents the best value for money in
mitigating against future climate change. “It is vital that we work as
a Commonwealth to support the promotion of this voice to ensure that
analysis, not anecdote, regains the upper hand in prioritizing climate
change issues.”

The President called for the need for practical solutions to address
climate change in general, and tropical deforestation in particular.

“…as we have pointed out for years, we must recognize that tropical
deforestation across the world results from economic pressures.
Sometimes this is due to illegal activity, but it is more often a
function of the need to secure livelihoods for people who live in the
forest, or for agricultural and other businesses to generate the profit
that is essential to national development in countries across the
world. We must square up to this reality, and recognize that the way to
stop deforestation is to ensure that there is an economically viable
alternative.”

INCENTIVES

The President urged for incentives to reward both the preservation of
existing forest, and support the restoration of forest which has been
removed.

“This is not only morally right because countries like Guyana which
have protected their forest for years deserve to be rewarded. It is
also right because to not do so would result in economic leakages
across national borders in the Amazon region and elsewhere -
deforestation activities would migrate from countries rewarded for
slowing down deforestation to countries where deforestation was not
previously taking place.

“Towards this end, we must urgently change the current perverse
arrangement within the climate change framework which provides a
disincentive for forest conservation and protection.”

The President reminded insurance and re-insurance companies that they
too play a role as they are grappling with ever more serious weather
patterns such as hurricanes. “It is in their interests to invest in
climate change abatement strategies.”

Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh noted that Guyana's fight
against climate change cannot be borne by government alone but with a
collaborative effort of the private and public sector. The country's
fight is made even harder by its small economy and size.

Minister of Finance for Samoa, Nickel Lee-Hang noted that the world has
failed as custodian and is paying the price with flooding, rises in sea
level with agriculture,, tourism and fishing all suffering. The
consequences are long term for generations to come.

People must have the political will to do something and the longer it
takes the more expensive it will be. Collectively, the Commonwealth has
a voice and can implement the necessary changes.

Also making remarks was Deputy Secretary General of the Commonwealth
Ransford Smith who acknowledged that the climate change represents the
single largest challenge facing the world.