Climate Change is not futuristic '…it’s happening right now, it’s a reality’ – President Bharrat Jagdeo

Climate Change is not futuristic
'…it’s happening right now, it’s a reality’ – President Bharrat Jagdeo
By Mark Ramotar
Guyana Chronicle, 17 December 2007
CLIMATE Change, one of the most critical global challenges of our time,
is not a “futuristic thing” but an alarming problem that is currently
occurring and which needs a committed global effort to mitigate its
devastating effects, President Bharrat Jagdeo has declared.

According to him, recent events have emphatically demonstrated the
growing vulnerability of countries around the world to climate change.

Climate change impact will range from affecting agriculture- further
endangering food security, sea-level rise and the accelerated erosion
of coastal zones, increasing intensity of natural disasters, species
extinction and the spread of vector-borne diseases.

“Everyone right across the world have recognised adverse weather
because of climate change and what is happening right…so it is not a
futuristic thing,” President Jagdeo told reporters last Friday.

“This is why we are very disappointed that the United Nations (UN) has
not signed on to binding emissions cut in Bali (Indonesia),” Mr. Jagdeo
said, adding that because of this position by the UN, “we may very well
have difficulties in concluding a post Kyoto arrangement that could
help to change the dynamics of climate change”.

“The science is clear, and the manifestations of climate change are
clear right across the world,” President Jagdeo declared.

In an effort to fight against climate change, the Guyanese Head of
State has introduced an initiative on climate change.

The Jagdeo initiative was first introduced at the Commonwealth Finance
Ministers’ Meeting in October and then again at the Commonwealth Heads
of Government Business forum in Kampala, Uganda, in November of this
year.

President Jagdeo’s initiative calls for developed countries to give
market-based incentives to developing countries, who can offer their
rainforest in service of the world’s fight against climate change.

It is a known fact that developed nations are guilty of contributing
the most carbon dioxide emissions to the environment, the leading
contributing factor to global warming.

In fact, the United States alone is said to be contributing 25% of
carbon dioxide emissions.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud represented Guyana at
the just concluded 13th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the
Climate Change Convention in Bali, Indonesia where he urged
participants to move to end protracted discussions and negotiations and
to take urgent action to address climate change.

Advancing the vulnerability of Guyana to the effects of climate change,
Persaud declared: “Guyana is a developing country, and a net sink for
greenhouse gases. 90% of our population occupies a coastal belt which
is approximately one metre below sea level. My country is particularly
vulnerable to climate change. We have already suffered the effects of
extreme weather events including a devastating flood in 2005 which
resulted in the destruction of 59% of our GDP. This was the worst
natural disaster recorded in Guyana’s history.”

“However, notwithstanding our vulnerability, and the lack of support
for adaptation, Guyana is taking deliberate action for climate change
mitigation and adaptation,” Persaud told the conference.

He noted that Guyana’s vast, intact forest resources, as part of the
Amazonia Rainforest belt, of approximately 16 million hectares covering
75% of the country, serves as an import carbon sink for the world.

“This resource has been maintained through strong political will and
commitment to sustainable forest management, balancing both
conservation and sustainable use,” the Agriculture Minister exhorted.

Guyana’s efforts, he pointed out, however, have not been encouraged by
the current Kyoto Framework which offers no recognition or compensation
to the contribution of standing tropical forest to climate change
mitigation.