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President Jagdeo addresses Commonwealth Parliamentarians on climate change
DURING a two-day visit to London, President Bharrat Jagdeo attended the
opening sessions of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association's special
meeting on Climate Change. The three-day meeting took place in the House of
Commons, and was attended by parliamentarians from over 50 countries.
Leading officials and scientists addressed the conference - including the
Deputy Head of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and
the British Government's Chief Scientist, Sir David King. Guyana was
represented by Minister Robert Persaud and PNC MP, Mr. Aubrey Norton.
Speaking to parliamentarians, President Jagdeo spoke of the need for
developing countries to be the fore in ensuring that there is a
proportionate focus on measures to combat climate change, and not solely on
measures that are relevant to the developed world. He singled out the focus
on the impact of aviation and "food miles" as examples of how global
priorities on climate change were not being guided by science, and
emphasised the need for tropical deforestation to be addressed with a
greater level of urgency.
Referring to his recent unveiling of a willingness to discuss ways in which
the eco-system services of Guyana's rainforest can be deployed as a global
asset in the fight against climate change, the President called on other
developing countries to join with Guyana in advocating for inclusion of
market-based incentives to combat tropical deforestation.
The President stressed that sovereignty over Guyana's forest was not up for
negotiation, saying "our forest is not for sale". He also stressed that any
further work would prioritise the needs of local stakeholders, in particular
indigenous communities living in the rainforest. However, according to the
President - "providing these principles are respected, we stand ready to
discuss working with international partners who share our vision that
sustaining our forest is compatible with efforts to create a socially just
and prosperous Guyana."
President Jagdeo's initiative on preserving the world's tropical rainforest
has received extensive support in the United Kingdom, with both the
Conservatives and Liberal Democrat parties urging the British Government to
respond positively to the offer. The Conservative Party Environment
Secretary, Peter Ainsworth said tropical deforestation was not getting the
attention it deserved and that the British Government should take the
proposal seriously. "If we don't sort out deforestation, we can forget
changing the light bulbs," Mr. Ainsworth said yesterday. "Deforestation is
the neglected piece of the jigsaw. There must be a way into this and Guyana
is offering what could be a model for how to do it," he added.
The Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, Chris Huhne, joined those
backing the plan: "This is a very interesting development. We need to work
on the proposals that Guyana have made at an international level and roll it
out to cover not just Guyana but also Brazil, Venezuela and other rainforest
nations. This is a major issue globally and we very much support individual
or any bilateral international negotiations to protect the rainforests,
which are the most important carbon sinks in the world." British Prime
Minister Gordon Brown's official spokesman said "We have received a letter
from the President and we are considering it".
President Jagdeo travelled to London from Kampala, where he had attended the
Commonwealth Business Forum and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
(CHOGM). At both meetings, the issue of climate change was discussed
extensively, and the President said that he was pleased to note that the
need for incentives to support standing forest had been endorsed by
Commonwealth Heads of Government, and set out in the Action Plan on Climate
Change issued following CHOGM.
While at CHOGM, the President also met with the leaders of other rainforest
countries to discuss the upcoming meeting in Bali of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change. (GINA)
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