President Jagdeo appointed to UN climate change panel

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – President Bharrat Jagdeo has been appointed as one of four world leaders to sit on a United Nations panel to address financing for countries in the fight against climate change.

Also named to the panel established by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, Ethiopia and Norway. The body is viewed as critical to the recently held global climate change summit in Copenhagen last December and the follow-up event to be held in Mexico later this year.

Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh said it was a privilege for the Guyana to serve on the panel and noted that there are few occasions when small countries are afforded the opportunity to significantly influence policy making at the global level.

“Every time we go out and we participate in a meeting we are advocating a position in the national interest and I am pleased to see that our voice as a country, being lead by the President is being heard,” he told state-owned media.

The Guyana Government Information Agency (GINA) said lobbying efforts in Copenhagen were fervent and enabled the expansion of the Reduced Emissions on Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) initiative to include countries, such as Guyana, that have low levels of deforestation.

This new initiative, REDD+, includes cutting deforestation rates, conservation of forest stocks, sustainable forestry management, and expansion of forest stock, a GINA statement said.

In recent months, Guyana has also succeeded in sealing a US$250 million agreement with Norway to protect the environment. The funds will be paid based on set out performance-based criteria.

“It represents one of the first attempts between a developed and a developing country to work together to implement a national scale model on how forests can be deployed to address climate change without compromising sovereignty or national development priorities,” GINA said.