Guyana ready to be a model for the world in devising partnerships
-President Jagdeo tells CI’s global awareness campaign

Georgetown, GINA, May 20, 2008

President Bharrat Jagdeo has once again put forward Guyana’s resolve to participate in the fight against Climate Change. The Head of State speaking at a Conservation International’s (CI’s) press conference in New York today said that Guyana is ready to be a model for the world in devising international partnerships.
            “Tropical deforestation must receive the same level of attention, resources, intellect and innovation as other global problems and partnership is the key to achieving this. Guyana is prepared to be a model for the world in devising these partnerships.”
            The conference was aimed at starting a global awareness campaign on the vital and often overlooked role forests play as an immediate and cost-effective solution for climate change.
The President along with actor and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of CI, Harrison Ford, Chairman and CEO of CI, Peter Seligmann, and the President of CI, Russ Mittermeier hosted the press conference. The campaign is being held under the theme ‘Lost there, felt here’.
President Jagdeo told the conference that climate change is literally a matter of life or death, the difference between being able to eat or starve, or the cause of destruction of the livelihoods of entire communities.
Against this backdrop he said “these circumstances, nobody can say with a clear conscience that communities should not seek to utilise the resources that are present in their forests. It is these all-too-human reasons that must be addressed if we are to preserve the world's forests - we must make it more valuable to leave our trees standing than to cut them down.”
Guyana’s Head of State pointed out that to this end he believes the world can achieve this, but needs to do three things which includes international partnership where he reiterated Guyana is ready to be a model.
“The key to success is international partnership. We need a coalition of progressive forces, governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations and conscientious people everywhere to keep the issue of tropical deforestation and the need for low-carbon models of development in the forefront of the world's policy debate.”
The two other areas President Jagdeo said were; seeking to forge a post-Kyoto climate agreement where he said the international community must devise solutions that are proportional to the causes of climate change.
The President lamented that when compared with the attention that is given to the role of aviation in climate change - the cause of less than 3% of global emissions, the lack of incentives and solutions to combat tropical deforestation, it represents the single most glaring example of the world's lack of proportion in addressing climate change.
The other area the President spoke about was the need to assist developing countries plot a new model of development which avoids the high-carbon growth path that today's developed world is following.
He applauded visionary leaders throughout the developed world for recognizing that the global transition to low carbon economies presents their countries with enormous opportunities for jobs, investment and growth but pointed out that developing countries are in need of assistance.
 “They also need to understand that there are developing countries that are willing to act decisively, and it is in the interests of the entire global community to support these countries as they seek to plot a path towards low carbon economies, without sacrificing the legitimate social and economic aspirations of their peoples.”
Meanwhile, President of CI, Russ Mittermeier in his remarks lauded President Jagdeo’s willingness to work with bilateral donors in the sustainable use of the country’s forest and emphasized that such leadership displayed by the Guyana President is needed.
“President Jagdeo has taken a bold step in declaring his willingness to conserve most of Guyana's tropical forest to prevent the carbon stored there from worsening climate change. …We need the kind of 1eadeship displayed by President Jagdeo to develop comprehensive strategies for combating climate change and helping nations and people cope with its impacts,” Mr. Mittermeier asserted.

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