The British Government has renewed its support for Guyana’s Low Carbon Deve-lopment Strategy (LCDS) through several initiatives including supporting the Programme Management Unit of the Office of the President which was set up to attract outside investment in specific low carbon sectors.
This was disclosed by British High Commissioner to Guyana Fraser Wheeler during a simple ceremony held yesterday at his residence in which University of Guyana (UG) lecturer Donna Ramdial was formally presented with the British Chevening Scholarship to pursue studies in Environ-mental Forestry in the United Kingdom.
Wheeler stated that the British authorities support the initiative as a progressive model which seeks to combine national economic development with the international effort to mitigate climate change. Recounting the efforts initiated so far by his government towards the LCDS initiative, Wheeler said that in March 2008 a function was held in London with the aim of realising methods to develop the LCDS vision of President Bharrat Jagdeo. Attendees at the forum, he stated, included a representative of the Government of Guyana, international development experts and financers from the City of London.
Wheeler recounted that after the ideas raised at the forum were developed by the President and his advisers, the British government funded communication materials to assist the Government of Guyana to sell its ideas to other potential partners and stakeholders. He said that through the Department for International Development (DFID), Britain funded two phases of in-depth research into the LCDS by international consultants, McKinsey.
He went on to state that at the moment, Britain has made strategic interventions in the low carbon sectors. Among the initiatives undertaken as part of those interventions listed by the British High Commissioner are;
-funding of research on the potential of call centres in Guyana, which he noted produced positive results;
-support and funding for aquaculture, as well as,
-a range of support for eco-tourism, building on Britain’s long-term support for Iwokrama.
Wheeler stated that the latest venture being considered by Britain as it supports the LCDS is to carry out research on Guyana’s chances of becoming a world centre of excellence on research in bio-diversity. He said the British government is working closely with the European Commission (EU) and the World Bank in assisting Guyana to adapt to climate change, an example being through the strengthening of the sea wall as well as reducing flood risk from the conservancy dam through improvements to the Cunha Canal which boosts drainage from the flood-inducing East Demerara Water Conservancy.
As regards policy, Wheeler said Britain supports the concept of ‘avoided de-forestation’, which underlies the LCDS, in the context of that country’s wider efforts on climate change, an example being British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s “bold initiative on climate change”, which he stated, President Jagdeo recently supported.
In addition, Wheeler stated that the British High Commission is working collaboratively with the University of Guyana on developing a lecture series aimed at stimulating debate on the future challenges and opportunities presented by climate change in Guyana.
Regionally, Wheeler stated, through the DFID, the British government is actively providing support to the Climate Change Centre and to the Disaster Emergency Management Agency. He said such interventions include providing assistance in developing a regional strategy, support for the climate change regional task force, an economic review of climate change impacts, disaster management implementation, such as safer buildings for the vulnerable, as well as strengthening the voice of Caricom in the run up to December’s meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Britain has been a consistent supporter of Guyana’s LCDS and at the last G20 Summit in London, Guyana was one of only three non-G20 countries that Prince Charles had invited to meet the leaders of the most powerful countries in the world to examine possible solutions to deforestation.
At yesterday’s forum, while accepting the Chevening Scholarship, Ramdial said she was happy to be awarded the opportunity to undertake a one year Masters of Science degree in Environmental Forestry at the School of Environment and Natural Resources at Bangor University in the UK.
Wheeler stated that the opportunity afforded to Ramdial would not only be to her benefit, but also for UG and the country as a whole. He also used the opportunity to welcome back Mohammed Khan, who recently completed studies in International Conflict Analysis at the University of Kent in the UK.
