Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg last night announced that he will initiate a climate group consisting of the most important rain forest countries, to discuss measures against deforestation.

“As part of our efforts to reach a binding climate agreement in Mexico in 2010, I will initiate the establishing of a group consisting of the most important rain forest countries, among them Brazil, Indonesia, Guyana, Gabon, Papua New Guinea and others”, Stoltenberg said, according to The Norway Post.

The Prime Minister said he will invite forest countries to meet in Oslo in the first half of 2010.

The new climate group will coordinate and contribute to measures in the most important forest countries, and work to secure that the efforts against deforestation will be central in a new climate agreement, the report said.

”Norway will now cooperate closely with the Mexican presidency in order that we may have a binding climate agreement at the next climate conference (COP 16) in Mexico in 2010”, Prime Minister  Stoltenberg added.

Guyana has entered an agreement with Norway for forest protection under which this country will receive a total of US$250M over five years for projects. The agreement comes with stringent accountability and transparency requirements which will also be see forest-cutting benchmarks being set and monitored.

Questions have been raised about the future of this deal and Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy in light of the disappointing results from the Copenhagen Climate Summit where no binding agreement was reached on carbon emissions, temperature rise or financing for reduced emissions from forests – the REDD+ mechanism.