Guyana is likely to benefit from funds assigned at the recent Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, since it is categorized as one of the “most vulnerable countries” in the world, President Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed yesterday.
During a press conference held at his office, the President said that while the results from the Summit are “disappointing from a global perspective” several positives came out of it for the country. He said he was confident Guyana will be able to tap into the funds pledged by some of the countries at the Summit.
The bloc of European Community countries went to Copenhagen with a unified plan to finance emissions cuts in the developing world with a commitment to spend around 7 billion euros ($10 billion) over the next three years to aid poorer countries. The USA and other major countries also pledged at Copenhagen to mobilize US$100 billion per annum to help the least developed countries counteract the impact of climate change.
Quizzed about the basis of his optimism particularly since Guyana was no longer categorized as a Least Developed Country (LDC) Jagdeo said the funds were not for “the LDCs alone”. “The $10 billion is not for LDCs, it says the most vulnerable countries and we rank high on the vulnerability index”, he explained.
Asked what measures would be used to determine which of these countries benefited, Jagdeo said that the countries which benefit would depend on the criteria used. “But people tend to look at economy size, frequency of weather related events, and susceptibility to these things”, he said. Jagdeo said that in recent times a series of studies establishing vulnerability of island states was done. According to him, those deciding on the award could use these studies or conduct new ones, thereby departing from the previous studies. “But I think under any criteria, Guyana will benefit, both from the adaptation funds set as well as the forestry…. of the $10 billion, you have money for adaptation and I think some for forestry, the President noted.
Meanwhile, the President also addressed concerns relating to the future of the country’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). “We still have to do the things that we need to do”, he said in reference to the strategy. The President stressed that it was a developmental strategy first of all more than an environmental one, although he said this aspect was important. He said that the nation needed to make the economy more climate resilient and said this needed to be done whether the global climate programme fails or succeeds. He explained that this is why the government is pursuing hydropower and the Hope canal. Speaking about the hydropower project, Jagdeo said that not only was this helpful to the atmosphere but that the government could save US$12O million annually if it stopped importing fossil fuel. He stressed that whether it concerns climate change or not, attention needed to be paid to the indigenous communities to ensure their food security and that they have chances to generate income. He said that since the PPP/C came to power it has pushed the developmental agenda for the Amerindian community.
China is not to be blamed
Meanwhile, in assessing the Summit, Jagdeo refused to blame China for the disappointing agreement and was more critical of the US government which he said did not shift from its pre-summit position.
“The United States of America did not change its position and unless the US changed its position …you couldn’t have had a deal with all of the countries in Copenhagen and there was no hope, absolutely no hope of us achieving a two degrees limit in global temperature increase, absolutely no hope…”, he said. The accord just codified existing pledges made pre-Copenhagen and there was no shift there, Jagdeo added.
He also said he understood the actions of the Chinese government and said he could understand why they took the position they did. “I don’t subscribe to the view that China was the villain in Copenhagen”, he said. According to Jagdeo, China has made significant steps in addressing the issue of climate change and pointed out that it was one of the global leaders in renewable and that its administration has agreed to cut their carbon intensity by 42 percent by 2020. He said that China needed to agree to deeper levels of emission cuts but said it was a process and other countries had to partner with China to encourage this.
Meanwhile, Jagdeo also strongly refuted suggestions that it was the small countries that eventually led to the failure of Copenhagen. The big countries needed to make tough pledges, he said. “The deal was not for the small countries to make, the deal had to be made around big countries making shifts, and making commitments around money and carbon emission targets and that did not happen”, Jagdeo said.
Jagdeo also identified the “chaos and mismanagement of the process” as being contributory to the disappointment of the Summit. He opined that the Danish president “has a lot to answer for this”. Giving examples of this, the President said that many persons from the Guyanese delegation had to wait in excess of 10 hours in the cold to be accredited. Members of the team that went with the President to Copenhagen were also present at the press conference, and some nodded in agreement as Jagdeo made this statement. It later emerged, Jagdeo disclosed, that the chief Chinese negotiator was turned away several times from the Summit. He also criticized the “lack of transparency” in the process and cited the emergence of secret texts done anonymously outside of the negotiation process and adding confusion and spoiling the atmosphere of the meeting.
However, the President said that the meeting in Copenhagen did have several positive spinoffs. Among them are the financial pledges made to help the poorer and more vulnerable countries.
He also identified the formal widening of the concept of the framework of REDD (Reducing emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) as an important development for Guyana. According to him, the widening of the concept from one of REDD to REDD+ allows for funding to be given to countries which are not only cutting down their deforestation rates but also conserving forest stocks.
He said while this was agreed on before Copenhagen, the fact that that was placed in the Accord and was also included in the Decision of the Conference of Parties was important. He said the latter agreement shows that all the countries represented supported this move.
The President was optimistic that a legally binding agreement will be arrived at eventually. According to him, the nations will be working together over the next year to ensure that there is a legally binding agreement, which can be ratified when they meet in Mexico. He said that he is hoping that the Heads of countries would become involved.
He also said he hoped “the US (climate) legislation will go past the Senate next year, thereby allowing the US administration to up its pledges.”