President of Conservation International Russ Mittermeier has paid tribute to former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s leadership in the arena of climate change and said that he hopes President Donald Ramotar will continue Guyana’s leadership role.
Under Jagdeo’s leadership, Mittermeier wrote in the Huffington Post, “Guyana became a global leader in calling attention to the incredible importance of tropical forests in the global battle to mitigate climate change. I would like to pay tribute to him here because what he has accomplished in the global arena has been truly exceptional and should be brought to the world’s attention,” the CI president said. He said that Jagdeo was an articulate and visible spokesman on REDD+ (a concept to compensate forest countries for reducing or halting forest destruction).
He noted too that under the former president’s leadership, in June last year, Parliament passed the National Protected Areas Act, and in October they signed into law the first two parks under this act, the 611,000 hectare (1.5 million acre) Kanuku Mountains Protected Area in the interior of the country, and the 125,000-hectare (309,000-acre) Shell Beach Protected Area along the coast, one of the most important sea turtle nesting beaches in the Americas. The protected areas cemented Jagdeo’s legacy and his place in history, Mittermeier said.
“We have high hopes that his successor, President Donald Ramotar, who just took office last month, will carry this forward, and continue Guyana’s leadership role among the forest-rich countries of the world,” he wrote.
