Former president Bharrat Jagdeo has received a third honorary doctorate, which was conferred on him Wednesday by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) University in New Delhi.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release, the honorary Doctorate in Philosophy was conferred on Jagdeo by Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Nobel Prize Laureate, Chairman of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Chancellor of TERI University.
In February 2010, Jagdeo received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, the Moscow-based Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University and one year later he received a second honorary doctorate of Literature from the Dr D Y Patil University in India.
In this latest conferral, Dr Pachauri hailed the former Guyana president as among a select group of leaders who have in-depth understanding of the varied impact of climate change, GINA said. “There are very few heads of government in the world who understand the scientific, economic and social dimensions of climate change like President Jagdeo. His sense of the global injustice that climate change represents is combined with a very rare understanding of key issues, and a global vision of suitable solutions,” GINA quoted Pachauri as saying.
He said Jagdeo’s contribution to the global climate change agenda shows that developed nations can lead the way towards developing and implementing climate solutions. He added, “Now that he is no longer president of his country, I hope that his vision and skills can be deployed to an even greater extent to help the world face up to the climate challenges we are confronted with.”
He described Jagdeo as a global leader of rare distinction who must remain in the vanguard of global actions for meeting the challenge of climate change.
Thanking Pachauri and TERI University for the honour, Jagdeo noted that pressure must be kept up by climate change proponents in order to avert a global catastrophe. He lauded the work of Dr Pachauri and TERI University.
President Jagdeo was named as one of Time Magazine’s Heroes of the Environment in 2008 and received a Champion of the Earth Award from the United Nations Environment Pro-gramme in 2010. He served on the United Nations’ Secretary General’s Advisory Group on Climate Finance in 2010 and is a Board Member of the Global Green Growth Institute.
Also receiving honorary doctorates were Eric Solheim, Minister of Environment of Norway, and Dr Elinor Ostrom, Nobel Prize winner and Distinguished Professor from Indiana University.
