President Donald Ramotar speaking at a side event at the Rio+20 conference currently underway in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil identified the need to reconcile two global forces that have traditionally been seen as incompatible, protecting the environment and economic development, as a critical challenge that must be overcome by the global community.
President Ramotar also told leaders and key players in the environmental arena that there is consonance between Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) efforts and the theme of the side event “Green economy and inclusive growth for a sustainable future,” a press release from the Office of the President said.
“Our efforts in implementing the LCDS have allowed us to demonstrate a working example of a national scale model for REDD+ and which has provided valuable lessons and experiences that we feel could help in promoting REDD+ and shape a global agreement on REDD+. And in keeping with the theme of today’s event, we feel there is some consonance between our LCDS efforts and the theme,” Ramotar is quoted as saying.
And in highlighting Guyana’s progress, he pointed out that over the last three years Guyana has been moving forward with an LCDS, which combines the preservation of its 16 million hectares of forest with a re-orientation of the economy onto a low carbon trajectory.
In partnership with Norway, Guyana has been implementing an Interim REDD+ arrangement through which the country has already earned about US$70 Million in performance-based payments from avoided deforestation and under which the country can earn up to US$250 Million by 2015.
“The financing Guyana is earning is being used to implement projects that will allow us to meet almost our entire domestic energy needs through clean energy; support the diversification of the national and local economy and thereby reduce pressures on our forests, and to implement measures to adapt to climate change,” Ramotar stated
He said further that, “These initiatives will catalyse the rapid transformation we seek and help to move Guyana to a low deforestation, low carbon, climate resilient economy… Already, the topic of the Green Economy has generated much debate in the negotiations leading up to Rio+20 and over the next few days here in Rio, this will be the subject of intense discussions and debates to look at where we should be going as a global community; to identify how we could get there, and the collective and individual responsibilities and the targets we should set,” Ramotar said.
Meanwhile, as world leaders and climate change experts debate the way forward, President Ramotar sounded this warning: “I want to say that as a global community we cannot continue with the business as usual approach or we will head down a path of global catastrophe. The situation requires global leadership, political will and commitment. At the same time, this has to be complemented by home grown solutions and initiatives because at the end of the day, it is collectively local action that will make a global difference.”
He was at the time delivering his inaugural address to the session which was presided over by his predecessor and architect of Guyana’s LCDS Bharrat Jagdeo.
The side event was organized by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in association with the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) & Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Japan.
Panellists included Nobel Prize laureate and head of TERI; Dr Rajendra K Pachauri; Professor Hironori Hamanaka, Chair of the Board of Directors, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Japan, and Shyam Nokta, Adviser to the President & Head, Office of Climate Change, Office of the President, Guyana, the release said.
