PORT OF SPAIN – Commonwealth leaders wrapped up their three-day summit here today reiterating a united front for trying to seal a firm deal on climate change at the United Nations conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, within three weeks.

President Bharrat Jagdeo, among leaders who will be in Copenhagen, said issues of strategic importance to Guyana and the region at the summit here were the impact of climate change on the region and the need for significant adaptation funds for many of the countries to deal with this problem.

In Guyana’s case, he noted, it is mitigation using the country’s forests to raise funds and “to the extent that we can get REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) included in the Copenhagen agreement, a market would develop for forest carbon which would see the agreement we signed with Norway and the funding under that agreement increased significantly.”

“From that perspective, the Commonwealth meeting has been very important”, he told reporters Saturday night ahead of the formal closing today at the Hyatt Hotel, the summit venue.

Guyana has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Norway for US$250M in support for the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) over the next five years.

The Commonwealth is heading to Copenhagen with the ‘Port of Spain Climate Change Consensus’ in which the leaders urge that the proposed Copenhagen Launch Fund starting next year be established “to a level of resources of US$10 billion annually by 2012”.

President Jagdeo said this should be interim financing and much more is needed to help vulnerable countries cope with the impact of climate change.

“We are not letting the developed world off the hook for their actions which have led to climate change but we don’t want to be constantly complaining; we want to be part of the solution and we should be incentivised to do so – where we don’t have to take money from poverty reduction or education or health care towards fixing climate related problems — but these should be incremental resources.”

“We recognise that whatever financing we raise – right now there is no commitment of the magnitude that is required…we need close to US$300 billion to address this problem”, he told reporters Saturday night.

“I don’t anticipate any real difficulties with the US$10 billion per annum over the next three years. I think they may be able to raise those resources; but when it comes to what is actually needed as all the studies have shown then we are going to have major difficulties…”

He said the mechanism drawn up for disbursing the funds should be entirely different to the “traditional aid-type mechanism that we have had in the past.”

“The institutions that intermediated funds in the past have been largely the World Bank and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the developing world’s experience with these institutions has been dismal. We have argued that we have to have, without compromising accountability and transparency in the use of the resources, a fast disbursing mechanism that would allow countries to immediately move to mitigation and adaptation measures”, the President said.

He told reporters that some countries are calling for a new global institution while “others think that we can have a reformed World Bank with new analytical and financial tools and a new approach to the disbursement of resources; some think that you should have a board reporting to the United Nations through which the funds should be intermediated.”

“Whatever we finally agree with would have to ensure that the funds are used for dedicated purposes in an open way so that no corrupt person would steal the money, but at the same time that it is fast flowing”, he added.

Commonwealth leaders said that fast start funding for adaptation should be focussed on the most vulnerable countries and also welcomed a proposal to provide “immediate fast disbursing assistance with a dedicated system for small island states and associated low-lying coastal states of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) of at least 10 per cent of the fund”.

“We also recognise the need for further, specified and comparable funding streams, to assist the poorest and most vulnerable countries, to cope with, and adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. We recognise that funding will be scaled up beyond 2012,” the leaders said.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said the fund represents a “bottom line to getting an agreement” on climate change in Copenhagen and promised that Wellington will provide 10 to 50 million dollars to the fund.

“The reality of climate change is that there will be a lot of movement to help islands affected by climate change,” Key said.

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Michael Thomas Somare said the meeting here allowed the voices of small and vulnerable countries to be heard on climate change.

“We need the world’s attention and this conference made it possible for our voice to be heard”, adding that the climate change declaration adopted here will further this in Copenhagen.

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who chaired the 21st Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), described the event as “a significant success” a position also echoed by many of the leaders of the 54-nation grouping.

“What we have demonstrated is that diversity can easily be turned into strength,” Manning told the end of summit news conference.

Manning said the meeting had adopted six positions on various issues, including climate change, non-communicable diseases, a reaffirmation of the principles and values of the Commonwealth, as well as the involvement of young people in the organisation.

Earlier, Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma said he was pleased with the commitment of Commonwealth countries towards the climate change issue, noting that in the past “there had been heavy traffic on the road to Copenhagen (and) the good news is that it is converging and we will have one road to travel”.

Sharma, like Manning acknowledged that the Commonwealth had “broken new ground” when it allowed non-members such as French President Nicolas Sarkozy, United Nations Secretary General Bank Ki-moon and the Prime Minister of Denmark Lars Lokke Rasmussen, to participate in its deliberations, which they felt underscored the importance of the Commonwealth to a changing global environment.

Sharma said the Port of Spain Climate Change Consensus would go “some considerable distance in reaching a consensus in Copenhagen” where the United Nations Conference on Climate Change will be held from December 7-18.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the task now for the Commonwealth in the future “is to take this great institution…and apply it to the global agenda of the day”.

“The fact that we have combined our voices as one…is itself a remarkable achievement,” he said while Samoa Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi said the meeting “did not shy away from difficult items ranging from climate change to illegal arms trade.”

On the global economic and financial crisis, the Commonwealth leaders said they welcomed the various initiatives to help lessen the impact and expressed their support for the commitment to avoid protectionism and to strengthen financial supervisions and regulation.

“They expressed concern, however, that the social and economic impact of the crisis would continue to affect a vast majority of the developing countries, particularly the smallest and most economically vulnerable members of the Commonwealth…”

The leaders also felt that measures were needed to “address the plight of many middle-income countries which are highly susceptible to external shock but do not have access to concessionary loans and grants”.

“Heads therefore welcomed the Commonwealth Secretariat’s work to address the economic challenges facing these economically vulnerable member states and urged that urgent measures be taken to provide support for them, especially in accessing adequate financing,” the communiqué added.
The next CHOGM will be held in Australia in 2011.