FORMER President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo was on Monday elected Chairman of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation)’s 22nd Session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO) for the period 2014-2016. 

COFO is one of the FAO’s governing bodies, with over 130 member countries, which deliberates on global forestry issues. This 22nd Session of COFO is being convened in Rome, Italy from June 23 – 27, 2014, and among the critical issues for discussion are a Report on the State of the World’s Forest 2014; Payment for ecosystem services and forest financing; Forests and the Sustainable Development Goals and REDD+ and the UN Climate Summit 2014.
In his remarks upon taking up the Chair, Dr. Jagdeo emphasised the need to advance the global forests agenda, in light of the role forests play as an important mitigation option for addressing climate change.
Besides pointing to the need for an enabling policy environment at the national level, and access to and the scaling up of financing as two priority areas, he also underscored the important role COFO and the FAO play in pushing for a globally supportive environment for action on forests.
While in Rome, Dr. Jagdeo also met with FAO Director-General, Mr. Jose Graziano Da Silva. Among issues discussed between the two were expanding the FAO’s work in the Caribbean, and the need for the organisation to play a more pivotal role on the issue of forests and climate change.