He has plugged adaptation to climate change, especially among the world’s poorest countries, as an integral part of the battle – a point that was driven home at an international conference that ended earlier this week in Bangladesh.

 At that meeting, more than 150 representatives of donor agencies, international NGOs and research institutes from over 50 countries joined forces to help the world’s poorest communities adapt to climate change, under a new initiative.

 The London-based International Institute for Environment and Development said the organisations backing the initiative include IIED, Oxfam International, Action Aid, WWF, CARE International, the Stockholm Environment Institute, Christian Aid, Caritas, the Bangladesh Centre for Advance Studies and the Development Fund of Norway.

 They have pledged to promote adaptation at the community level as an urgent response to the threat of climate change and to generate the best approaches to adaptation, the organisation reported.

 Adaptation can take many forms, from switching to crops that fare better under drought conditions, to building flood defences and setting up early warning systems for cyclones, IIED noted.

 The initiative is in line with the arguments that Guyana has advanced for dealing with climate change.

 And if further proof was needed that Guyana is on the right track, it came this week too from Ms. Glenys Kinnock, Co-President of the African, Caribbean and Pacific-European Union Joint Parliamentary Assembly, in an interview with the National Communications Network (NCN).

 The Government Information Agency said that in the interview, she commended President Jagdeo, saying he is the “vanguard of this message about the dangers of climate change and the lack of awareness that exists not only in the Caribbean but generally.”

  The agency said she acknowledged Mr. Jagdeo’s view that the economic crisis should not be an excuse to avoid dealing with the threat of global warming both now and in the future.

 She said the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly meeting here will reflect on some of the issues on the economic partnership agreements between Europe and the CARIFORUM countries that are affecting the Caribbean, the effects of the global financial crisis and climate change.

 President Jagdeo has tabled Guyana’s position on avoided deforestation including a market mechanism that can compensate the country for preserving its rainforest and national consultations are to be held to refine the way forward.

 There is no doubt that the country is on the right track. What is needed now is cooperation and determination from stakeholders across the board to ensure Guyana stays the course.