THE Caribbean Community has reported progress on the proposal by President Bharrat Jagdeo for a carbon tax as part of the new global climate change regime the United Nations is hoping for by December.

The Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat yesterday said Caribbean negotiators emerged “very optimistic” from the first round of negotiations on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) text of the draft declaration for a New Climate Change Agreement.

It said significant common understanding has been built to facilitate the negotiations when the UN Conference of Parties (COP 15) meets in Copenhagen in December.

With respect to a carbon tax being advocated by President Jagdeo, the secretariat said it was agreed that Belize and Guyana would be working along with other like-minded parties to formulate a coherent response on the REDD (reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation) plus initiative.

Mr. Jagdeo last week formally launched Guyana’s ambitious and historic climate change strategy which aims to transform the national economy to mesh with a new global climate change regime.

Dr. Roger Luncheon, Head of the Presidential Secretariat said the launch of the strategy which is based on avoiding deforestation and forest degradation, buttresses sustainable development.

“This is transformation in the biggest sense…we need to buy in the world and offer win, win solutions”, he told a full house at the launch at the International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.

Luncheon said the three months of consultations which begin Friday will allow the strategy to be comprehensively understood and before adoption it will be tabled for debate in Parliament.

He said knowledgeable experts will continue the work apace in the region and internationally to achieve the “most profound exposure”. The strategy, he said, is to defend national interests and respond to global security.

President Jagdeo said the government is seeking to reconcile competing interests through the consultative process.

The issue of climate change, including the outcomes of the Bonn meeting earlier this month, in addition to final preparations for COP 15, will be among major issues for discussion when CARICOM Heads of Government meet here July on 2-5.

The CARICOM Secretariat said the negotiating text of the draft declaration will be addressed further at another round of negotiations in Bonn, Germany in August and discussed at the UN Special Session on Climate Change in September resulting from decisions taken in Bonn at several parallel sessions, contact and working groups and subsidiary bodies.

The secretariat said representatives from the Caribbean led the discussions in Bonn on a range of issues by acting as facilitators for four of the important groups and bodies of the convention: the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, the Nairobi Work Programme and the longer-term aspects of international climate change cooperation.

In addition, it said, the Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the UN, Ambassador John Ashe was elected to serve as the Chair of the important working group reviewing the Kyoto Protocol.

The secretariat reported that two readings of the draft text provided the opportunity for the Caribbean representatives to address regional concerns.

Progress was also reported in relation to global requirements for stabilising Green House Gas emissions and on REDD.

It said, however, that despite the positive note on which the negotiations ended gaps remained to be addressed, chief among which are the negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol on emissions reduction where the developed countries are yet to agree with the developing countries on emission reductions levels proposed for 2012.

There are also the outstanding issues on land-use change and forestry that remain unresolved, it said.