GUYANA’S draft Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) will feature during the Region Four Cabinet outreach due to kick off tomorrow at the International Convention Centre in Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown.

The launch themed `Conservations on the Future’, will feature presentations by President Bharrat Jagdeo, Prime Minister Sam Hinds and several Cabinet ministers.

Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon yesterday said the launch will include interactive sessions with participants.

He noted that previous outreaches were in Regions Three and Six and said Cabinet had earlier agreed that these consultations with Guyanese at the grassroots and community level would remain a priority of the government.

He said the Region Four outreach would continue simultaneously with ongoing consultations specifically on the LCDS and focus on the coastal regions, keeping in mind that a considerable amount of consultative effort on the strategy, with the exception of the target groups, was in Regions One, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten.

Engagements in Region Four will include community and target group meetings, civil society engagements and the use of the media, Luncheon said.

There have been widespread national consultations on the draft LCDS which the government wants to refine and table at the December United Nations summit in Copenhagen, Denmark for inclusion in a new climate change regime.

Guyana’s strategy is based on avoiding deforestation and preserving its standing forests in exchange for payment for this service in the cause of climate change from the international community.

President Jagdeo has said that the current debate for countries like Guyana is about, among other key issues, getting payment for helping to save the planet by preserving standing forests.

This, he said, calls for a “serious lobbying effort” to get deforestation included in the agreement from the summit in Copenhagen.

He said Guyana and its partners also have to argue for sufficient funds to address deforestation, including adaptation, mitigation and technology transfer.

The President has stressed that Guyana is not seeking compensation from the developed world for preserving its forests but wants payment for its services to the international climate change cause through its model.