(OFFICE OF CLIMATE CHANGE) — GUYANA is advancing on all fronts domestically and overseas with its draft Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) ahead of the United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark in December.

It participated in the latest climate change talks in Bonn, Germany, on August 10-14 and as in similar meetings held by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) earlier this year and last year, Guyana made several interventions on Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) and financing. Guyana was represented by Mr. Andrew Bishop, Adviser to the President.

Among the key issues which Guyana represented were:

** The incorporation of REDD, including Plus (avoided deforestation and sustainable forest management) into a new Copenhagen agreement in December.  

** A new financial architecture for REDD which comprises of both fund-based and market-based financial mechanisms for REDD and Plus. 

** A phased approach to REDD, where the early (readiness) phase will be financed by grant funds mainly and the later phase (full participation on the emissions treading schemes) will be financed by market-based payments.

** The generation of financial flows through cap and trade financial arrangements and the auctioning of allowable emissions units.

Bishop said that within the mitigation discussions, Guyana also advocated for:

** Forward looking reference emissions baselines, rather than pure historical emissions reference levels, recognizing that Guyana is among a group of highly forested countries with low deforestation rates, and that a reference level based solely on historical rates would be punitive to us.

** The separation of mitigation actions by developed countries (Para 1 b I of the Bali Action Plan) to be discussed and negotiated separate from mitigation actions by developing countries (Para1 b i)  

** Emission reduction targets by Annex 1 Parties should be driven by the scientific findings in the latest IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change) Assessment reports, and the principle of historical responsibility.  

Bishop noted that Guyana has worked with the AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States) group of countries in Adaptation in calling for

** Incentivizing adaptation and creating enabling environments to build climate resilience in the areas of risk assessment, reduction and management, disaster management strategy and actions, insurance-related mechanisms, and economic diversification.

** Support for vulnerable countries to formulate adaptation strategies, plans and activities and quantify the cost of adaptation.

** Scaling up of new, additional and predictable financial resources for adaptation.

In technology transfer, Guyana has been calling for

** A long term technology action plan, which must include specific policies, actions, and funding requirements for technologies in the public domain, patented technologies and technologies to be developed in the future.

** Financial resources for research, development, manufacture, commercialization and diffusion of appropriate technologies for adaptation and mitigation.

** Establishment of regional technology centres and networks, enhancement of existing ones or a combination of both.  

While the world is dealing with the impacts of a global financial crisis and recession, Guyana is moving ahead with initiatives in its own small way and is not waiting for handouts.

The Government has gone ahead, prepared an LCDS and financed a countrywide consultation process.

The administration has maintained that it will continue to forge ahead within the scope of its limited resources even if it does not get the amount of financing anticipated.

Contrary to critics featured in the letters sections of newspaper and some blogs, Guyana is making its position known to the United States and many other countries aware when it participates in international fora and in bilateral meetings with Governments.

The estimate of the value of the forest was done by an internationally renowned firm (McKinsey) and was based on sound financial principles – the methodology is available for scrutiny.

For Guyana, it does matter if any country cuts down its forest and this is a fundamental difference in belief. 

Guyana is also leading a group of 37 countries around the world that stand to benefit from the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), a Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) administered by the World Bank, according to the Bank’s Guyana Country Representative, Mr. Giorgio Valentini.

The participation in the FCPF is an initiative of the Guyana Government following President Bharrat Jagdeo’s approach to the international community for Guyana to get compensation from its forest value to future carbon markets.

As this is an initiative driven and owned by Guyana, the country is also likely to be the first to benefit from the FCPF’s Readiness Mechanism Phase grant of US$3.6M to help prepare the necessary environment to participate in the Carbon Finance Mechanism (or Carbon Fund) of the FCPF, Valentini told the Sunday Chronicle in an interview.

At the FCPF Participants’ Committee (PC) meeting on June 16-18, 2009 in Montreux, Switzerland, the PC cleared the proposals for Guyana, Panama and Indonesia for funding under the Readiness phase (i.e. Total Grant, $3.6M), subject to compliance with safeguards and other Bank due diligence.

The FCPF was launched at the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bali, and became operational in June 2008.

As of April 2009, 37 countries from Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America are participating in the FCPF, and 13 donors or contributors from both the public and private sectors are supporting the FCPF financially.

It is important to note that solutions to climate change do not depend on a single country and require a global effort, but with the developed countries in the forefront.