President Jagdeo to address major UN climate event today as…
– described as the ‘biggest issue facing the planet’
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo, whose extraordinary vision is set to make Guyana one of the most environmentally progressive nations on earth, will today be making an impassioned call to world leaders attending the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York to support plans to fund the protection of tropical forests as a means to tackle climate change.

The Guyanese Head of State is also scheduled to outline his plans to build Guyana’s economic development around the preservation of its vast forests.

Today, more than one hundred of the world’s most powerful leaders will meet at UN Headquarters on 43rd Street in Manhattan to discuss the biggest issue facing our planet: Climate Change.

The bigwigs, summoned by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, include US President Barack Obama and heads of state from Europe, China, India, Russia and Japan, and of course, Guyana.

The meeting is a key step along the way to a big climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, this December, which will produce a new treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. That treaty expires in 2012.

Ban Ki Moon has called Copenhagen a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” because the world has “less than 10 years to halt (the) global rise in greenhouse gas emissions if we are to avoid catastrophic consequences for people of our planet.”

‘LAST MOMENT CHECK’: President Bharrat Jagdeo and Adviser to the President Shyam Nokta confer to the launch of Team Earth (Mark Ramotar photo)

But things haven’t been going so well, and observers say it will be a miracle if the 192 countries can agree on what to do come December in Copenhagen.

And in all of this fight, Guyana has continuously been scoring more points for its climate change leadership role, and its deforestation model that seems certain to set the pattern for other forest countries.

Building on this international high profile, President Jagdeo yesterday got tremendous backing from one of the world’s greatest movie stars, Mr. Harrison Forde.

President Jagdeo, who is hailed as one of the world’s most environmentally progressive Presidents, and Mr. Forde yesterday issued a clarion call on the UN to protect the world’s tropical forests as the quickest and most cost effective way to tackle climate change.

Mr. Jagdeo was joined by Mr. Forde in front of a stunning installation of life-size ‘origami’ trees and wildlife to call on world leaders attending the UN General Assembly to provide developing nations with funding to allow them to keep the planet’s tropical forests standing.

‘IN THE SPOTLIGHT’: President Bharrat Jagdeo being interviewed by a CNN Reporter (Mark Ramotar photo)

The president’s address was the centrepiece of a major media event organised by Conservation International and Team Earth in Greeley Square, New York City, ahead of today’s opening of the UN General Assembly.

The life-size origami trees and wildlife, symbolising Guyana’s massive and immensely important forest, was created on site over two days, and then partially destroyed during the event – as a statement about loss of the planet’s forests – by world-renowned origami artist Dr Robert J. Lang. More than 80 percent of Guyana (13m hectares or 44.5m acres – an area approximately the size of England) is still covered with intact tropical rainforest.

Addressing the gathering at Greeley Square, Mr. Jagdeo said: “In the year since I last came to New York to call for forest conservation, the world has lost an area of forest the size of my entire country. This has not only released more Co2 from the atmosphere than every motorised vehicle on the planet – around 20 % of global emissions – but has also reduced the earth’s ability to remove Co2 from the atmosphere.

“This has not happened out of malice or ignorance, but because most of the world’s forested nations have no alternative but to generate income by cutting their forests. Guyana has offered a solution with our plan for low carbon development, and the leaders who will meet at the UN this week have an unprecedented opportunity to put the planet on a new path, where protecting forests is more economically prudent than cutting them down,” the Guyanese leader posited.

Immediate and adequate funding for countries developing forest protection strategies as part of their low carbon development plan is critical. Protecting forests represents one of the easiest and most cost effective ways to fight climate change now, whereas many other strategies may take years to develop. If we wait, these forests will be lost along with the multiple benefits they provide to humanity in terms of climate mitigation, fresh water, erosion control, food and resources.

“On the eve of the UN General Assembly, at which I will join with the leaders of the world to make decisions about climate change and prepare for Copenhagen, it is crucial that we come together as one team, as ‘Team Earth’, to send an unequivocal message that the world’s forests must be saved if we are to stop climate change,” President Jagdeo said.

“While the international community prevaricates, I want to tell you how we, a poor, small, vulnerable developing country, are living up to our commitment to fighting climate change through promotion of forest conservation and sustainable management of forests. We want to recognise the important contribution of several nations and organisations in getting us to this point – in particular Norway, the UK, Conservation International (CI), the Clinton Foundation and WWF,” Mr. Jagdeo said.

For Guyana, he said the imperative to tackle climate change is clear. “Guyana loses around 10% of its GDP every year due to flooding, and it will take up to one billion dollars in adaptation funding to fix this before we can even think about growing our economy,” he pointed out.

Mr. Jagdeo’s address followed the launch of ‘Team Earth’, a cross-sector collaboration bringing together businesses, politicians, scientists, non profit organisations, educators, individuals and children.

FORDE PRAISES JAGDEO
Harrison Forde, in a brief comment to this journalist and NCN’s Martin Goolsaran, shortly before his address yesterday to launch ‘Team Earth’ at Greeley Square in Manhattan, New York, has again lauded President Jagdeo’s committed efforts to make a positive impact in the climate change fight, noting that the way the Guyanese Head of State has gone about it is both “significant and commendable”.

Forde also stated that Mr. Jagdeo’s efforts tangibly demonstrate that once you have the political will to do something, a lot can be achieved.

“We are very grateful for the efforts that President Jagdeo have been making in Guyana…it is a demonstration of his commitment and it is a worthy international example,” Forde said.

“The methods he has used and the way he has gone about it are significant and commendable, and it demonstrates that once you have the political will to do something, a lot can be done,” added the charismatic film star, one of Hollywood’s best loved and most respected actors for more than four decades, and who has been a member of the Board of Directors of CI for 15 years.

Among those making short but passionate climate change pleas at the ‘Team Earth’ ceremony yesterday were Ms. Ann Friedman – an Educator, Conservationist, Philanthropist with a long-standing commitment to expanding understanding of the relationship between human well-being and biodiversity conservation; Dr Fisk Johnson, the Chairman and CEO of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. and a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and Director of CI’s Board; Dr Gary Loveman, a former associate professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration; Dr Russell Mittermeier, President of Conservation International since 1989, and someone who is regarded as the world leader in the field of biodiversity and tropical forest conservation; Mr. Howard Schultz, Chairman, President and Chief Executive of Starbucks Coffee Company; Peter Seligmann, Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Conservation International; and Mr. Rob Walton, Chairman of CI’s Executive Committee and Board, and who is also the Chairman of Walmart Stores, Inc.

HECTIC SCHEDULE:
While in New York, President Jagdeo is scheduled to attend up to 16 different events, including a round table on climate change that he will co-chair with British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

He is also scheduled to speak during a special side event on REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation).

Mr. Jagdeo yesterday also engaged in a very fruitful bilateral meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. He also attended a dinner hosted by the UN Secretary General last night.

“It’s a packed week, and I think it is lending a lot of profile to Guyana. I have already had, earlier today, an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Later tonight, I will be speaking with the Guardian (newspaper), and sometime on Monday, with the Financial Times about our strategy and our views on how we can proceed to have a good agreement in Copenhagen,” President Jagdeo told a news conference at his State House residence in Georgetown on Friday last, prior to his coming here to New York.

He continued in the same vein yesterday, with several international media organisations, including CNN, BBC and Reuters swarming him in New York for interviews. He also met yesterday with the Editorial Board of the New York Times.

Accompanying the President are Mr. Shyam Nokta, Adviser to the President and Head of the Office of Climate Change in the Office of the President (OP); and Mr. Michael Brotherson, Senior Foreign Service Officer and member of the Office of Climate Change at OP.