PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo, who returned yesterday from several high-level events in New York City , stated that “Guyana has made the message clear that forest is an important solution to climate change.”

He was speaking to the media shortly after his arrival at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport yesterday morning.

The President noted that “Guyana had a disproportionate amount of access and coverage given its size”.

President Jagdeo was among more than 100 world leaders invited to a special climate change summit convened by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, as he continued plugging Guyana’s case, building on the country’s high international profile and leadership role in the global climate change regime.

The special Climate Change Summit was held last Tuesday at the UN headquarters in New York immediately prior to the two-day 64th UN General Assembly at the same venue.

Jagdeo said he was engaged in several activities in New York, including meeting with Corporate America, and Hollywood superstar Harrison Ford among others, to “draw attention to the need not just to address climate change, but the role that forest can play as a solution” and to say that the “business community has an important role to play” in this regard.

“I think these were very important messages but also good contacts for Guyana for the future,” the Head of State said.

Alluding to the several high level events, Jagdeo said he also spoke with the Prime Minister of Norway, and Guyana was one of the few developing countries that had that access, adding, “I think we made the message very very clear that forests are very important as a solution to climate change.”

“But the facts are known already that deforestation is a big source of green house gas and that addressing deforestation could give you immediate results outside, because carbon capture, storage, renewable energy, all of these things will take more time, so we need to move beyond the message now and that was the clear concern of everyone at the General Assembly,” he explained.

“…will there be enough financing to deal with this question and I posed the point where if we can’t finance this and this is the lowest cost solution, then how would we have the resources to finance other mitigation and adaptation options?” he put forward.

Noting that “it was really good”, Jagdeo said he subsequently met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary-General of the UN Ban Ki-Moon and also had a bilateral with the Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who agreed to talk again when he comes to the Caribbean.

The Australian Prime Minister last Monday lauded Guyana’s leadership on climate change, and meeting with President Jagdeo in New York, Rudd expressed his country’s interest in collaborating with Guyana in the global effort to address climate change.

President Jagdeo also took the opportunity to outline Guyana’s LCDS. Australia has committed to supporting Guyana’s Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) System and remote monitoring of its forests.

This development builds on Guyana’s recent work on developing its MRV System in which several experts from the Australian Climate Office participated.

Prime Minister Rudd and President Jagdeo agreed to continue discussions at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad in November, to explore other areas of bilateral cooperation on climate change, as well as regional initiatives for the Caribbean Community.

Also, he met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and had “unprecedented access” to a small group of leaders with the Secretary-General for dinner discussing how “they will break the deadlock”.

President Jagdeo said Guyana was one of the two small developing countries that were invited to that small group of about 30 leaders, with larger ones like Brazil and South Africa.

“I think, we really had an important week and then outside of talking to the people at the UN and people in the business community, I also did a lecture at Columbia University trying to get the academics on board,” he said.

He joined a prestigious list of World Leaders at a special forum at Columbia University in New York, where scores of persons including many Guyanese turned up to be part of a highly interactive session with the President.

The World Leaders Forum programme, organised by the University’s Earth Institute and the Institute of Latin American Studies, featured a brief keynote address by President Jagdeo, followed by a lengthy question and answer session with the audience.

The President stated that almost every country mentioned the role of forest in the climate change situation.

“I think we have sold that case. We have also sold the case that avoided deforestation must complement REDD (Reduce Emission from Deforestation and Degradation) so what we call REDD+ must be enshrined in the agreement,” he said.

President Jagdeo said he thinks that everyone understands that and there was talk about some interim financing, he further noted that, “The key issue is whether they will be able to raise the money”.

“But there are some underlying reasons why this is not happening,” he underscored and explained that it is the mistrust between the developed and the developing world, and the fear in the developing world that if they have to do much more then that would stymie their development path.

“On the part of the industrialised countries, they have budget problems because of the financial crisis, they have this issue where their citizens don’t feel they should transfer money to the developing world, and thirdly, many of them are worried that if they do more on climate change, their industries are going to leave the developed world and go to the developing world, namely China,” he explained.

President Jagdeo insisted, “So unless you overcome the mistrust, you are not going to be able to break the deadlock on financing”, he acknowledged that there were good proposals that came out earlier by Gordon Brown and the European Union (EU).

Asked if the mistrust can be broken before this December’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, he replied, “I think there are serious attempts to do so.”

He noted that the new Prime Minister of Japan changed the whole commitment of Japan and has now pledged a 25 per cent cut on a 90/90 baseline which is more than any other country except a conditional offer by the EU.

While in New York, the President did more interviews with leading global media agencies and newspapers.

He was interviewed by Reuters, one of the largest news agencies in the world; the American TV network, CNN; the BBC, and he also met the editorial board of the prestigious New York Times.

The Guardian newspaper of London also carried the full text of the President’s remarks at the `Team Earth’ public event in Greeley Square, New York on Monday last, when he shared the spotlight with movie actor and environmentalist, Harrison Ford.

President Jagdeo was also interviewed by the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.