Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), which seeks to transform the country’s economy while combating climate change, is receiving widespread attention from various sections of society, including the private sector.
Dr Mark Bynoe, Environmental/Resource Economist and Economic advisor, Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, during a lecture on “Climate Change: Human and socio-economic challenges and opportunities for member states of the Caribbean Community”, praised President Bharrat Jagdeo’s LCDS.
Dr Bynoe noted that climate change is more than an issue of carbon emission; it is about the welfare of the people and the country as a whole.
Bynoe said that society should be focused and aware of the affects of the global phenomenon and take necessary action since many are aware of the regional threat climate change poses.
The socioeconomic implications of climate change have posed severe challenges and opportunities for human and social developments countrywide, as such, countries prone to natural disasters have over the years felt the effects of the phenomenon which has become one of the defining issues of the 21st century.
Recognising the importance of standing forest and the role tropical forest can play in climate change mitigation, the University of Guyana, in a collaborative effort with the British High Commission, hosted this, the third climate change lecture at the Regency Suites Hotel, Hadfield Street, Georgetown.
The aim of the lecture was to address climate change and its impact on CARICOM countries.
“The developed society also is important in this climate change fight …(U.S.) President Barack Obama pointed out that when you have such prosperous discussions, books and reviews, they can only derive the action that are necessary to reduce the impact of Climate Change”.
He noted that in the Caribbean alone it is estimated that as a result of climatic events over the last 10 years, in excess of US$3.3 billion in damage has been realised.
Human and social development will only be met if climate change and its mitigation is addressed, Bynoe stressed.
“Climate change is a reality because we all have seen the threats…lives are often damaged due to this phenomenon and if we do not take immediate action we (country) will not be able to address the matter.”
Representatives of the University of Guyana, the Low Carbon Development Strategy Unit, Iwokrama and the Ministry of Public Works and Communication were also in attendance.