President’s ‘Champion of the Earth’ award…
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo was last week awarded the 2010 Champions of the Earth Award by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), and reactions across the board reflect how much this can further boost Guyana’s international profile.
He received the prestigious award for his outstanding international leadership on combating climate change and his pioneering model on low-carbon economic development. The award was presented to the President at the 4th Annual Business for Environment (B4E) Global Summit and UNEP Champions of the Earth gala awards event in Seoul, South Korea.
Presenting the award, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, stated: “President Jagdeo is a powerful advocate of the need to conserve and more intelligently manage the planet’s natural and nature-based assets. He has recognized more than most the multiple Green Economy benefits of forests in terms of combating climate change, (and) also in terms of development; employment; improved water supplies and the conservation of biodiversity.”
Immediate congratulations were sent by Lord Nicholas Stern, widely credited with changing global understanding of the economic impact of climate change.
Lord Stern said: “I warmly congratulate President Jagdeo, with whom I serve on the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Group for Climate Finance. He has been one of the world’s foremost heads of government in advocating for a global low carbon future, and his tireless advocacy, particularly on the urgent need to protect the world’s forests, has made a tremendous contribution to the international climate change agenda. I know that he shares my view that a future high carbon world is one of disaster, and we must re-double our international efforts to build a prosperous, low-carbon future.”
According to UNEP, the award is given to people and organizations truly distinguished when it comes to making a real difference in protecting the planet earth.

UNEP’s Champions of the Earth Awards honour the “best and brightest as they strive to take action for our planet through their visionary thinking, unwavering dedication and committed action towards the sustainable use of the planet’s resources for global green growth.”

2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Wangari Maathai said: “I would like to congratulate President Jagdeo on becoming a ‘Champion of the Earth’. His tireless work to keep the world’s attention on the importance of saving our forests has been an inspiration to many across the world. His leadership continues to remind us that progress is possible and that we can save the world’s forests while at the same time fostering prosperity and improving the lives of our people.”

Professor Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace. She was the first African woman to win the prize.

Here are other reactions to the recognition bestowed on Guyana:

Paul Stephenson, President of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG):
“It was great to see such international recognition of the President’s role in leading the fold in the field of climate control, a subject which will positively affect us all in Guyana and indeed the rest of the world.
“The Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) programme was indeed well received when launched, and now is gathering well-deserved and keen international support. Why? Because it’s right. Yes, it is new, but it also produces real value to the people on the ground, living and working in Guyana, and most importantly sets an example for the world to follow and adopt.
“This award is also recognition of his plan to generate revenue for this country, and, importantly, for our indigenous communities, whilst at the same time protecting our rain forests and where we live.
“This endorsement of the President’s policy in protecting sustainable development, albeit in a new way, also helps develop our emerging tourism product, by protecting and encouraging cultural and rainforest tourism for years to come.
“The positive press that will come from this award will only help to enhance the Guyana product, our country and people, our integrity and respect worldwide, not to forget its developmental impact of our young nation through this internationally respected policy by a young President. What a legacy this man will leave us all! And what a footprint for the future leaders of Guyana to follow!”
Ms. Joycelyn Dow, social activist, monitor of International Institute of Environmental Development:
“I am glad that the President has received the award. Although he got it in a personal capacity, it speaks to a direction in which I hope Guyana will be steadfast.
“All Guyanese should take this as an award to which we should all hold some responsibility to make our country a leading example environmentally. We should all also work to end the squalor in parts of Georgetown to maintain a proper environment.”
(Ms. Dow was a member of The Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), based in the United States, which won the award in 2006. WEDO is a champion in the field of women’s economic, social and gender rights and a beacon for the empowerment of women across the environment and development debate.)

Bishop Juan Edghill:
“I would like to add my voice to the many other Guyanese and people from around the world in congratulating His Excellency, Bharrat Jagdeo on being awarded by the United Nations Environmental Programme.
“I think it shows that his work in this particular field is indicative of his dedication, vision and commitment, and shows leadership of what he believes in, particularly the Low-Carbon Development Strategy, which has positioned Guyana as a model for the rest of the world.
He must be commended for dedicating the award to Guyanese!”

Ramesh Dookoo: President, Guyana Manufacturers and Services Association:
“I would like to congratulate the President on behalf of the Guyana Manufacturers and Services Association. I would like to add our hearty congratulations on his being the recipient of the United Nations Champion of the Earth Award. For a small country like Guyana, and for President Jagdeo’s previous efforts in this area, which is the protection of standing forests and the recognition of the national assets of Guyana, we believe that his work has been formidable, and for him to receive such a prestigious award on behalf of Guyana puts all of us on the international map. And we should all be proud.”

Everall Franklin, MP, GAP/ROAR:
“It is established that the President has been a champion of forest conservation and actually getting paid for conserving forests… It is deserving that his work is being recognized and acknowledged.
“It is the right thing to do, that he commended the award to the Guyanese people, because they are the ones who are conserving that which needs to be conserved. I think it is statesman-like that he is not making it a personal triumph, and I do hope that when he returns with the prize, that it is shared with all of us.”

People’s Progressive Party:
“The People’s Progressive Party extends hearty congratulations to President Bharrat Jagdeo on the occasion of his being conferred with the prestigious `Champion of the Earth’ Award by the United Nations.
“The award is a recognition of our country’s contribution to enhancing the condition of our planet, which is facing serio
us ecological problems at this time.
“Cde. Jagdeo has been a serious advocate and defender of our environment. His proposal for a Low Carbon Development Strategy has captured the imagination of developmentalists and ecologists both locally and internationally.
“President Jagdeo has announced that the prize money would be used to enhance the interior communities of Guyana.
“This is a great achievement for our country. It is a recognition of what we have to offer environmentally and intellectually.
Once again the PPP extends its congratulations to President Jagdeo.”

The ‘Champions of the Earth’ Award for President Jagdeo comes on the heels of other significant recognition of his pioneering and aggressive policies on sustainable economic growth through the LCDS.
The strategy is premised on the concept of Avoided Deforestation, which allows Guyana’s 15 million hectares of rainforest to serve as a carbon sink, a process that is critical to combating global climate change. Deforestation accounts for about 20% of human-generated greenhouse emissions. This year, Guyana will receive payments for avoided greenhouse gas emissions, and will soon start investing those payments in a new low-carbon economy.
This will remove virtually the entire energy sector from fossil fuel dependence, and will catalyse new economic sectors to provide Guyanese with valuable economic alternatives that do not put pressure on Guyana’s forests.

To support the LCDS, the governments of Guyana and Norway have agreed a ground-breaking model, where Norway will pay US$250 million towards Guyana’s forest climate services between now and 2015. This is the second largest deal of its kind in the world.
In 2008, President Jagdeo was named by TIME Magazine as a ‘Hero of the Environment’.
The President is also currently serving on a UN High-Level Advisory Panel on Climate Change Financing. UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon appointed President Jagdeo to the High-Level Panel along with British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, and the Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg.
Past winners of the ‘Champions of the Earth’ Award include Al Gore; Thabo Mbeki; Mikhail Gorbachev; Prince Albert II of Monaco; Prince Hassan Bin Talal of Jordon; the King of Bhutan; and Erik Solheim, Minister of the Environment and International Development (Norway).
The UNEP ‘Champions of the Earth’ Award is the highest environmental award given by the United Nations.
President Jagdeo has stated that his US$40,000 prize money will be donated to Amerindian communities in Guyana.