I am among those Guyanese proud that President Bharrat Jagdeo is among the six 2010 Champions of the Earth named by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). It is an award that is truly deserving given the leadership role Mr. Jagdeo and Guyana are playing in the international fight against climate change.
He received the prestigious award for his outstanding international leadership on combating climate change and his pioneering model on low carbon economic development.
It is astonishing that the professional anti-government critics continue to be so myopic about the thrust by Guyana towards low carbon economic development when the United Nations, which is foremost in coordinating the international fight back strategy against climate change, commends us for our foresight.
UN Under-Secretary-General and UN Environmental Programme 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.”
Others have commended Guyana in even more glowing terms but some naysayers still seek to discredit the country’s Low Carbon Development Strategy.
Lord Nicholas Stern, widely credited with changing global understanding of the economic impact of climate change, said President Jagdeo 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 am among those Guyanese who are today holding their heads a little higher with the growing international recognition our country is getting these days.

For those who want to forget, it was not so long ago that we were known only for decades of blatantly rigged national elections, endless queues for basic food items and stuff like toilet paper, the Jonestown tragedy, a rundown economy that was barrelling downward and a host of other ills.

The President has also shown admirable magnanimity by saying he will donate his US$40,000 prize money to the development of Amerindian communities.

There are those none so blind, as those who do not want to see.