THERE IS an outpouring of high praise for Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo on being a recipient of the coveted United Nations ‘Champions of the Earth’ (2010) award for his “sterling contributions to the preservation of the environment.”
The Guyanese Head of State is one of six prominent persons to have been chosen for this highest award by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).
Last February, he was named to a High-Level United Nations panel by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to help raise funds to assist developing nations combat climate change, against the backdrop of the international conference on climate change in Copenhagen.
Caribbean Community Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington, in a congratulatory note to Jagdeo on behalf of CARICOM, said he “heartily endorsed the UN’s description” of the Guyanese President, as a “passionate forestry and ecosystem infrastructure proponent…”
Carrington told Jagdeo in his letter: “…we [the Community] have been privileged to witness your zeal and conviction in championing of the environment; your promotion of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) in Guyana and advocacy of the Caribbean position in respect of combating climate change at the Copenhagen Conference…”
President of the Caribbean Development Bank, Dr Compton Bourne, in declaring the UNEP award to be “richly deserving,” observed  that President Jagdeo has been “very instrumental in bringing the issue of climate change to the forefront of the regional governmental agenda…
“The President,” he added, “has been articulating, with great international effect, the special interests of Caribbean countries in the appropriate development of global policies on climate change mitigation and adaptation.”
Dr Bourne feels that that President Jagdeo’s “international leadership on the Low Carbon Development Strategy in Guyana can have beneficial effects on other forest-rich Caribbean countries… His UNEP award is an impressive reminder of the role that Caribbean leadership can play in major global issues…”
And in a personal note to President Jagdeo, the eminent Caribbean statesman, Sir Shridath Ramphal, former Commonwealth Secretary-General, ex-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, and chairman of The West Indian Commission, said:
“Huge congratulations on your United Nations ‘Champions of the Earth’ Award. I feel personally proud as a Guyanese and as a friend…
“The Caribbean will be proud that at this moment in human history, when environmental issues are highest on the global agenda, a Caribbean leader has been singled out among six in the world to whom this prestigious award has been given — by the world. It is a great boost for Guyana and for your environmental policies…”
The Guyanese President returned Tuesday to what was described as “a hero’s welcome” at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport on an ‘Air Force Brasilia’ flight from Brazil, where he was among CARICOM Heads of Government who had participated in the first CARICOM-Brazil Summit, hosted by Brazilian President Ignacio ‘Lula’ da Silva.
Prior to that summit, Jagdeo was on various overseas missions that included his visit to South Korea to join the five other ‘Champions of the Earth (2010)’ recipients of the UNEP award. The other awardees were:
President of the Maldives and International Climate Change campaigner, Mohamed Nasheed; Afghanistan’s Director-General of the National Environmental Protection Agency and avid sustainability advocate, Prince Mostapha Zaher; and Japanese earth scientist and pioneer of research into how the oceans cycle carbon, Dr Taro Takahashi; Chinese actress and popular ‘green life-style’ guru, Zhou Xun; and the American venture capitalist, green energy entrepreneur and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Vinod Khosla.