PRESIDENT of Suriname Desi Bouterse has said that his country is ready and willing to cooperate with Guyana on the issue of climate change since the two countries have pristine forests and are similarly affected by the changing weather extremities.
He was speaking at a joint press conference with President Bharrat Jagdeo at the Office of the President yesterday.
Bouterse, speaking through an interpreter, noted that Guyana has taken the lead in the world forum of bringing to the fore the problem of the two countries having pristine rainforests, and at the same time not receiving any benefits for preserving them.
He said that Suriname has paid attention to what President Jagdeo and Guyana have been doing in the area of climate change and solutions that could be taken to mitigate against its ill effects.
“We know that there is a lot to learn from the pain that Guyana and its President have gone through and we are in a lucky position not to have to go through all of this pain and to profit from the experience of Guyana,” he said.
Bouterse added that it is important to realize that “If we have something to offer to the world, we don’t want in return a loan or some fringe benefit. What we want is [compensation] for preserving nature and biodiversity.”
Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy is based on the premise that there will eventually be an international climate agreement in place that favours avoided deforestation and mandates large countries to make deep cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions, which will see them coming to forested countries to pay for the carbon sequestered from the atmosphere in order to meet their emissions cuts. Such a binding agreement was elusive at last year’s climate change summit in Copenhagen last December.
Prior to Copenhagen and ever since, President Jagdeo has been a voice for climate change and particularly for REDD plus. So vocal was his advocacy that Secretary General of the United Nations Ban ki- Moon named him as one of the persons on his High Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing and that group is to submit its report at the upcoming Cancun climate change summit.
Suriname is a part of the Guiana Shield, a region rich in natural beauty and biodiversity, endowed with countless species of flora and fauna, some of which remain to be discovered. Agencies such as World Wildlife Fund work in these countries to effect sustainable management of these natural ecosystems.