Guyana participated in the 11th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS) in the Indian capital, New Delhi, under the theme `Tapping Local Initiatives and Tackling Global Inertia’.
The February 3-5 summit at the Hotel Taj Palace in New Delhi was opened by Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh.
In his address, Prime Minister Singh said, “While we focus on specific actions related to dealing with climate change, we have to be guided by the overall imperative of moving global society in the direction of sustainability in growth and development. I am optimistic that this august gathering will not only highlight India’s role as a responsible and enlightened member of the international community, but will also contribute towards finding a solution to the global challenge, which impacts humanity as a whole”.

Speakers at the opening session included President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, President Leonel Fernandez of The Dominican Republic, and President James Alix Michel of the Seychelles.
Guyana was invited to participate by Dr. R.K Pachauri, Nobel Prize Laureate and Director-General, The Energy and Research Institute (TERI).

Mr. Shyam Nokta, Head of the Office of Climate Change, was among speakers who discussed `Innovative Policies for Sustainable Development’. He spoke about Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy(LCDS) which has been commended internationally as an innovative approach to addressing forests and climate change, while promoting low carbon development and which could serve as a model for other tropical forest countries.

The DSDS, organised annually by TERI since 2001, is an international undertaking that provides a platform for knowledge exchange and debate on all aspects of sustainable development. Over the past ten years, it has emerged as one of the most important forums on global sustainability issues, with a focus on developing world solutions. DSDS 2011 examined the vital importance of local initiatives throughout the world in creating a momentum towards building a sustainable future.

DSDS 2011 is a unique platform for showcasing examples of local initiatives that successfully address the planet’s most pressing problems. The summit gathered leaders and innovators from politics, NGOs, corporations, academia, and other stakeholders to work and focus together on the all important need to find a way to turn these examples of local initiatives into global momentum.

DSDS 2011 will serve both as a platform for and a challenge to the world, to learn together the key lessons from local success stories that are needed to move the world in the right direction.

The closing session of the summit was addressed by Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Dr. R.K. Pachauri.