HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, at a post-Cabinet media briefing at the Office of the President yesterday, expressed Government’s “disgust” at the way in which certain sections of the media, particularly the Stabroek News, have been reporting on the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). “So entrenched is their anti-Government bias that there are some who are prepared to cut off their noses to spite their faces,” the HPS lamented.
He said that even though nothing has, in any significant way, injured the appropriateness, timeliness, and legitimacy of the strategy, both in its wider and national context, there are still forces which seem intent on threatening its success.
He emphasised that notwithstanding constant clarifications and publicly available facts on the strategy, they continue to spew reports that are heavily biased and prejudiced.
“This is not something that the Administration and those who have become party to the implementation and who are impressed by the likely successes of the LCDS are going to take lightly. The reviews and examinations of the output by the Stabroek and others will continue vigorously, and their shortcomings will be pronounced on publicly, and they will be encouraged by all means possible to mend their errant ways,” Dr. Luncheon said.
On May 10, the Office of Climate Change (OCC) issued a statement in response to a Stabroek article headlined: PNCR exclusion from LCDS Committee ‘unsatisfactory’ – Norway.
The OCC maintained that the Stabroek News selectively extracted information from a 97 page study as part of a “Real Time Evaluation of Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI)”, carried out by a team of independent consultants (LTS International in collaboration with Indufor Oy) as an external commentary on “Norway’s Contributions to National REDD+ Processes 2007-2010”.
Further, the release clarified that although the consultants received funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), their report does not represent the position of the Norwegian Government.
“The Stabroek News headline of the story describing the report as a statement coming from the Government of Norway is, therefore, totally inaccurate and calculated to mislead,” the OCC release stated. (GINA)