IT was no surprise when I read of former President [of Guyana], Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo’s dual role as IUCN’s High Level Envoy for Sustainable Development in Forest Countries and as IUCN’s Patron of Nature. For many years, President Jagdeo – Champion of the Earth -, has emphasised the need for urgent international action to avert the worst extremes of climate change – and “to make global development and combating climate change compatible, not competing objectives.”
As part of his new roles and vision to show how progress is possible, Guyana’s Low carbon Strategy sets out a national scale, replicable model to protect Guyana’s 18 million hectares of forest and to provide insights on how to curb the 17% of global greenhouse gas emissions that result from deforestation, low carbon, climate trajectory.
The IUCN, the International Union for Conservative of Nature, is the world’s oldest and largest global environmental organisation, founded in 1948, with 1200 member organisations, over 200 governments, 900 plus NGOs and 11,000 voluntary scientists and experts. IUCN holds Official Observer Status at the United Nations General Assembly.
Speaking of his new roles, President Jagdeo said, “The ideas and human energy that will solve many of today’s biggest global challenges will come from today’s developing world. These are some of the biggest challenges in the world today. Working with IUCN, I hope that I can help to catalyze greater South-South innovation towards solutions, as well as support partnerships between forest nations and progressive countries and institutions from today’s industrialised world.”
Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo was President of Guyana from August 1999 to December 2011.
At 35, he was one of the youngest Heads of State in the world, and his tenure saw strong economic growth, the biggest expansion of the housing sector in Guyana’s history, improved access in health and education, expansion of the water and sanitation system, large – scale development of the road, river and air networks.
New President Donald Ramotar said, “All Guyana should feel proud of how our former President continues to advocate for global climate justice. He was one of the first leaders in the world to grasp the scale of the climate change challenge – but he was also one of the first to articulate that developing countries could lead the way to solutions.
The IUCN Headquarters is based in Geneva, Switzerland, with a support staff of over 1,000 and 45 offices around the world.