I WISH to refer to a Kaieteur News article under the caption, “Leading Forester slams Jagdeo’s IUCN’s appointment, says illegal logging increased under his Presidential watch” in its issue of Friday, March 23, 2012. Kindly allow me to state the following in relation to this misleading article in the Kaieteur News:

1. Mr John Palmer is not a Guyanese and is therefore not qualified to speak or write on matters pertaining to Guyana.

2. John Palmer who claims to be a Senior Associate of a Forest Management Trust of Florida, USA, has a close relationship with Janet Bulkan, a Guyanese, hence his objective to the IUCN appointment of former President Bharrat Jagdeo as ‘High Level Envoy for Sustainable Development in Forest Countries’ and ‘Patron in Nature’. In other words, John Palmer is basically expressing the views or hogwash of his partner who is also an unqualified critic of Guyana’s forestry management.

3. According to my research, John Palmer is a British citizen who is presently living a rich and comfortable life in Florida, USA and like his partner, Janet Bulkan, doesn’t want to see the social and economic development of poor countries such as Guyana through the vision of Guyana’s Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) or avoided deforestation.

4. But John Palmer, instead of falling prey to anti-Guyana’s LCDS schemes, should have been occupying his time promoting Guyana’s LCDS at the International level, since it is the developed countries which he came from that are responsible for Global Climate Change and its dangerous consequences for humanity.
It is Guyana’s intact forests which will help to save humanity – including John Palmer and the country where he lives. John Palmer is not sincere to former President Jagdeo who launched Guyana’s LCDS in June 2009 to help save our world from catastrophe as a result of Global Climate Change.

5. John Palmer is misleading the IUCN and other international agencies. Guyana’s forest estate remains at over 80 per cent intact during and after the presidency of former President Bharrat Jagdeo. Illegal logging is less than one per cent and Guyana’s deforestation rate is less that 0.06 percent.

6. Finally, my congratulations to former President Bharrat Jagdeo on his IUCN appointment as ‘High Level Envoy of Sustainable Development in Forest Countries’ and ‘Patron of Nature’. The people of Guyana are proud of you.  Keep up your good work in helping to save our planet.