KINDLY permit me to refer to an article in Kaieteur News 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.
Please allow me to further state the following in relation to this misleading Kaieteur News article:

1. The ICUN made an excellent decision by appointing Guyana’s former President Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo as ‘High Level Envoy for sustainable Development in Forest Countries’ and ‘Patron of Nature’. The former President is qualified for these high-level appointments.

2. Former President Jagdeo’s leadership on climate change has led to Guyana’s participation at the international level in finding solutions to it and at the same time Guyana’s international profile as a developing country in the forefront in the fight against Climate Change has been boosted immensely. This is clearly evident in his appointment as Champion of the Earth, the Goodwill Ambassador for the Three Forest Basins of Amazonia, Congo and Borneo Mekong and now the recent IUCN appointment. It is my view that more awards will be offered to Guyana’s former President.

3. Former President Jagdeo on June 8, 2009 launched Guyana’s LCDS which is Guyana’s vision to promote economic development while at the same time combating Global Climate Change. Guyana’s LCDS has been commended both nationally and internationally and on the 9th November, 2009 Guyana and Norway signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) where Norway will provide Guyana with US$250 million by 2015 for avoided deforestation.

4. What is the problem with Mr. John Palmer who has a close working relationship with Janet Bulkan who is known for her unpatriotic stance towards her country Guyana as well as her anti-LCDS babbling. But reading John Palmer’s misleading letter which emerged as an article in the Kaieteur News, I received the distinct impression that Palmer is promoting the agenda of Guyana’s political opposition and has catched the behaviour like ‘crabs in a barrel’. This is not surprising.

5. John Palmer’s letter to the IUCN is both wicked and misleading. Guyana has a forest cover of over 80 per cent. Its deforestation rate is estimated at 0.06 per cent and illegal logging at less than one per cent. The Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) has in place a system for sustainable management of the forest and the current rate of extraction is far below the harvesting limit (quotas). Therefore, John Palmer’s analysis that Guyana is harvesting 30 times more than the regeneration limit is totally flawed and cannot stand up to constructive scrutiny. I challenge him to show his justification for his flawed and misleading analysis.

6. Guyana is known worldwide as a democratic country and a citizen of any country is free to conduct business investments in our country providing that citizen respect the laws of our country. So what is wrong with the Chinese investing in the Forestry Sector of Guyana? Can John Palmer say if the Chinese are not investing in the UK, other parts of Europe, the USA and other countries? I think John Palmer should cease meddling in the internal affairs of Guyana.

7. But I am surprised at John Palmer who has sunk to an unprofessional level by providing false and misleading information to the IUCN despite his knowledge and past consultative status with DIFID. John Palmer’s protest letter to the ICUN on former President Jagdeo’s appointment was politically motivated.