THE Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) of Guyana remains a model framework for forests preservation and climate change mitigation globally.

On his current visit to India, Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo plugged Guyana’s success story in earning carbon credits from preserving large quantities of its forests.

Speaking at the opening session of the World Sustainable Development Summit 2023 in New Delhi, India, VP Jagdeo urged global leaders: “we need to avoid the extremes that often characterize global debate” that nature should be developed or preserved regardless of its impact on human beings.

“I believe in the sort of solution somewhere in between those two extremes; there lies a lot of the solutions and answers that we are looking for,” Dr Jagdeo.

VP Jagdeo is currently in India on official business where he is joined by Senior Minister for Finance in the Office of the President, Dr Ashni Singh.

“we’d never achieve Net Zero or a 1.5 degree without bringing forests as part of the mitigation solution,” Dr Jagdeo said, adding, “deforestation alone would cause about 18 or 15 per cent of global greenhouse gases.”

“It’s important that we find solution for this nature-based problem of deforestation. Now, forests can remove nearly 10 gigatons of CO2 equivalent every year by 2050.

“It could provide more than 25 per cent of the solution to keep us on a 1.5 trajectory by 2030. So, clearly the case has been made that forests are important both for climate,” the Vice President added further.

Dr Jagdeo lamented that historically, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) discussions have not reflected in a manner that will be advantageous to helping to preserve these forests, and create the incentives so that countries with forests could preserve them.

Guyana, the VP told the gathering, has had its first sale of forest carbons at five dollars per ton. The VP told the leaders that US$220 million has be released to Guyana, which would be deployed for climate adaptation and mitigation measures, as well as support for indigenous land titling and other activities.

Read more on this story in the February 23 edition of the Guyana Chronicle.