QUOTE:“Guyana has been forceful at the international level on pushing for deforestation to be in the global climate change agreement…and President Bharrat Jagdeo’s passionate promotion of climate change issues has been recognized around the world leading to greater visibility of his platform.” – Mr. Ralph Ashton, Convener and Chair of the Terrestrial Carbon Group

SEVERAL other countries around the world are with Guyana on pursuing a low carbon development growth path in the global climate change battle.

Guyana continues to receive kudos internationally for its leadership role in the fight centred on its draft Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) which hinges largely on forest preservation and avoiding deforestation.

The London-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI), in a recent draft paper titled ‘Policies for Low Carbon Growth’, looked at what’s happening in several countries pursuing low carbon development.

The study examines low carbon development strategies and climate change response strategies produced by a spectrum of high, middle, and low income countries with differing economic characteristics, in order to draw out policy implications.

The countries that have been reviewed are: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, Germany, Mexico, Nigeria, and the UK.

Bangladesh is a very vulnerable country subject to floods, droughts and cyclones and adaptation is a priority.

Investments there include: flood management schemes, coastal polders, cyclone and flood shelters, and the raising of roads and highways above flood level. State-of-the-art warning systems for floods, cyclones, and storm surges, expanding community-based disaster preparedness, climate-resistant varieties of rice and other crops are being developed.

On the mitigation side, commitments to decrease emissions are in place and among its climate change documents are the 2005 National Adaptation Programme of Action, and the 2008 Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan.

Brazil is actively seeking to harness low carbon development to enhance competitiveness and open new markets, particularly for bio-ethanol. It was the first signatory to the Convention on Climate Change and has taken significant steps to show its commitment to reduce emissions. It recognises that protection of the Amazon rainforest is a critical issue and has made reducing deforestation a major long-term priority.

Brazil’s early investment in sugar-cane based ethanol has made it the world’s most efficient ethanol-producer, with ethanol providing about 40% of the automotive fuel in the country. It has made an attempt to harmonise its national strategy for low carbon growth with growth and poverty reduction strategies, stating that a key goal is to identify the most vulnerable groups and target adaptation assistance, education, and infrastructure development in these areas.

It produced the National Plan on Climate Change (2008) and the National Climate Change Plan (NCCP), but the NPCC does not specify how its proposals will be integrated across government departments or with local governments, leaving that to future consultations.

The Chinese National Climate Change programme (CNCCP) was announced in June 2007 with the aim of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent from its 2005 level by 2010. China needs to achieve the highest efficiency possible from what resources are available due to low resources and a very high population.

Ethiopia’s heavy dependence on agriculture coupled with a high population growth rate make the country particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of climate change. The National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) has developed criteria for prioritising potential adaptation projects, although a comprehensive strategy for implementation has not been developed.

Ethiopia is developing a national climate change strategy with assistance from the World Bank. Expansion of hydro power and bio-fuels are currently the major aims of the national energy policy. In the current documents, however, it is not clear how integrated proposals will be in practice across ministries and the extent to which mitigation options will be verified and linked to mitigation finance options.

Energy security, secure job creation and reductions in greenhouse emissions are the main stimuli for green growth in Germany. The country aims to increase renewable energy, seen also as a potential market. Nuclear power will be eliminated from the national grid by 2022. The government is moving towards cutting greenhouse emissions by 40% of 1990 levels by 2020.

The Federal Government of Mexico, through the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, launched the Special Climate Change Programme for the period 2008 – 2012 which plans a reduction of 50% on carbon emissions (based on 2000 levels) by 2050.

It is a three-stage approach that progressively leads to consolidation of the mitigation procedures, a positive balance between deforestation and reforestation, the implementation of sustainable economic development procedures and the reduction in environmental risks.

Nigeria is suffering from a number of environmental problems, such as sand storms, flooding and desertification. The Nigerian government wants to move its economy towards low carbon growth and through incentives and regulations allow its businesses to become ecologically friendly thus helping them not only to become sustainable in the long run but also increase their efficiency levels.

The suggested strategies all stem from Vision 2020 Technical Working Groups (TWG) that have been set up within the Nigerian Government.

The UK is not only pledged towards low carbon growth but also sees it as a growing market in which the United Kingdom is already competitively placed. The “Climate Change – The UK Programme 2006” pledges a reduction of 20% in carbon emissions (based on 1990 levels) by 2010. The Government is also bound to meet the Kyoto Protocol requirements (a 12.5% reduction in carbon emissions on 1990 levels in the 2008-2012 period) and a reduction of 60% (again on 1990 levels) by 2050.

The 2008 annual update specifies that the UK climate change programme is based in three principles: Carbon Pricing, Technology Policy and Removing barriers to behavioural change on energy efficiency.

The key areas in which the UK economy can compete effectively are Carbon Capture & Storage technologies, offshore wind farms, marine energy, nuclear power and low carbon vehicles.

Guyana continues to receive acclaim and commendation for its LCDS with the World Bank and others endorsing it as a model of best practice for other countries.

In a presentation in Georgetown last week organised by Conservation International (CI) Guyana, Ralph Ashton, Convener and Chair of the Terrestrial Carbon Group, stated that Guyana has taken a progressive, world-leading role in combating climate change.

“Guyana has been forceful at the international level on pushing for deforestation to be in the global climate change agreement,” he noted.

His organisation is an international group of specialists from science, economics and public policy with expertise in land management, climate change and markets.

Ashton said President Bharrat Jagdeo’s passionate promotion of climate change issues has been recognized around the world leading to greater visibility of his platform.

He explained that having the leader of the country rather than a Minister of Government campaigning for climate change is significant as such action garners more attention on the world stage.

He pointed out that Guyana has established an Office for Climate Change that handles all climate change related matters, and has developed the LCDS which shows how the country plans to utilize any funds obtained for the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation Plus (REDD+) mechanism to promote sustainable economic development.

Significantly, he said, Guyana’s efforts to work with Norway, Australia, the Clinton Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to establish a Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation (MRV) system that is robust and well-defined proves to the international community Guyana’s pledge to be held to commitments on avoided deforestation.

He added that the plans for use of the funds generated from the REDD+ mechanism, as laid out in the LCDS, and the numerous public consultations, over the past three months also place Guyana at the forefront in the development of mechanisms to take advantage of any agreement to result from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark in December.