The Commonwealth Secretariat recently appointed Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, former President of Guyana, to chair a new Commonwealth Expert Group on Climate Finance.

Dr Jagdeo will lead a high-level team of experts to identify solutions for unlocking resources to enable small, poor and climate-vulnerable Commonwealth countries to combat climate change.
Mr Jagdeo will be joined by eight others, including Dr Kenrick Leslie, Executive Director of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, to press the international community to help identify practical solutions for those countries most vulnerable to climate change.
To provide further opportunity for dialogue with the Commonwealth Expert Group on Climate Finance, the Commonwealth Network on Environment and Climate Change  was launched at Marlborough House, headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat, in London last week.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma says the Group will present their report to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka in November 2013.
In accepting the appointment Mr Jagdeo said: “Some of the most climate-vulnerable people in the world are in our Commonwealth. Millions of people are in danger – the magnitude of the challenges they face is overwhelming and they cannot face those challenges solely from their own resources. Over the years, many pledges of assistance have been made – but we have not seen enough action. I hope that the Expert Group can identify ways, both to identify financing at a scale that matches the problem, and also to enable Commonwealth Heads of Government to take specific actions to enable financing to be deployed in a way that rapidly gets to the people who need it.”
The above photo shows some members of the Commonwealth Expert Group on Climate Finance with former President of Guyana Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, who heads the group, at Marlborough House in London last week. Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma is third from left.