GEORGETOWN, Guyana (GINA, January 29, 2009) - President Bharrat Jagdeo is slated to address the gathering of world leaders Friday (Jan. 30) at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland where he will advocate for incentives for the preservation of rainforests.
The President is among 41 of the world’s leaders attending the forum during the period January 28 to February 1. He will be among those who will make presentations at Friday’s session which include Kofi Annan, President, Global Humanitarian Forum, Switzerland; Raj Singh, Chief Risk Officer, Swiss Reinsurance Company USA; Ajit Gulabchand, Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Construction Company Ltd., India.
The WEF bears the theme “Shaping the Post Crisis World” and will address issues of climate change, global crisis and economic reform among others.
Friday’s session which is titled “Climate Justice: Basis of a new Global Solidarity”, is co-organised with the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches (SEK-FEPS) and the Global Humanitarian Forum. The following issues are on the agenda for the session:
• What is the most equitable solution to the injustices of climate change?
• What overlap exists between adaptation and development? To what extent can compensation and assistance in dealing with climate change also contribute to development?
• What scope is there for action at the international level to ensure protection of the most vulnerable populations and to reduce emissions sufficiently to deal with climate change and the suffering it causes?
• How can such responsibility -- "climate justice" -- be established as a guiding principle in the ongoing negotiations for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol?
President Jagdeo at a press conference prior to his departure stated that the issue of deforestation and climate change will be discussed by several other key speakers at the forum, and this he considers an important step forward in the area of avoided deforestation.
The Guyanese Leader, who initiated Guyana’s position on Avoided Deforestation, presented his proposal in December 2008 where he outlined how solutions to deforestation may be found and how Guyana could ensure that the world acts in a timely manner while protecting its national interest.
In 2007 the Jagdeo Initiative on Climate Change was first introduced at the Commonwealth Finance Minister Meeting in October. The initiative calls for developed countries to give market based incentives to countries which can offer their rainforest to serve in the world’s fight against climate change.
The President’s proposal gained recognition from Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, who said it is one of the most optimistic developments on the issue.
The President’s initiative was influenced by the reluctance of the developed countries to make tough decisions to combat the situation and their refusal to cut their gas emissions as stipulated in the Kyoto Protocol of 1997.
In the Global Risk Network 2009 Report for Economic Forum, Raj Singh, Chief Risk Officer, Swiss Reinsurance Company USA, stated that developing countries are the ones most at risk because they lack the infrastructure and institutional framework to cope and as such are worst affected by weather-related disasters. He stressed that continuing efforts are needed to prepare, especially the developing world for the climatic changes taking place.
President Jagdeo will also be attending the Copenhagen Conference in December this year where he will join almost all the world’s leaders to forge a global deal to avert catastrophic climate change.
President Jagdeo emphasised that if the global deal fails to address deforestation it would be impossible to stabilise the world’s climate since the current Kyoto Protocol does not recognise that standing forests should qualify for carbon credits whereby countries are compensated for retaining their standing forests.
Guyana, because it has a territory of almost 80 percent rainforests, was used as a case study for what it would take to make standing tropical forests worth more, hence Guyana’s position on Avoided Deforestation.
Guyana News