Tomado de http://www.guyanachronicle.com/ del 06 de diciembre de 2008
‘…recent analysis showed that Guyana’s forests can generate economic value to the nation of between US$430M and US$2bln a year, with the most likely figure being US$580M’ – President Jagdeo
By Sharief Khan
GUYANA yesterday unveiled a technical report which forms the basis of its continuing lobby for international support to avert deforestation and back the fight against catastrophic climate change impact.
President Bharrat Jagdeo will next week present the report to a meeting of the parties to the United Nations Framework Committee on Climate Change and this will be followed early next year with a national consultation on the way forward.
Tabling the paper at the International Convention Centre, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, he maintained that the issue of global climate change cannot be effectively tackled without the international community effectively addressing deforestation.
The document presented yesterday, he said, recognizes the stark economic reality of deforestation across the globe “because the forests bring economic value when they are harvested.”
Mr. Jagdeo presented findings from a recent analysis on the huge financial gains Guyana can get from harvesting its forests at a higher rate but stressed that aligning national and global interests is the only long-term solution to deforestation.
Dr. Roger Luncheon, Cabinet Secretary and Chairman of the session, called it a “most historic event”, noting that Guyana has been putting its case consistently to the world since October 2007 and adding “today we are at a pivotal stage”.
Luncheon said Guyana has come up with a “feasible market model that warrants comprehensive scrutiny.”
Loud cheers from a packed gallery also greeted Mr. Jagdeo’s suggestion, after his presentation, that a website be created to get feedback on the document from stakeholders and the public.
Opposition Leader Robert Corbin and key representatives from labour, churches, the private sector, Amerindian communities, non-governmental organizations, diplomats and others were among invitees for the presentation.
Mr. Jagdeo said the international community has to act in the coming year to avert catastrophic climate change, noting that a summit in Copenhagen, Denmark next year will try to forge a global deal to provide a framework to achieve this.
If the global deal fails to address deforestation, it would be virtually impossible to stabilize the world’s climate, he pointed out.
He argued that unlike the current Kyoto agreement on climate change, the Copenhagen meeting must create “proportional incentives for all causes of greenhouse gas emissions”.
“In particular”, said the President, “it is essential that it creates incentives to reduce tropical deforestation.”
The Guyana Government, he said, supports the international proposal that, at a minimum, Copenhagen must create incentives to halve tropical deforestation by 2020, adding that as a country where almost 60 per cent of the territory is tropical rainforest, “we recognize that we have a responsibility to work with other nations to frame a solution.”
This requires national scale action, he said, noting “it is not sustainable to create oases of good practices within a desert of oftentimes bad national practices.”
He recalled Guyana’s offer to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to consider placing almost all of this country’s rainforests under long-term protection if the right market-based incentives were created to make this economically worthwhile and provided it does not affect the legitimate development aspirations of the people or trespass on their sovereignty over the forests.
Mr. Jagdeo said this will have to be done with the sanction of the National Assembly and those who live and depend on the forests.
He said the government will launch the national consultation early next year “to give all Guyanese an opportunity to understand more about what I have proposed and to get their opinions on how we can balance our national development with the climate needs of the wider world.”
In preparation for the national consultation and with some support from Britain’s Prince Charles’ Rainforest Project and former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s Climate Change Initiative, the President said, a team of local and internationally-recognized consultants has been working on a “rigorous fact-based assessment of how to align rainforest countries’ long-term economic interests with those of the wider world.”
“We used Guyana as a case study for what it would take to make tropical forests worth more alive than dead”, he said.
According to the President, that analysis looked at how Guyana can assist the international community to forge a post-Kyoto climate change agreement to rapidly slow tropical deforestation; developing rigorous business cases for low-carbon investments and employment opportunities in Guyana; and addressing the adjustment side of climate change.
He said the work in these three areas will form the foundation for next year’s national consultation.
Mr. Jagdeo said the recent analysis showed that Guyana’s forests can generate economic value to the nation of between US$430M and US$2bln a year, with the most likely figure being US$580M. This model, he said, excludes 1.7 million hectares of land allocated for Amerindian communities and 10 per cent of the forests which may have high biodiversity value.
This will involve a deforestation rate of about four per cent a year and will result in the release of about 200 tons of carbon in the atmosphere annually, he reported.
He said funds generated from the market-based model to avert deforestation can help Guyana move its entire economy to clean power plant energy, noting that the proposed Amaila Falls hydro-power plant will supply low-carbon electricity in addition to other huge benefits.
The funds can also provide unprecedented assistance to forest communities and develop the economy through expanding eco-tourism and other schemes, and support diversification of the wider economy, the President said.
Other benefits include investing heavily in public development and upgrading the sea defence and irrigation systems along the coast, he said.
He stressed that the international community must recognize that the solution to the deforestation problem “will come from within forest countries and therefore forest communities and other forest country stakeholders must be seen as equal partners in the search for these solutions।”
By Sharief Khan
GUYANA yesterday unveiled a technical report which forms the basis of its continuing lobby for international support to avert deforestation and back the fight against catastrophic climate change impact.
President Bharrat Jagdeo will next week present the report to a meeting of the parties to the United Nations Framework Committee on Climate Change and this will be followed early next year with a national consultation on the way forward.
Tabling the paper at the International Convention Centre, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, he maintained that the issue of global climate change cannot be effectively tackled without the international community effectively addressing deforestation.
The document presented yesterday, he said, recognizes the stark economic reality of deforestation across the globe “because the forests bring economic value when they are harvested.”
Mr. Jagdeo presented findings from a recent analysis on the huge financial gains Guyana can get from harvesting its forests at a higher rate but stressed that aligning national and global interests is the only long-term solution to deforestation.
Dr. Roger Luncheon, Cabinet Secretary and Chairman of the session, called it a “most historic event”, noting that Guyana has been putting its case consistently to the world since October 2007 and adding “today we are at a pivotal stage”.
Luncheon said Guyana has come up with a “feasible market model that warrants comprehensive scrutiny.”
Loud cheers from a packed gallery also greeted Mr. Jagdeo’s suggestion, after his presentation, that a website be created to get feedback on the document from stakeholders and the public.
Opposition Leader Robert Corbin and key representatives from labour, churches, the private sector, Amerindian communities, non-governmental organizations, diplomats and others were among invitees for the presentation.
Mr. Jagdeo said the international community has to act in the coming year to avert catastrophic climate change, noting that a summit in Copenhagen, Denmark next year will try to forge a global deal to provide a framework to achieve this.
If the global deal fails to address deforestation, it would be virtually impossible to stabilize the world’s climate, he pointed out.
He argued that unlike the current Kyoto agreement on climate change, the Copenhagen meeting must create “proportional incentives for all causes of greenhouse gas emissions”.
“In particular”, said the President, “it is essential that it creates incentives to reduce tropical deforestation.”
The Guyana Government, he said, supports the international proposal that, at a minimum, Copenhagen must create incentives to halve tropical deforestation by 2020, adding that as a country where almost 60 per cent of the territory is tropical rainforest, “we recognize that we have a responsibility to work with other nations to frame a solution.”
This requires national scale action, he said, noting “it is not sustainable to create oases of good practices within a desert of oftentimes bad national practices.”
He recalled Guyana’s offer to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to consider placing almost all of this country’s rainforests under long-term protection if the right market-based incentives were created to make this economically worthwhile and provided it does not affect the legitimate development aspirations of the people or trespass on their sovereignty over the forests.
Mr. Jagdeo said this will have to be done with the sanction of the National Assembly and those who live and depend on the forests.
He said the government will launch the national consultation early next year “to give all Guyanese an opportunity to understand more about what I have proposed and to get their opinions on how we can balance our national development with the climate needs of the wider world.”
In preparation for the national consultation and with some support from Britain’s Prince Charles’ Rainforest Project and former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s Climate Change Initiative, the President said, a team of local and internationally-recognized consultants has been working on a “rigorous fact-based assessment of how to align rainforest countries’ long-term economic interests with those of the wider world.”
“We used Guyana as a case study for what it would take to make tropical forests worth more alive than dead”, he said.
According to the President, that analysis looked at how Guyana can assist the international community to forge a post-Kyoto climate change agreement to rapidly slow tropical deforestation; developing rigorous business cases for low-carbon investments and employment opportunities in Guyana; and addressing the adjustment side of climate change.
He said the work in these three areas will form the foundation for next year’s national consultation.
Mr. Jagdeo said the recent analysis showed that Guyana’s forests can generate economic value to the nation of between US$430M and US$2bln a year, with the most likely figure being US$580M. This model, he said, excludes 1.7 million hectares of land allocated for Amerindian communities and 10 per cent of the forests which may have high biodiversity value.
This will involve a deforestation rate of about four per cent a year and will result in the release of about 200 tons of carbon in the atmosphere annually, he reported.
He said funds generated from the market-based model to avert deforestation can help Guyana move its entire economy to clean power plant energy, noting that the proposed Amaila Falls hydro-power plant will supply low-carbon electricity in addition to other huge benefits.
The funds can also provide unprecedented assistance to forest communities and develop the economy through expanding eco-tourism and other schemes, and support diversification of the wider economy, the President said.
Other benefits include investing heavily in public development and upgrading the sea defence and irrigation systems along the coast, he said.
He stressed that the international community must recognize that the solution to the deforestation problem “will come from within forest countries and therefore forest communities and other forest country stakeholders must be seen as equal partners in the search for these solutions।”
Nota del Editor del blog: Al referenciarse a la República Cooperativa de Guyana se deben de tener en cuenta los 159.500 Km2, de territorios ubicados al oeste del río Esequibo conocidos con el nombre de Guayana Esequiba o Zona en Reclamación sujetos al Acuerdo de Ginebra del 17 de febrero de 1966.
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