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Former Guyanese President touted “Forest Champion” for climate change advocacy

President of Conservation International (CI), Russell Mittermeier in an article commended the work of former President Bharrat Jagdeo in the area of climate change; touting him a “Forest Champion”. The article recognised that under Jagdeo’s leadership, Guyana became a global leader in calling attention to the incredible importance of tropical forests in the global battle to mitigate climate change.

“I would like to pay tribute to him because what he has accomplished in the global arena has been truly exceptional and should be brought to the world’s attention,” Mittermeier said. He recalled the great level of intellect that the former President displayed during their first meeting in 1999, shortly after he took that high Office at the age of 35 and noted how easily he made himself accessible whenever the need arose; “a rare thing for Heads of State these days,” he said. Mittermeier’s second visit to the former President in 2006 turned out to be a very important one for Guyana and the world, as it was a time when the global community was starting to realise the role of tropical rainforests in mitigating the effects of climate change; a realisation which led to the emergence of the concept “avoided deforestation”, which in turn morphed into the much-talked about REDD+ initiative.

This initiative speaks to the notion that countries with high deforestation rates should be compensated for reducing or halting forest destruction. However, the article highlighted that the problem with that system is that it did not take into account the more than 30 percent of all remaining tropical forests which are in countries that, for various reasons, have kept their forests intact.
In this regard, Guyana and Suriname are at the top of the list along with countries such as Bhutan and a few countries in Central Africa. Mittermeier made reference to a paper that he co-authored along with his colleagues from CI, which highlighted that High Forest Cover, Low Deforestation Rate (HFLD) countries should be rewarded and placed on the forefront of REDD+ discussions.

“We needed an articulate and visible spokesman and we happily found one in President Jagdeo…from that moment on, he took on that mantle of leadership for continually and forcefully speaking on this issue whenever the opportunity presented itself,” Mittermeier said. He also paid due recognition to the former President’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), which he said is the first of its kind especially for a HFLD country. Mention was also made of the US$250M Guyana-Norway agreement and quoted Norwegian Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg referring to this commitment as a, “no-brainer.”Jagdeo’s leadership in passing the Protected Areas Act under which the first two parks, the Kanuku Mountains and Shell Beach, were declared protected areas.

“We are delighted…this culminated 18 years of hard work with several governments, but most especially with the government of President Jagdeo who, with these protected areas created in the final months of his presidency, cemented and his place in history,” Mittermeier posited. The CI President expressed the hopes that the new Head of State, Donald Ramotar will continue Guyana’s leadership role among the forest-rich countries of the world.

In April 2010, the former President was among six persons including one other Heads of State to receive United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), Champion of the Earth Award; the highest honour for environmental leadership. He received the award in the category of biodiversity and ecosystems management.