President to unveil avoided deforestation position

President Bharrat Jagdeo will today launch Guyana’s position on Avoided Deforestation at the Guyana International Conference Centre at Liliendaal.

He will unveil the main features of the technical report that outlines Guyana’s position and a large number of stakeholders are expected to be present, a press release from the Government Infor-mation Agency (GINA) said.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon at his post-cabinet media briefing at the Office of the President yesterday noted that Guyana has very high forest coverage and its standing forest has been subjected to a historically low rate of deforestation.

“As you know, standing forests in this era of climate change and global warming is no longer questioned as a public good. As a consequence, Guyana expects that its contributions in maintaining its standing forests, its contributions to world economic conservation and environmental conservation would be treated fairly in the marketing of environmental services in combating carbon emissions” Luncheon said.

The release stated that for some time now, Jagdeo has been lobbying for Guyana to receive monetary compensation for its standing forests.

He has also offered the services of the forest in the world’s battle against climate change. Guyana is one of four countries remaining in the world which still have their forests intact, GINA asserted. As a consequence, President Jagdeo has been recognized on the international front for his efforts, especially in the environmental arena, the release added.