Dear Editor,
I was in Port of Spain during the just concluded Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference. First, one needs to commend highly, Prime Minister Patrick Manning and the people of Trinidad and Tobago for doing an excellent job. We all felt proud to be West Indians.
The radiance of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II added a touch of class to this event. It was good to see the leaders find common ground on so many issues, in particular, that of climate change now being discussed in Copenhagen. When Prime Minister Patrick Manning, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and Denmark’s Prime Minister Lars Lakke Rasmussen revealed the Port of Spain Climate Change Consensus – ‘A Common-wealth Climate Change Declaration’ – we all felt a sense of relief to see the advance of an issue raised in Guyana over three decades ago.
The Port of Spain accord not only represented an unprecedented opportunity for CHOGM but a major step along a rocky road pioneered years ago.
Climate change is a specific aspect and it was advocated that we should save our earth from destruction. Many worked hard and long to bring attention to the casual way many of us were treating Mother Nature’s handiwork and God’s providence. We recall the stirring pleas of UN consultants and academics’ commitment to be part of plans to deal with this issue.
We commend the effort made by President Hugh Desmond Hoyte in following up on an idea of his predecessor when we started the Guyana National Service, and where the 1980 constitution recognized the importance of caring for the environment. Hoyte made available a large tract of our land for research and an example to the world of how we need to preserve the natural environment. The Iwokrama Project was a bold forward step.
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green JP
