Guyana will express further interest in the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) launched on Tuesday by the World Bank in Bali, Indonesia, to combat tropical deforestation and climate change, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
The facility was launched at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties meeting in Bali, where Guyana was being represented by a delegation headed by Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud.
The FCPF, according to the World Bank, is expected to build the capacity of developing countries in the tropical and sub-tropical regions to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) and tap into a future system of positive incentives for REDD. Deforestation and forest degradation are leading causes of global warming, contributing approximately 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Additionally, the facility aims to support countries and the REDD strategy with a commitment to ensure consultations with indigenous people, forest dwellers and other stakeholders at the national level.
It is envisaged that FCPF’s resources can be used in a new climate change regime negotiated after 2012, when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends.
Guyana is among 30 countries from Latin America, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region that will seek further information on the FCPF, which according to President of the World Bank Robert Zoellick is a “practical pilot to expand the tools for climate change negotiations.”
GINA quoted Zoellick as saying that the facility “signals that the world cares about the global value of forests and is ready to pay for it. This can change the economic options for many people who are dependent on the forests for their livelihoods. There is now a value to conserving, not just harvesting the forest.”
Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, Denmark and Finland – along with The Nature Conservancy, a United States-based non-governmental organisation have made a financial commitment to the FCPF totalling US$160M and this is expected to grow further.
Also present at the launch of the facility, GINA said, were Chairman of the National Climate Committee Shyam Nokta and Head of the National Climate Unit Gitanjali Chandarpal, who were part of the Guyana delegation.
Meanwhile, GINA also reported that Minister Persaud and the Guyana delegation on Wednesday met UK’s Minister of State for the Environment Phil Woolas as a follow-up to President Bharrat Jagdeo’s proposal for a market-based mechanism to reward the country for the environmental services of its standing rainforest.
This is in the context of taking early action on mitigating climate change through avoided deforestation.
And Minister Woolas reiterated his government’s keen interest in President Jagdeo’s proposal, citing it as innovative and creative.
The discussion, GINA stated, was aimed at providing the UK team with details on Guyana’s offer and set a process for more detailed engagements between government representatives from both sides on the proposal.
In October, Jagdeo said that Guyana was willing to deploy almost all of its rainforest in the service of the battle against climate change. Under this offer, not a single hectare of forest would be sold and forestry and mining activities will continue in a sustainable manner.
