President Bharrat Jagdeo gained support for his Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) from movie star and avid environment activist Harrison Ford at the launch of Team Earth in Greely Square, New York on Monday.
The event sought to showcase the urgency of protecting tropical forests and to urge support on forest protection from the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and in the Copenhagen Climate Council this December. And according to reports a number of US based Guyanese used the opportunity to mount a protest against the Jagdeo administration.
Ford, according to a Guyana News Agency (GINA) release was quoted as saying, “By having the foresight to recognise that serving the needs of the planet could also help the people of Guyana, President Jagdeo is helping to change the way we think about economic development and climate change.”
Ford who has been a board member of Conservation International for 15 years added, “We are calling on leaders attending the UN General Assembly to follow Guyana’s lead and help to ensure that they support a finance package that keeps the world’s forest standing at the Copenhagen climate talks in December.”
Meanwhile Jagdeo in his speech noted that since his last call for forest conservation, “the world has lost an area of forest the size of my entire country” which he believes has not happened out of malice or ignorance but “because most of the world’s forested nations have no alternative to generate income by cutting their forests.” He said that Guyana’s low carbon development plan offered the solution and he said that UN leaders has the “unprecedented opportunity to put the planet on a new path where protecting forests is more economically prudent than cutting them down.
“Immediate and adequate funding for countries developing forest protection strategies as part of their low carbon development plan is critical,” the President said.
Jagdeo further stated, “Protecting forests represents one of the easiest and most cost effective ways to fight climate change now, whereas many other strategies may take years to develop. If we wait, these forests will be lost along with the benefits they provide to humanity in terms of climate mitigation, fresh water, erosion control, food and resources.”
Team Earth, a cross sector collaboration bringing together businesses, politicians, scientists, non profit organizations, educators and children was organized by Conser-vation International and forms part of Climate Week which coincides with the UN General Assembly.
GINA said the media event took place before stunning installation of life size origami trees and wildlife. The life-size trees and wild life symbolized Guyana’s massive and immensely important forest and it was created on site over two days and then partially destroyed as a statement about loss of the planet’s forests.
