Jagdeo to lead Commonwealth Group on climate finance

Bharat JagdeoThe Commonwealth Secretariat picked former President of Guyana Bharrat Jagdeo to lead a high level team of experts to identify solutions for unlocking climate vulnerable Commonwealth countries to combat climate change while identifying practical solutions for those countries, according to Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma.

Sharma said the former Guyana President will be joined by eight others to press the international community to help identify practical solutions.

Commonwealth Expert Group on Climate Finance, will be officially launched on the Commonwealth Network on Environment and Climate Change in London from 25 to 26 June 2013.

The former President said: “Some of the most climate-vulnerable people in the world are in our Commonwealth. Millions of people are in danger – the magnitude of the challenges they face is overwhelming and they cannot face those challenges solely from their own resources. Over the years, many pledges of assistance have been made – but we have not seen enough action. I hope that the Expert Group can identify ways, both to identify financing at a scale that matches the problem, and also to enable Commonwealth Heads of Government to take specific actions to enable financing to be deployed in a way that rapidly gets to the people who need it.”

Sharma added that the Commonwealth Secretariat is facilitating the gathering of evidence on best practices in climate finance through its online workspace for professional communities of practice, Commonwealth Connects:

www.thecommonwealth.org/climatefinancecfe<http://www.thecommonwealth.org/climatefinancecfe>

Jagdeo has been recognized internationally for his role in battling climate change as manifested in the Low Carbon Development Strategy for Guyana which has seen a financing deal from Norway worth potentially US$250M.