PM Hinds leads Climate Change awareness team to T&T

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Georgetown : Guyana is continuing its advocacy at the regional and international levels on climate change with the most recent effort being lead by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, in Trinidad and Tobago.

Cabinet Secretary, and Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, made this disclosure at his weekly post-Cabinet media briefing.  He said the Prime Minster spearheaded this effort, when he represented Guyana at the recently held CARICOM meeting of its Climate Change Negotiators and Climate Change Ministers.

It was explained that the region’s aim is to find consensus as it prepares to attend the 2015 United Nations Summit in France to negotiate the new international climate agreement. At present, countries and regional blocks are consolidating their respective positions on climate change thus Guyana and CARICOM are no exception.  A

According to the Cabinet Secretary, Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy has situated the country in the forefront of the international debate on climate change. “Its advocacy pursued during former President Jagdeo’s term in office, that advocacy has continued unabated”.

           A series of high-level meetings have, and are being held to address climate change issues. These include the UN Secretary General’s proprietary meeting in the United Arab Emirates on climate change that took place earlier this month, the CARICOM Negotiators and Climate Change Ministerial meeting that was recently concluded, then the June meeting in Germany where UNFCC negotiation will continue to further discuss the elements of the design of the 2015 new agreement. This will be followed by an upcoming July meeting of the CARICOM Heads of Government where a regional declaration, on the issue is expected, according to Dr. Luncheon.

He also revealed that Guyana will be represented at Small Island Developing States International conference in Samoa in the Pacific in September.

“The UN Secretary General would convene a summit on climate change and that would be preceding the September annual general assembly where the politicians are expected to be bold and to be ambitious and innovative in the areas of climate change mitigation, adaptation and financing. In October 2014 there will be another conference. This will be followed by the definitive activity in December and it will be in Lima, Peru where the Conference of Parties members to the Convention on Climate Change would gather and when their reasonable expectations that details of the design of the new agreement intended for completion in 2015 those elements would be unveiled”.

Guyana has been described as pioneer for its LCDS programme with many other nations moving to adopt similar strategies as part of their climate change strategies.