British helping Guyana find low carbon investments

Sep 10, 2009 News

British High Commissioner congratulates the latest Chevening Scholar, Donna Ramdial.

The British Government is helping Guyana find low carbon investments.
British High Commissioner Fraser Wheeler yesterday said the British Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) is supporting the new Programme Management Unit in the Office of the President, which has been set up to attract outside investment in specific low carbon sectors.
He said it is just one of the initiatives of the British government in support of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
In March 2008, Wheeler hosted a brainstorm in London with a Government of Guyana representative, international development experts, and financiers from the city of London. The aim, which was achieved, Wheeler said, was to look for ways to develop the President’s vision for a low carbon development strategy.

Once the President and his advisers had developed further the ideas to come out of the brainstorm, Britain funded communication material to help the Government of Guyana begin to sell its ideas to other potential partners and stakeholders.
DFID helped to fund the next stage, which was two phases of in-depth research by the international consultants, McKinsey and Company. It was this research that led to the development of the LCDS the government is trying to get widespread support for.
“We support the LCDS as a progressive model that seeks to combine national economic development with the international effort to mitigate climate change,” Wheeler stated.
He was speaking at a ceremony to announce the award of the prestigious British Chevening scholarship to Donna Ramdial, to undertake a one-year Masters of Science degree in Environmental Forestry at the School of Environment and Natural Resources in Bangor University, Wales.
Ramdial is an Assistant Lecturer within the forestry department at the University of Guyana.
The High Commissioner said the award of the Chevening Scholarship to Ms. Ramdial is a further contribution to the implementation of the President’s bold and innovative low carbon development strategy, so that Guyana can develop economically and contribute to the global effort to mitigate climate change through the retention of its forest.
Wheeler said the British have made strategic interventions in low carbon sectors, such as considerable support and funding for aquaculture, including the introduction of super-male fingerlings; the introduction of a new breed of sheep into Guyana, and crossing it with the indigenous breed, which again is working well; and a range of support for eco-tourism, building on its long-term support for Iwokrama.
The latest venture by the British is to undertake research on what it would take for Guyana to become a world centre of excellence on research in biodiversity.
The British government is also currently working closely with the European Commission and World Bank on helping Guyana adapt to climate change, for example through the strengthening of the sea wall; and reducing flood risk from the conservancy dam through improvements to the Cuhna canal.
The British government is also contributing to the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, “which Guyana looks likely to become the first country to benefit from,” Wheeler stated.
The High Commission is now developing, in collaboration with the University of Guyana, a lecture series designed to stimulate debate on the future challenges and opportunities presented by climate change in Guyana.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News