A suggestion for President Jagdeo and CARICOM’s Dr. Carrington

Feb 03, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,

With regards to the proposed Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) policy, I would like to suggest that the Government of Guyana approach the World Bank, IMF and IADB or even wealthy countries or grant agencies for funding a comprehensive study on the economics of climate change relating to Guyana.

The CARICOM Secretariat can do the same (even approaching the OAS and the UN) with regards to studying the implications of climate change on the wider Caribbean. Since climate change has large regional implications, a CARICOM approach may be more successful in obtaining funds from multi-lateral institutions than a Guyanese approach.

The Caribbean will be deeply affected by climate change – rising ocean leading to floods and maybe even severe droughts in coming decades. CARICOM Secretary General, Carrington should give some thought to this recommendation to obtain funding for a comprehensive study on climate change around the greater Caribbean region.

I believe the aim of the study should be to look at the consequences of climate change over the decades as well as into the future – its effect on food production, lifestyle, and health, etc. so as to help decision makers at various level of Caribbean society to address the issue of climate change.

Following the collapse of the Climate Summit in December, there is a great urgency to stay focus on the dangers to human posed by climate change. We should not abandon the LCDS strategy because of a perceived failure at Copenhagen. We need to continue to raise awareness about the urgency of climate change challenges in our country and in the region.

Such a study will provide solid information on causes and effects of global change in our region as well as on mitigation and adaptation strategies. From such a study, recommendations can be made on policy responses to cope with climate change and how to counter future climate change impacts. Recommendations will be obtained on how to develop low-carbon growth strategies and harnessing energy from nature as opposed to depending on fossil fuel which adds to global warming – the greatest threat to climate change.

President Jagdeo should request someone in his office to develop a grant proposal and send it off to the appropriate international donor agencies or grant institutions for consideration for funding. Ditto for Secretary General Carrington – a grant will create jobs for some thereby benefiting the economy even if it is a temporary assignment.

Vishnu Bisram