Jagdeo conferred with ‘Order of Merit’ from Brazil

Former President Bharrat Jagdeo was conferred with the highest honour of the State of Roraima, Brazil, the Order of Merit “Forte Sao Joaquim”.
In a citation, governor of the State of Roraima Jose de Achieta Junior said the award was given for personal achievements and for the strengthening of relations between Brazil and Guyana.
The recognition is one of many honours Jagdeo has received for his outstanding work as a statesman and distinguished advocate against climate change.

He was recently honoured by the University of Central Lancashire for his global advocacy against climate change.
The Guyanese head of state was named Time Magazine’s “Hero of the Environment” in 2008 and in 2010, he was appointed to the UN secretary general’s high-level panel on climate financing.  That panel included former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Norway Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
In 1992, he became a Member of Parliament in Guyana and was appointed president in 1999, serving for more than a decade.
Now, as a private citizen, the former president devotes much of his time working on the scientific, economic and social dimensions of climate change. He has been recognised in Guyana, India, the Caribbean, Africa, Russia and the Commonwealth for his work and advocacy on climate change.
In June, the University of Trent, Canada, will also honour Jagdeo at its 46th convocation ceremonies.
A global champion for the environment, Jagdeo has advocated for international action to avoid the worst extremes of climate change. During his presidency, Guyana embarked on one of the world’s most ambitious low carbon development strategies, maintaining 99.5 per cent of its rainforest, and is on track to become the world’s number one user of clean energy by 2017.
In 2012, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature appointed him high-level envoy for Sustainable Development in Forest Countries and a patron of nature. He was a founding board member of the Global Green Growth Institute, the world’s newest international organisation, and was elected as its first president in 2012. At the request of leaders of forest countries across the world, he serves as roving ambassador for the Three Basins.
From 2005 to 2006, Jagdeo was chairman of the board of governors of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. In 2006, he was named by the World Economic Forum as an inaugural Young Global Leader.