BY SVETLANA MARSHALL
The 28th Session of the Latin American and Caribbean Forestry Commission (LACFC) opened on Monday in Guyana at the Guyana International Conference Centre, with more than 40 regional forestry experts in attendance.
Delivering the feature address, President Donald Ramotar said Guyana continues to play a leading role in the forestry sector as he alluded to the country’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), an initiative implemented by his predecessor Bharrat Jagdeo.
The LCDS is a national framework that utilises one of the first national-scale REDD- plus systems in the world that creates an avenue for Guyana to receive financial support for its contribution to reducing emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) as defined in the Bali Action Plan.
“In Guyana, we have taken our work on forest beyond the traditional sectors and have been engaged in a globally recognised programme for payments for forest-based services, namely forest carbon.
“Part of this programme includes Guyana’s partnership with the Kingdom of Norway and the establishment of a world-class partnership to demonstrate a workable solution to the global problem of climate change which brings with it severe challenges to sustainable development,” President Ramotar explained.
He said the LCDS has laid a platform for other countries to follow suit by establishing similar initiatives to receive payments for eco-system services, in particular forest carbon. Such initiatives can aid in the transformation of economies with financial resources channelled toward sustainable development.
Turning his attention to the more than 40 forest experts from the Caribbean and Latin America, President Ramotar said the forum is an open space for technical discussions to unfold as issues affecting the regional forest sector are addressed.
He said too that the staging of the 28th Session of the LACFC comes as an opportune time as both the global and regional levels. “At the global level, we have seen increasing emphasis on the role of forest in economic development, with tremendous importance placed on furthering such development in the context of strong environmental management and stewardship.”
At the regional level, the head-of-state said advocacy within the trade and multilateral arena is very evident, noting that Guyana has a strong role in the work of key regional bodies, such as Caricom, the Amazon Corporation Treaty Organisation (ACTO), the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Meanwhile, on the local arena, President Ramotar said the forestry sector has made significant contribution to the economy, pointing out that Guyana has recorded consistent growth over the last five years, despite a challenging global economic climate.
At mid-year, the domestic economy continued the trend of uninterrupted positive growth, with real Gross Domestic Product expanding by 3.9 per cent.
According to the president, this trend of success is linked to the implementation of macroeconomic policies and a diverse economic base.
