Commonwealth SG lauds Guyana for climate change fight

With initiatives in place like the 371,000 hectares of forest preserved at Iwokrama, Guyana was on Friday commended by the Secretary General for the Commonwealth, Baroness Patricia Scotland for its conservation efforts.
During a press conference on Friday, Baroness Scotland in fact noted that Guyana was leading the fight. According to Baroness Scotland, Iwokrama is one of the lungs of the world, as its large tracts of forest help with greenhouse gases.
“I come to Guyana one month before the beginning of the hurricane season. And we know that climate poses an existential threat to the whole of our Region here. Its worrying cause in the last few days we have seen storms hit Jamaica.”
“We also know there has been flooding across Asia,” Scotland said. “Many have died in India. And regrettably, it is an echo of what started last year. Cause if you remember we started with mudslides in India.”

Making specific reference to Iwokrama, Scotland noted that the project has served as an example to other countries. This example is a timely one, considering the negative effects climate change is having on other countries.
“We had flooding, first in Sri Lanka, then Bangladesh and Pakistan. Then by the time the real hurricane season started, we saw total devastation. We saw Hurricane Irma, which lead to the evacuation of Barbuda.”
“And then (there’s) Maria, which virtually destroyed the island of my birth Dominica and caused damage to the GDP. And we know Dominica had suffered years before from tropical storm Erica. So it is with some trepidation that we watch a repeat and oceanographers tell us this year may be as challenging as last year and some fear it could be worst.”
Iwokrama is dedicated as a place of research and its forests account for 1.6 per cent of Guyana’s land mass. Its 371,000 hectares is also equivalent to two per cent of Guyana’s forests.
The Iwokrama centre itself was established in 1996 in order to manage the forest area. This was arrived at following an agreement between the then Government and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
The United Nations (UN) has classified combating climate change as Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 13. According to the organisers of World Earth Day, at least two million people die globally, due to indoor and outdoor pollution. It also estimates that by the year 2030, food prices will go up by 50 per cent due to climate change.
The rising temperature, global warming and other ecological imbalances are due to the fact that half of the world’s rainforests are gone. The deaths of 70,000 persons in Europe were due to rising temperatures in 2003. These imbalances are also leading to frequent flooding and other disasters across the globe, which include forest fires, again impacting the trees.