Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 05, 2009 Editorial
The debate on climate change is over. The world is convinced that climate change is a reality and that unless countries control emissions then many countries, particularly low lying states, are doomed.
When the idea was first posited, the skeptics turned to science and argued that whatever is being noticed at this time is cyclical, that every millennium or so the earth goes through certain phases that invoke changing weather patterns.
However, the melting polar ice caps and the visible signs that carbon emissions have taken their toll on both the environment and the atmosphere have more than convinced them.
Their reaction to the situation has been slow but within recent months there has been a heightened rush to slash emissions. The fear is real.
Guyana with its fertile agricultural lands below sea level is one of the countries that could be hard hit and possibly face destruction as a result of the rising sea levels.
This scenario is frightening for those of us who live along this narrow coastal strip that feeds the nation and allows for food exports to countries not blessed with the ability to produce their own food.
Just a few short years ago, the changing weather patterns all but wiped out Guyana’s productive potential. For the first time in recent memory, the people along the very narrow strip lost crops, livestock and property. Some lost their lives in their front yards.
There was so much water on the land that there was the real fear that the sea defence would have collapsed, letting in the Atlantic that has been threatening for hundreds, if not for thousands of years.
The rains had come in torrents so strong and continuous that some of the religious ilk feared that the last days were here. Guyana was experiencing first hand the fall out from climate change and it was not surprising that President Bharrat Jagdeo took his campaign around the world.
In another few days there will be one of the largest assemblage of world leaders to discuss climate change and its impact on the global community. They are going to look at countries that have the greatest carbon emissions and seek to have them modify their production lines to scale down such emissions.
Some countries are arguing that there is already the technology to filter the harmful greenhouse gases that have sent global temperatures rising. But mere harnessing the emissions is not enough and this is where countries like Guyana become important.
The world knows that the forests are the lungs of the earth. Guyana has a vast forest accounting for more than 80 per cent of its landmass.
This sum is a mere three per cent of the world’s forest and this, coming from a country that has a population that is all but invisible in the world’s total, speaks volumes.
Here is a country that can use its forests to its financial benefits but choosing to place it at the service of the world.
The decision seems to be bearing fruit because for the first time a country has begun to pay for carbon credits. Norway is paying Guyana money to preserve that forest.
As President Bharrat Jagdeo told the local press, if nothing comes out of Copenhagen, Guyana has already secured its Copenhagen.
Two rich countries have also placed a sizeable sums into a fund for carbon credits. France and Great Britain have pooled US$10 billion. New Zealand has also committed US$10 million.
By the end of the year there should be a large pool of money for those countries trying with all their might to save the planet.
Jagdeo giving Exxon 102 cent to collect 2 cent.
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