Former President of Guyana Bharrat Jagdeo has been picked by the Commonwealth Secretariat to lead a high level team of experts to identify solutions for unlocking resources that will enable small, poor and climate vulnerable Commonwealth countries to combat climate change.
The announcement was made by Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma who said that the former Guyana President will be joined by eight others to press the international community to help identify practical solutions for those countries most vulnerable to climate change.
“I am pleased to announce that His Excellency former President Bharrat Jagdeo has accepted to chair a new Commonwealth Expert Group on Climate Finance,” Mr Sharma said.
According to a statement from the London secretariat of The Commonwealth, the Secretary General said“together with eight others, the Group will tackle how best to access resources to support low-emission and climate-resilient development in small and climate-vulnerable states.”
The statement added that the Commonwealth Expert Group on Climate Finance, convened under his Good Offices for the Environment remit, will present their report to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka in November 2013.
Former President Jagdeo who is recognised globally for his efforts to understand and fight climate change said “some of the most climate-vulnerable people in the world are in our Commonwealth. Millions of people are in danger – the magnitude of the challenges they face is overwhelming and they cannot face those challenges solely from their own resources.”
Mr. Jagdeo who launched the Low Carbon Development Strategy as Guyana’s main effort to fight climate change believes that there is a need for more commitment to assist smaller states in their efforts to combat the problem. Mr. Jagdeo is quoted by the Commonwealth as saying that “Over the years, many pledges of assistance have been made – but we have not seen enough action. I hope that the Expert Group can identify ways, both to identify financing at a scale that matches the problem, and also to enable Commonwealth Heads of Government to take specific actions to enable financing to be deployed in a way that rapidly gets to the people who need it.”
The Commonwealth Secretariat is facilitating the gathering of evidence on good practices in climate finance through its online workspace for professional communities of practice, Commonwealth Connects: www.thecommonwealth.org/climatefinancecfe.
According to the Secretariat, to provide further opportunity for dialogue with the Commonwealth Expert Group on Climate Finance, there will be an official launch of the Commonwealth Network on Environment and Climate Change in London from 25 to 26 June 2013.
(Filed: 20th June, 2013)
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