Drastic action needed in fight against climate change – Attorney General

─ as international parliamentarians meet to discuss climate issues

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, SC, M.P, said countries around the world could either take immediate steps and drastic action to address the climate crisis or subject themselves to an infernal global disaster.

In his brief address to the 144th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, the Attorney General said climate change has left the world with serious decisions to make.

Minister Nandlall said leaders across the world must implement specific policies to tackle the issue, and ensure they are followed precisely.

“…all countries must set more ambitious goals to reduce emissions, and we must honour, to the letter, those ambitions. All countries have an obligation to act,” the minister stated.

In consonance with President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s call for a global commitment to the US $100 billion climate aid, the Attorney General said negligence of this pledge would be a “recipe for disaster.”

Meanwhile, the Attorney General affirmed that Guyana will continue to play its role in ensuring climate change is controlled as far as possible.

To do this, the minister told the international delegates that Guyana’s government will maintain its forests which store 20 gigatons of carbon, continue its work with local communities in conserving, protecting and sustainably managing the country’s biodiversity and freshwater supplies, decouple economic growth and emissions through a progressively cleaner energy mix to reduce carbon emissions by 70 per cent by the year 2030, and invest in low carbon opportunities for jobs, ecosystem services and social inclusion through its expansive Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

These strategies, particularly those associated with the administration’s LCDS, will have a positive local impact on the fight against climate change.

“Our government and our parliament will continue to aggressively enact laws and regulations, promulgate and implement policies on climate change and promote low carbon development in every area of national life,” the AG asserted.

Minister Nandlall is part of a delegation including, Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, Minister of Public Service, Sonia Parag, M.P., Minister of Human Services and Social Security; Dr. Vindhya Persaud,  Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr. Sherlock Isaacs, and Opposition Members of Parliament Dawn Hastings Williams, and Christopher Jones.

The Assembly’s theme this year is, Getting to Zero: Mobilising Parliaments to act on climate change.