Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat MP. attending COP27

Minister of Natural Resources, VIckram Bharrat MP, has arrived in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt for the 27th conference of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – COP27.

Minister Bharrat is joining over 100 world leaders at what has been dubbed the “Africa COP” where there will be a renewed focus on the concerns of African and other developing countries.

Speaking in advance of Monday’s opening ceremony, Minister Bharrat said: “Guyana has long been a global leader on the fight against climate change. This has not changed due to our new role as an oil producer. In fact, our new realities increase our ability to fully understand the challenges the international community must address – including how to align the need for climate security and energy security and balancing the need for food security with maintaining the world’s forests. And at the core of everything we do in the coming days will be ensuring that we act in solidarity with developing countries from all over the world – to ensure that progress is made on their priorities, especially around finance.”

The Minister is expected to focus on Guyana’s climate priorities – including engaging in discussions around promoting the LCDS 2030 which was first launched by President Irfaan Ali in October 2021. The LCDS 2030 is the successor to the 2008 LCDS, which was launched by then-President Bharrat Jagdeo and was the first low carbon development strategy from a developing country. In particular, Minister Bharrat is expected to support the formation of global partnerships to promote actions on maintaining the world’s forests, citing Guyana’s experience as an example. He is also expected to join with other countries in advancing the framework for increasing the scale of global carbon markets as outlined in LCDS 2030.

As well as promoting Guyana’s national objectives, Minister Bharrat is expected to add Guyana’s voice to those of CARICOM and other developing countries in calling for increased support for developing countries’ investment in dealing with climate change, and “loss and damage”, which is being addressed as part of a COP for the first time.