[www.inewsguyana.com] – A Climate Resilience Strategy and Action Plan (CRSAP) is currently being developed by the Government of Guyana through the Office of Climate Change (OCC), to provide a comprehensive framework for addressing climate change adaptation and resilience in Guyana.
This framework will help Guyana to address direct and indirect impacts associated with extreme events, as well as emerging, indirect, slow-onset climate impacts and hazards.
The project is being developed in partnership with Conservation International Foundation Guyana (CI-Guyana) with support from the Kingdom of Norway. Acclimatise, a UK based consultancy group has been contracted to develop the CRSAP.
The inception meeting for the project was held during the first week of November, 2014 and in the following weeks ahead; a “Stocktaking for National Adaptation Planning” session and other stakeholder sessions will be held.
The CRSAP is said to be especially timely given that Guyana has already begun to feel the devastating impacts of climate change such as hotter days and more intense rainfall. In recent years, the country has experienced extreme weather events that have resulted in high levels of flooding along the coast and in some inland areas. It was close to a decade ago that Guyana experienced the highest rainfall record since 1888, which resulted in the most severe flooding in the country’s history.
In his address at the UN Climate Summit in September, 2014, President Donald Ramotar alluded that, “as a low-lying coastal state, we are particularly vulnerable to devastating climate change impacts. Adaptation activities and building resilience to improve our ability to cope are indispensable elements of our climate strategy.”
Making the economy resilient to climate change and reducing Guyana’s vulnerability and exposure to climate change is one of the key goals of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). Climate change adaptation and resilience building were identified as priority under the LCDs projects and a series of measures were identified.
The CRSAP supports this vision and will, inter-alia, help to identify current climate risks and determine options for building resilience and adapting to climate change. In addition, the CRSAP will help to prioritise adaptation and resilience projects.
The CRSAP is a key project that is being funded under the Guyana – Norway agreement. The agreement continues to make significant progress and in October 2014, Guyana earned US$ 35 million as its fourth performance based payment under the Partnership. This brings Guyana’s total earning to US$ 150 million since the Partnership started in 2009. These earnings are being channelled in priority investments, like the CRSAP, which aim to help Guyana achieve its long-term developmental goals.
Climate change is a key defining issue of our time that will get worse if countries do not take action now. At this stage, many of the most vulnerable countries of the world are moving towards the development of National Adaptation Plans and Projects to help them to cope with the impacts of climate change – the CRSAP is especially timely in this regard.
At the upcoming, United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Peru in December, countries including the most vulnerable to climate change like Guyana will continue to call for greater global action to address climate change and for increased support for the very important issue of climate change adaptation.
Ya all better dont let glen baboo lall to know what ya all doin if not he will take pic of extreme dry and extreme wet places and post it for the world to see. and if any ppp member say anything the bobaoo lall bana gat all of dem on tape.