Guyana’s Opposition Leader, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, is currently attending the first World Sustainable Development Forum (WSDF) being held in Mexico City under the theme ‘Implementing the Paris Agreement and the SDGs’.
The prestigious event commenced today, February 1 2018 and will conclude on February 3, 2018. The Forum is co-sponsored by the Government of Mexico City; a group of world class universities in Mexico; and has the support of business and industry as well as the research and academic community in Mexico.
The WSDF is expected to attract a global audience, and renowned speakers including political leaders who have been or are currently heads of states and heads of governments, distinguished winners of the Nobel Prize, ministers holding relevant portfolios from a large number of countries, as well as leaders of business and industry, civil society and research and academic institutions.
Jagdeo is among several panelists, including: Jean Charest, Former Premier of Quebec, and former Minister of Environment, Canada; Lord Deben, John Gummer, Chairman of the UK’s independent Committee on Climate Change, UK; Felix Finkbeiner, Chair and Founder, Plant-for-the-Planet, Germany; Sir David King, Former Special Representative for Climate Change at Foreign & Commonwealth Office, UK; Brice Lalonde, Former Minister of Environment, France; Dr. Carlos Lopes, Visiting Professor, University of Cape Town; and former Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa; Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, Senior Fellow, United Nations Foundation, Washington, DC, USA; Mr. Erik Solheim, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme; and Nobel Laureate H.E. Dr. José Ramos-Horta, Former President of East Timor, Timor-Leste.
The format of the forum would consist of keynote addresses, high level panel discussions and parallel sessions focused on specific themes and issues.
Youth would have a special role in the meeting, and it is the intention to have enlightened young people from universities across the globe selected, to present their perspectives and participate in discussions for ensuring that the voices of youth are reflected in the recommendations of the forum and the actions that would be based on the policies enunciated.
The Forum in Mexico City would place great importance on the nature and timing of the energy transition required worldwide, by which the concentration of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere can be limited and the risks from the impacts of climate change contained to ensure the well being of future generations.
The recent spurt in extreme events, clearly projected in a special report brought out in 2011 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), only adds a higher sense of urgency to tackling the challenge of climate change and meeting the SDGs.
WSDF is a global initiative to promote and mobilize global action for effective implementation of both the Paris agreement on climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN General Assembly.
The WSDF is a not-for-profit organization incorporated separately in Europe, Norway and the U.S.
