Saving the rainforest in Guyana

Last year Guyana's president, Bharrat Jagdeo, offered to let a British government agency manage all of Guyana's rainforest -- 80% of its land area -- in return for economic assistance from the British government. The British government hasn't accepted the deal yet, but Jagdeo hasn't given up. He spoke at the launch of a new campaign by Conservation International to protect the world's rainforests. (Reports in The New York Times and Newsweek)

In the early 1990s efforts to conserve the rainforest were couched largely in terms of protecting the massive biodiversity found there. In the intervening 15 years the threat of global climate change has become more apparent, and the vital role that rainforests play in sequestering carbon has become even more important.

Now Harrison Ford (a CI Board member) reminds us that "[s]aving forests is more than helping wildlife survive. It combats climate change, and allows people to continue getting the fresh water and food and medicines they need from healthy forest ecosystems." (see the full video on the CI website)

Or as Robert Semple puts it in the Times:

The good news is that the world is finally starting to see things Mr. Jagdeo's way. Negotiators at last year's climate change conference in Bali -- the first of several meetings aimed at crafting a post-Kyoto treaty -- agreed to address deforestation. The big climate bill that is expected to be debated on the Senate floor very soon provides incentives for American companies to invest in rain-forest projects abroad. Mr. Jagdeo may yet wind up with a buyer.