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Neil Marks
Like most Guyanese, Neil Marks lives on the vulnerable coastland of Guyana, South America, a short distance away from a rainforest teeming with untold biodiversity that is of immense importance to global efforts against climate change. Marks has covered tourism, environment and climate change stories for both print and electronic media over the past decade.
Posts by Neil Marks
REDD-hot Cancún — Guyana’s race for the money
No commentsGuyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo arrives in Cancún, Mexico this week to join the tortuous UN climate talks and press the case that any “balanced” outcome must include a final decision on REDD, the idea that rich countries should pay poor countries to keep the forests standing.
»Guyana looks for ‘good’ Copenhagen agreement
No commentsPresident of Guyana Bharrat Jagdeo says he is looking for a “good” Copenhagen climate deal that would involve paying countries for reducing deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) or in Guyana’s case, maintaining low rates of deforestation.
Jagdeo has been a leading voice in the call for a REDD agreement in a new global deal to save the planet from catastrophic climate change, but groups this week expressed concern that the draft REDD text cites poor controls on governance and protecting the rights of indigenous peoples, among other issues.
Progress slow, quarrels continue at climate talks
No commentsProgress has been slow, negotiators from rich and poor countries agree, but they are not done fighting yet on what should and should not come out of new global agreement to save the planet. Case in point: common but differentiated responsibilities. Under the current United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the parties adopted a principle that basically blames the climate change problem on rich countries, whose industrial development spread harmful greenhouse gases in the air. Under the “common but differentiated responsibilities” principle, poor countries were not placed under pressure to cut emissions, because they were not major contributors of the problem.
»‘Nobody knows what the outcome of this conference will be’ – Yvo de Boer
Comments offThe UN climate chief Yvo de Boer spread further uncertainty that the Copenhagen climate change summit would produce a new legally binding agreement to make the planet cooler. “Nobody knows what the outcome of this conference will be,” said de Boer at a midday news conference at the Bella Centre Thursday.
This follows Wednesday’s quandary when the small island state of Tuvalu was handed a suspension of the negotiations it demanded over a quarrel among developing countries.
Norway agrees to pay Guyana up to US$250 million for forests
No commentsNorway agreed Monday to pay Guyana up to $250 million by 2015 to preserve forests as part of a scheme to slow climate change. Norway, which has led donor nations in slowing tropical deforestation with a budget of 3 billion Norwegian crowns ($530 million) a year, said it wanted to help Guyana maintain forests that cover 75 percent of its land.
»Forest Congress sends message to Copenhagen
No commentsWorld Forestry Congress calls on negotiators of a new global climate change deal to include a mechanism to reward countries which keep forests standing.
»Forest payment schemes failing – study
No commentsResearch into existing schemes that pay communities to keep forests standing show they end up losing out.
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