Awareness of existential threats to Caribbean even more compelling - Jagdeo – says duty of tourism officials to help Governments raise consciousness
Georgetown, GINA, April 16, 2012
Bharrat Jagdeo, Former President of Guyana
Impediments to sustainable development within the Caribbean region were brought to the fore by former President Bharrat Jagdeo as delegates gathered at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC) on day two of the 13th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development.
Mr. Jagdeo who, because of official duties overseas, was unable to attend the conference today where he was scheduled to deliver a keynote address, however, he spoke to the gathering via a video message, expressing hope that it leads to a strong focus on solutions to climate change.
Given the concomitant consequences of natural disasters on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and a World Bank study which places the Caribbean in the 10 or 15 regions most vulnerable to climate conditions, Mr. Jagdeo said awareness of the existential threats to the region is even more compelling.
With apparent indifference at the international level to reach consensus on capping greenhouse gas emissions, despite predictions by the intergovernmental panel on climate change that global temperature must be limited to two degrees Celsius above green industrial level by 2050 and, evidence of a four degrees rise in global temperature above pre-industrial level, Jagdeo said loss of forests and corals and sea rises will be inevitable.
“It is incumbent that tourism officials many of who are very influential help Governments to be aware of the problem because we have too many Governments that are sleep walking on this issue and to raise awareness in our societies about the threat to our way of life in the Caribbean and also the threat to the product we offer because we never have sustainable tourism if we observe those consequences without a sound global agreement to limit Green House gases. So I hope this point would be considered in the conference,” Jagdeo said.
The former Guyanese Head of State who holds the title of Earth and Environmental Specialist on Sustainable Development is at present with a delegation of Ministers from the Congo promoting an agreement which it is hoped will preserve the rainforest of the world and allow developing countries to take greater ownership of their forest.
He told the delegates today that the purpose of the agreement is to use the forest to create wealth by striking a balance between forest preservation and economic development.
Guyana has proven that such a notion can be realised when it secured funding from the Government of Norway through climate services arrangement that is regarded the second largest in the world.
The agreement will enable Guyana to realise its Low Carbon Development Strategy that evolved out of former President Jagdeo’s Initiative on Avoided Deforestation launched in December 2008.
But as the delegates brainstorm these ideas Jagdeo brought to their attention the variations likely to take place in the tourism sector and the new wave of tourists likely to emerge as a result of the economic crisis in the developed world.
He made reference to the Chinese, Brazilian and Indian populations which he said are often not perceived differently to those from Europe and as such have not been targeted as potential tourists.
“So too many of our immigration officials think that they have to keep people from China and Brazil and India out of our markets. Our whole entire immigration policies are dedicated to keeping people out from these regions rather than encouraging them to come in. Many of our tourism institutes and structures are not training people to deal with those tourists. Our language training, training on culture and food and customs, practices are lagging way behind those touring markets,”
In this regard, he expressed the hope that the conference would examine specific plans for the entire Caribbean, such as direct flights which can ease the procedure that allows for an intake of this new category of potential tourists.
He did not rule out the fact that the region’s tourism product has made significant progress but, believes that the strategy should be continuously reviewed to make it more attractive to tourists from across the world.
“I think we have to do this by combining our natural beauty, the sun, sand, sea, the forest with a range of other services that you tourists are travelling for. Take for example health service, because of the cost of health care in North America and in Europe,” Jagdeo said.
