Aerial view of the Iriri River at the Arara indigenous land, in the Amazonian Rainforest, Para State, Brazil on March 15, 2019. (Getty Images)
With the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) driving the country’s development, Guyana is on the path to becoming a global powerhouse for biodiversity.
This is according to President Dr Irfaan Ali during his recent participation in the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting 2024’s “Fireside Chat”. He was at the time talking about Guyana’s unique biodiversity resources.
Strategically located in two of the world’s richest biodiversity zones – the Guiana Shield and the Amazon Rainforest, Guyana is already being dubbed by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as one of the countries with the highest concentration of biodiversity.
“We are rich [in biodiversity]. Our bird species is more than the entire United States of America. We have a high concentration of mammals, birds, and amphibians and of course, we are very rich in fresh water. So, from a biodiversity perspective, we would be a powerhouse globally,” President Ali stated at the New York event.
The Head of state was in New York earlier this week to attend the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and during his debate on Wednesday, he announced the impending launch of a global biodiversity product.
“I am pleased to announce the launch of a global biodiversity alliance. We will convene the first global biodiversity alliance summit in 2025, which will focus on creating a market for biodiversity credits, scaling biodiversity conservation debt swaps, accelerating biodiversity bonds, establishing a blueprint for biodiversity taxonomies, and promoting nature-positive action,” the Guyanese Leader told the UN assembly.
President Ali further outlined in his UN presentation that Guyana’s dedication to preserving its rich biodiversity is reflected in its actions.
“We do not make this announcement by mere words. Guyana is also committing to doubling its protected areas by December 2025 and achieving the global biodiversity target of 30 per cent by 2030. These are real solutions that Guyana is putting forward to address the global problem of biodiversity loss. We do not lecture; we lead by example without arrogance,” he posited.
Only back in July, the Head of State had disclosed plans for Guyana to mobilise countries with rich biodiversity into a global coalition alliance on biodiversity so that they can work together on creating a scalable model that would address forest and biodiversity together.
This ambitious initiative expands on Guyana’s comprehensive Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030, with the second phase now being rolled out aimed at developing innovative financing instruments for biodiversity preservation.
In fact, only last week, the Guyanese Head of State was in Scotland, where he met with His Majesty King Charles III and had discussions to advance LCDS 2030. The visit follows the King’s Foundation’s recent engagements in Guyana and the President’s own announcement that the Foundation would support the next phase of the LCDS, with a particular focus on sustainable urban development.
During that meeting, President Ali and King Charles discussed their shared commitment to climate resilience, sustainable development, agriculture, and community-driven initiatives supporting vulnerable populations.
“I am optimistic that we will work together as partners in the years ahead, especially with the new LCDS priorities—including sustainable urban development, biodiversity, and water management,” the Guyanese Leader had stated following the meeting.
Already, Guyana is earning massively from its forest carbon. With a tropical forest that takes up 86 per cent of its landmass, Guyana has the second-highest percentage of forest cover on earth and one of the lowest deforestation rates. The forest stores 19.5 gigatons of carbon and sequesters more than 153 million tons annually.
In December 2022, the Guyana Government signed a historic contract with US-based Hess Corporation for the sale of 33.7 million of the country’s high-quality certified carbon credits – a deal that saw the nation earning US$750 million for just 30 per cent of its forest carbon. In the agreement, a rate of US$15 per tonne of carbon was secured and the Guyana Government has allocated 15 per cent or $4.7 billion towards Amerindian development.
But with Guyana set to earn only US$87.5 million in 2024, a reduction from the US$150 million it received last year, it could have meant less money for indigenous communities. To prevent this, however, President Ali last month announced at the opening of the National Toshaos Conference, an 11 per cent increase in the funds to Amerindian communities. This will see these communities getting 26.5 per cent of this year’s earnings amounting to US$23.2 million or $4.84 billion.
Meanwhile, following the 242 Amerindian communities benefitting from the forest carbon funding last year, more communities, even those that are not fully indigenous, are now seeking to participate in the programme and as a result, the government is injecting another $100 million from the monies earned directly into these additional communities.
President Ali said during the CGI “Fireside Chat” earlier this week that Guyana has already demonstrated that the country’s development is being guided by the low carbon development strategy and that the LCDS is not only a climate model but an economic model.
“The LCDS was not just about safeguarding the forest, it’s about how do we use this natural resource to earn revenue, expand the livelihood of the people to expand the economy; use it to ensure that the world understands that there is value to this standing forest, the ecological services that the forest provides, the biodiversity services that the forest provides, that there need to be a market-based mechanism through which this must earn resources for the people and the development of the country.
“It is geared towards the improvement of livelihoods, expansion of the economy, utilising climate and ecological services for the benefit of the country and the world, whilst at the same time safeguarding an important global asset for the existence of people globally… And we’re not changing our development path, that is, we’re not changing our commitment to the forest, we’re not changing our commitment to biodiversity. We’ve accelerated that commitment by saying in 18 months, we’re going to double the preservation area for biodiversity,” the Guyanese Leader stated.
