2025 Global Biodiversity Alliance Summit: EPA launches innovative Bio credit plan to protect Rupununi biodiversity

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is ensuring that Guyana steps into the global spotlight with a bold new move to protect its rich biodiversity.
Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Kemraj Parsram, announced that the agency has been actively developing a bio credit framework in the Rupununi region, aimed at enhancing biodiversity.
Speaking at the 2025 Global Biodiversity Alliance Summit under the theme “Overcoming Biodiversity Loss – An Imperative,” Dr Parsram alluded to a bio credit framework being developed in Rupununi, Region Nine – thus positioning the country as a leader in sustainable conservation.
“Importantly, through ground-breaking community-led innovation, we are pioneering a bio credit framework in the Rupununi by testing and validating six biodiversity monitoring methods: eDNA, camera traps, acoustic sensors, fish stock assessments, bird counts, and traditional ecological knowledge. And this has been led by the Wildlife Commission with the help of the FAO,” he stated.
He also emphasised that the initiative is part of Guyana’s efforts to demonstrate global leadership in sustainable conservation.
“It is a prototype to the world, showing that biodiversity credits can be science-based, community-powered, and integrated into local livelihoods. The biodiversity data generated is feeding directly into a new generation of nature credits.”
Meanwhile, he pointed out that the EPA recently received approval for a US$4 million full-scale project focused on biodiversity credit development and forest ecosystem restoration.
The initiative is expected to facilitate large-scale restoration of mined-out lands while strengthening Guyana’s framework for biodiversity credit markets.
It is on this note that he championed the cause for the global community to support the evaluation of Guyana’s biodiversity, considering the great lengths the country has taken to enhance its environmental heritage.
“What I want to highlight today is that we have restored over 500 hectares of mangroves along our coastline – particularly with help from the EU – and also legacy mined-out landscapes. We have mining in Guyana, and through our national forest restoration initiative, we have restored or now building on that restoration work. We are now also moving beyond carbon into biodiversity markets.”
“We call on the global community to support evaluation of our biodiversity at the global level – not as an abstract ideal, but as real capital, real infrastructure, real planetary insurance. Colleagues all, this is our chance not just to speak for nature, but to act for it. Guyana may be small, but our ecosystems still thrive. Our vision is clear, our commitment is proven.”
According to Dr Parsram, the country is also “developing a market for biodiversity credits and other payment-for-ecosystem-service schemes.”
He added that significant investments are being made in “education, indigenous knowledge, community resilience, public awareness, community wildlife conflict management, and legal reforms.”
Those legal reforms, he stated, include “biosafety rules, marine mammal protection, and controls against illegal fishing.”
Parsram said the EPA is looking forward to renewed momentum from the summit toward achieving the 30 by 30 biodiversity target with integrity. He also highlighted expectations for innovation in biodiversity financing – anchored in transparency, inclusion, and equity – as well as bold partnerships to strengthen monitoring systems and biodiversity intelligence.
The inaugural Global Biodiversity Alliance Summit, which commenced on Wednesday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, will culminate on Friday.
Several world leaders are in attendance, including the President of the Dominican Republic, the Prime Minister of Barbados, the Former President of Colombia, and the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines.