Consultation on Green State Development Strategy to begin soon

The UN Environment is providing to the Government of Guyana technical support on the elaboration and development of the Green State Development Strategy (GSDS).

At the inaugural Green Business Forum held at the Marriott Hotel in Kingston, Georgetown on Friday last,  Director of the Department of Environment, Ndibi Schwiers, noted that the GSDS seeks to fully maximise the “potential and promise” of Guyana becoming a green economy.
According to a GINA report, the 15-year strategy will guide Guyana’s economic and sociocultural development.
Adriana Zacarias, Regional Coordinator, Resource Efficiency of UN Environment, said the next step for the GSDS is another round of consultations. Zacarias noted this is the third phase of the elaboration.

“There will be a series of consultations in the country; not only in Georgetown, but around the country, in getting the input from the business sector,” Zacarias said.
The framework of the GSDS and financing mechanisms’ document was completed in March with financial and technical support from UN Environment. Initial consultations in regard to the development of the framework document began last December between the Government and other key stakeholders. The GSDS does not seek to reinvent the wheel; rather, it builds on existing strategies in a more coherent manner.
Schwiers has said that the green growth pathway “will positively transform our economy” by helping to maximize our potential and develop adequate infrastructure to utilise energy resources. “It is also an advocate for green businesses…with consideration for sustainability and conservation,” Schwiers added.

“The private sector is an important stakeholder group which is central to Guyana’s development and improving the lives of all Guyanese,” Schwiers has said.
Additionally, she said the GSDS will certify that “we can sustainably develop our economy through the protection and conservation of our biological resources” while safeguarding the country’s competitiveness on the international stage. A central theme of the Strategy is “green and inclusive structural transformation” of the productive sector.
Schwiers explained that the strategy seeks to foster economic diversification, create jobs, and reduce poverty through the production of higher-value-added goods and services; greater resource productivity; improved environmental services;and minimisation of vulnerability to external shocks, such as climate change.