Guyana backs Brazil-led forest finance roadmap at UN event

Guyana on Monday renewed calls for stronger international financing mechanisms to support forest conservation during an event held on the side-lines of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF). Speaking at the event organised by Brazil’s COP30 Presidency in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett stressed the need for practical action to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030.

The event focused on advancing the COP30 roadmap aimed at addressing global forest loss. Ambassador Rodrigues-Birkett commended Brazil’s leadership in advancing the global forest agenda at a time when urgent implementation is needed. She reiterated Guyana’s position that forests must provide sustained economic value for the countries and communities that protect them if global conservation goals are to be achieved. She noted that the current global economic system continues to reward activities that remove forests, such as agriculture, mining and land conversion, while the climate and ecosystem services provided by standing forests remain under-financed and undervalued.
According to the Ambassador, this imbalance remains a major obstacle to achieving the international target of halting and reversing forest loss by 2030. Rodrigues-Birkett also expressed Guyana’s support for the Forest Finance Roadmap developed by Brazil, UNEP and other partners under the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership (FCLP).
She identified high-integrity jurisdictional REDD+ carbon markets, including ART-TREES, and the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) as two financing pathways requiring immediate international backing to help close the global forest finance gap.
Guyana has consistently advocated for international recognition and compensation for countries that maintain high levels of forest cover while pursuing sustainable development.