Most modern hunting legislation imminent – President Ali

President Dr Irfaan Ali has revealed plans to bolster Guyana’s legislation on hunting with the aim of protecting hunting grounds and the biodiversity that lives there.
The Head of State made these remarks on Wednesday evening at the Visual Chronicles of The Mahaica Wetlands and Mangroves exhibition hosted by the EMC Foundation in collaboration with the British High Commission in Guyana.
According to President Ali, while the environment can be enjoyed in many different ways, there are concerns of abuse when it comes to activities such as fishing and hunting. However, he assured that these will be dealt with by his government.

“We have to enact the most modern legislation when it comes to hunting, protecting our hunting ground and ensuring that people are not carrying out their fanciful desire by overhunting and destroying our eco-system, our biodiversity and our animal life in these areas. So, we’re going to be addressing that in a very, very strong way,” the Guyanese Leader said while addressing the gathering at the event.
The Visual Chronicles of the Mahaica Wetlands and Mangroves showcases the area’s biodiversity and culture through videography and photography.
This initiative is funded by the Blue Social Challenge Fund, part of the UK’s £35 million Sustainable Blue Economies Programme, that aims to support initiatives that contribute to growing blue economy sectors through marine conservation and educational initiatives.
During his address, President Ali lauded the EMC Foundation for producing a “national product” on World Environment Day – observed on Wednesday as well.
He said this celebration of the private sector and international partners can be a catalyst for other businessowners to follow, specifically transitioning into foundations that align with national development priorities.
EMC Foundation is the creation of Guyanese company Environmental Management Consultants (EMC) Guyana – owned by Shyam Nokta, is a natural resources, environment and climate change consultant.
According to President Ali, Nokta managed to align his Foundation with the country’s national development priority extremely well. “He’s been able to take the assets of his company and transfer his knowledge into a foundation and he’s now using that Foundation to align national development priorities with what he wants to achieve”
He went onto laud the company for its public education activities as well. “What I like about the way the Foundation is approaching the public education, they’re not just targeting the adult population. They’ve found an innovative way in addressing this… starting with kids in nursery school – the children.”
The book the president referenced is “Arya Takes a Swim” which is Guyana’s first children’s book, launched by EMC Foundation earlier this year, dedicated to turtle telemetry tagging and tells the story of Guyana’s sea turtle conservation efforts and the importance of Shell Beach.
The Guyanese leader said the publication of this book “…is important because it’s about building a culture – a culture of knowing what we have, understanding what we have, valuing what we have and then appreciating the wealth that could be created with this value.”
The Head of State further underscored the need to not only valuing environments but also creating wealth from it in a sustainable manner. He added that Guyana is already leading in this regard.
“In this country, we can lead the world in the way we’ve managed our environment, in the way we’ve approached climate change and in what our forest offers the world. Guyana’s future is about providing global leadership on energy, food, climate and the environment, and we are not going to spare any effort in providing that global leadership,” posited.
President Ali also spoke of the many low-hanging fruits and opportunities available to showcase as well as build ‘Brand Guyana.’
“Mark my words today. By 2030, there is no tourism product in this region that will come close to Guyana’s tourism product. We will have the facilities, we will have the infrastructure, we will have the marketing possibilities, we’ll have the branding, we will have the education.