National Biodiversity Information System will be groundbreaking – EPA Head

– outlines plan to use digital-twin technology for environmental monitoring

Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Kemraj Parsram, says the National Biodiversity Information System (NBIS),which Guyana is working to develop with United States-based Yale University, will be groundbreaking for environmental monitoring and protection.
The NBIS, which was launched at the inaugural Global Biodiversity Alliance (GBA) Summit held back in July of this year in Georgetown, will collect and analyse data on the country’s plants, animals, and ecosystems, and help guide decisions and policies that support sustainable development and conservation.

On the sideline of the summit, Guyana had signed an agreement with the Yale Centre for Biodiversity and Global Change to implement the world’s first fully standardised, border-to-border national biodiversity monitoring system by 2030.
During a recent appearance on the Starting Point podcast, the EPA Head expressed his excitement for this “groundbreaking” development. He noted that while Guyana has already demonstrated stewardship in its environmental credentials, it is important to know what resources are there and how to leverage them – something which the NBIS will play a major role in ascertaining.
“It is collecting all the existing knowledge about biodiversity and ecosystems and putting it into the system so that you can ask questions of the system. What if you put a development here, what will happen to our biodiversity, for example? What if we want to make some sort of informing policy or guidance to His Excellency, that information could be analysed and create policy briefs, for example. But critically, it is having a system that is linked to on-the-ground, real-time monitoring of our biodiversity,” Parsram posited.

Digital twin technology
To do this, the EPA Head highlighted plans to create a digital twin of the country’s ecosystem, including its marine environment.
“We can create a digital twin of our oceans, of our EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) [and] what is below the water, by using LiDAR and ROVs and all these other things that will create a live image to this NBIS, or create this digital twin. You can see what is happening at those locations in real-time. You can see the trees, you can see the fauna, you can see the flora, and you can see if there are any environmental impacts. It is mind-breaking. You may not be able to see it, but it is happening elsewhere. Guyana is looking to leverage that,” he noted.
According to Parsram, the development of the biodiversity information system is crucial not just for monitoring and ensuring the protection of the environment but also to leverage its value as part of a new financing mechanism.
“Once we know what we have and whatever interventions we are making to protect it is effective, we can value that biodiversity and convert that to things like biocredit. We can sell the biocredit to international organisations so we can benefit, communities can benefit, and other biodiversity financing mechanisms like the green bonds and so on [can be tapped into]. So, this National Biodiversity Information System is what we are working on for the next five years and it is going to be groundbreaking. The digital twin is mind-boggling, but it is the way to go,” the EPA Head declared.
During the announcement of the NBIS back in July, President Dr Irfaan Ali had noted that Guyana is looking to lead the globe in biodiversity conservation, adding that this initiative will create a new global standard for biodiversity accountability at the national level.
“Guyana is taking a bold step in being the first globally to adopt such a system, the development of the National Biodiversity Information System to serve as a digital backbone for conservation finance and policy,” the Head of State had noted.
In fact, the Guyanese leader took his biodiversity conservation model to world leaders during the COP30 summit held last month in neighbouring Brazil. While there, President Ali highlighted that the world has already lost more than 70 per cent of its biodiversity as he impressed the importance of putting this ecosystem on the COP agenda.
“According to the WWF Living Climate Report of 2024, there has been a catastrophic 73 per cent decline in biodiversity…over the last 50 years. Freshwater populations have suffered the heaviest decline, falling by 85 per cent; followed by terrestrial, 69 per cent; and marine population, 56 per cent.“
“95 per cent of biodiversity loss was recorded in Latin America and the Caribbean… And we know that the Caribbean is exposed to the greatest climate events and destruction, and we have 95 per cent biodiversity loss in Latin America and the Caribbean,” the President had pointed out during a panel discussion on the sidelines of COP30.
According to President Ali, it is important to raise awareness, build solidarity among all the stakeholders in understanding the importance of biodiversity, and highlight the critical role everyone has to play in conservation efforts instead of calling for financing at the initial stages.
To this end, the Guyanese Head of State had indicated he is ready and willing to make the investment necessary to have a global Centre of Excellence for biodiversity in Guyana.
According to the EPA Head, this is demonstrative of Guyana’s continued unwavering commitment to environmental protection at a time when the country is simultaneously developing it’s oil resources.
“What that international research center will do is create that facility where local scientists [and] students can be twinned with international scientists and conduct research within Guyana to help understand what we have, how we’re going, as well as contributing globally to the understanding of how biodiversity is conserved, and innovative ways of conserving biodiversity. So, in essence…you’re developing your country, you’re utilising this [oil] resource, but at the same time, investing in environmental protection, investing in knowledge-building and biodiversity conservation at the same time,” Parsram asserted.