No solution to climate crisis without forests – Finance Minister tells OIC Meeting

– lobbies for global financing

By Vahnu Manikchand

The Guyana Government continues to emphasise the critical role that forests play in tackling climate change, and has reiterated calls for financing from the global community to aid vulnerable countries in their adaptation and mitigation strategies.
These remarks were made by Senior Minister with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, at the 49th Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) being held in Nouakchott, Mauritania on March 16 and 17 under the theme “Moderation: Key to Security and Stability.”
Dr Singh’s presentation focused on three dimensions of resilience that are particularly important to Guyana; those are: climate security, food security and energy security.
According to the Finance Minister, climate change represents an existential threat to the planet, and requires collective global action. While lauding the United Arab Emirates ((UAE) for chairing the upcoming COP-28, he sounded calls for a greater balance in the climate debate, especially by bringing the development and poverty reduction imperatives back on the agenda.
Dr Singh also used the opportunity to call global attention to the important role of forests in fighting the climate crisis. “As a heavily forested country, Guyana calls on the global community to recognise that there is no solution to the climate crisis without forests, and that concerted action on forests is needed, given the role of forests not only in the fight against climate change, but also in protecting biodiversity and in combating desertification,” he told the OIC Meeting.
In addition to its rich biodiversity and ecosystem, Guyana’s total forest cover of some 18.4 million hectares stores more than 19.5 gigatonnes of carbon, and removes some 154 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually.
Consequently, the current People’s Progressive Party/ Civic Government signed a US$750 million carbon credit deal with United States energy major Hess Corporation back in December 2022 for the preservation of the local forests.
Moreover, only Wednesday, President Dr Irfaan Ali also inked a contract valued over $1 billion with the European Union (EU), to increase forest preservation activities in Guyana as well as to foster sustainable development within local communities that are dependent on the forests for their livelihoods.
On the other hand, the Guyanese Finance Minister further underscored to the OIC Meeting Guyana’s firm solidarity with all vulnerable countries in the struggle for improved access to financing for adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage.
Dr Singh also went on to lobby for global financing in the other two dimensions of resilience – energy and food security. He pointed out that the ongoing onslaught of climate change, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic and further compounded by the war in Ukraine, reversed many of the gains made as a global community in improving food security.
In Guyana, he disclosed, President Ali is spearheading the preparation of a strategy for the Caribbean Region to address food security. This strategy aims at increasing food production and productivity, ramping up agro-processing and value-added production, and promoting agri-business and intra-regional trade in food products – all aimed at reducing the region’s high food import bill.
“We urge this Council to call on the global community to leverage financial resources, both public and private, to increase food production; deploy science and technology to raise productivity; and remove barriers to regional and global trade in food products,” the Minister stated.
Meanwhile, Dr Singh posited that energy security is inextricably linked to both the climate crisis and food security. He said adequate and competitively priced energy is critical for the viability of value-added production.
The transition to cleaner sources of energy is also critical in the fight against climate change, he noted, while adding that ramping up energy production and transitioning to cleaner energy requires significant financial investment by both the Public and Private Sectors.
To this end, the Finance Minister said, “We urge this Council to call on the global community to recognise the crippling energy deficit in so many of our countries, and to mobilise financial resources to help address this deficit while at the same time supporting the transition to cleaner sources of energy.”
In conclusion, Minister Singh is hopeful that emerging out of this OIC Session is an intensified resolve by the membership to better coordinate positions on global concerns, and to speak increasingly with a singular voice on matters of shared interest.
Dr Singh is being accompanied at the OIC session by Guyana’s Ambassador to Qatar, Safraaz Shadood.
The Guyanese Finance Minister has already had several bilateral engagements on the sidelines of the meeting, including with Qatari State Minister for Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mr. Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi, and the UAE’s Minister of State, H.E. Khalifa Shahine.