Pres Ali lobbies for economic model to support biodiversity, forest preservation

…as he receives prestigious Wilson Award in Miami

With Guyana already leading the way with the preservation of its vast forests and rich biodiversity resources, President Dr Irfaan Ali has once again advocated for a global economic model to sustain these two critical ecosystems.
The Guyanese leader made the remarks to a global audience as he received the 2024 Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service from the United States (US)-based Wilson Centre for his unwavering dedication to climate change action and biodiversity.
The Wilson Award, part of the Wilson Centre’s Latin America Programme, recognises leaders who have made significant contributions to regional and global advancement, particularly in fields such as sustainability, biodiversity, and climate change.
President Ali accepted the award from the Director of Wilson Centre’s Latin America Programme, Benjamin Gedan, during a Gala and Dinner in Miami on Thursday evening.
While delivering remarks, the Guyanese Head of State spoke about Guyana’s visionary Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) as a global model, balancing economic growth with environmental preservation.

Currently, Guyana is home to one of the world’s highest concentrations of biodiversity and according to Ali, this is especially significant since more than 60 per cent of the world’s biodiversity has already been lost.
“We have managed to keep our biodiversity intact, and that is remarkable. However, as much as we’ve been able to keep this intact, as well as the forest, we also recognise the fact that there must be an economic model to support the biodiversity and the standing forest that we’re keeping alive, and that economic model must be able to put a value on these important global assets, and a proper pricing mechanism and market mechanism must be developed to value these assets. Otherwise, we will not be doing this in a sustainable way,” he posited.
This is not the first time Guyanese Leaders have been advocating on the international stage for payments for countries that secure their forests. In fact, President Ali noted that Guyana’s efforts are premised on championing a fair mechanism to value nature-based and environmental products.
In fact, as part of these efforts, the president mentioned the establishment of the Global Biodiversity Alliance – an initiative, which he first announced at the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) held in New York back in September, that aims to unite countries with rich biodiversity to develop a model for environmental protection.
Guyana will be hosting the first summit in 2025 with a focus on creating a market for biodiversity credits, scaling biodiversity conservation debt swaps, accelerating biodiversity bonds, establishing a blueprint for biodiversity taxonomies, and promoting nature-positive action.
Already, Guyana is partnering with key stakeholders such as former President of Colombia, Iván Duque, as well as with the US-based Concordia on this biodiversity alliance and the Head of State has now invited the Wilson Centre to not only participate but also attend in the inaugural summit next year in Guyana.
With a tropical forest that takes up 86 per cent of its landmass, Guyana has the second-highest percentage of forest cover on earth and one of the lowest deforestation rates. The forest stores 19.5 gigatons of carbon and sequesters more than 153 million tons annually.

And Guyana is already earning massively from its forest carbon. In December 2022, the Guyana Government signed a historic contract with US-based Hess Corporation for the sale of 33.7 million of the country’s high-quality certified carbon credits – a deal that saw the nation earning US$750 million for just 30 per cent of its forest carbon. In the agreement, a rate of US$15 per tonne of carbon was secured and the Guyana Government has allocated 15 per cent or $4.7 billion towards Amerindian development.
But despite its advocacy efforts on the forest and biodiversity, President Ali recognised the complex global environment and underscored the need to find the right balance between development and sustainability. This, he contended, requires all the stakeholders to be involved in the conversation on global issues.
According to the Guyanese Head of State, petroleum producers have a critical role to play in this especially when it comes to global energy security. Guyana currently has a budding oil and gas sector with US oil major, ExxonMobil, leading production and exploration activities in the oil-rich Stabroek Block offshore.
“Whether it’s climate security, food security or energy security, we have to find the right balance. The right balance requires everyone to be in the room. We cannot lock out petroleum companies and petroleum producers from the room if we are to achieve a balanced approach to growth and development. In our opinion, all of us must be involved in the conversation to find sustainable solutions, and find resources to invest in research and development so that we can have better technology, greener technology, we can have more efficient systems, all of which will contribute to the energy security of the world.
“Many people will say let us go solar, and when we go solar, we have the question of ‘where are the batteries coming from?’ If 70 per cent of the battery requirement comes from one market, we have to decide whether we want to rely on one market that produces 70 per cent of the batteries, and these are questions that we cannot avoid. These are questions that we ignore. We cannot avoid these questions, but we’re ignoring these questions when we talk about a just transition, and what constitutes a just transition. A just transition must also be able to deliver reliable energy to every citizen of the world. We still have many countries and many populations that are energy-starved. Energy poverty is a real thing, and the energy gap within continents and countries is expanding. So, we have to find the right balance, and we are all for finding the right balance,” President Ali asserted. (G-8)