“Preserving mangroves helps protect Guyana’s coastline” – US Ambassador

United States Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, has underscored the importance of preserving mangroves in order to protect the country’s coastline, which is under threat by rising sea levels caused by global warming.

Ambassador Lynch made this statement during a recent visit to the Guyana Mangrove Restoration Project – a programme under the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI). Her visit coincides with the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) that will be held next month in Glasgow, as well as with 2021 marking the start of the United Nations Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.
The US envoy, with Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NAREI, Jagnarine Singh; Coordinator of the Mangrove Restoration Project, Kene Mosely; and Executive Director of Conservation International, Damien Fernandes, described the coastal adaptation strategies using mangroves in combination with infrastructure as a natural- based climate mitigation strategy.
Ambassador Lynch praised the programme for raising awareness about the role that mangroves play in disaster management, carbon absorption, and protection of coastlines.
“Climate change is already impacting the planet in unprecedented ways, causing weather and climate events to increase in severity and frequency. Guyana has seen devastating floods this year that have impacted livelihoods. Preserving mangroves helps protect Guyana’s coastline,” the US diplomat posited.
The Guyana Mangrove Restoration Project was launched by the PPP/C Government in 2010 with funding from the European Union (EU) to build up the country’s natural sea defences against the Atlantic Ocean.
It was only back in June that the Government committed to continue the project to help reduce carbon emissions in Guyana.
“We can put a mechanism in place where we can have offsets elsewhere. And the mangrove project…is something that we will continue in the next couple of years,” Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat has stated.
Meanwhile, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had previously announced that the Global Climate Change Alliance Plus (GCCA+) is supporting Guyana’s replanting of mangroves.
The EU-funded GCCA+ initiative was executed between 2010 and 2013, and made commendable achievements, including the monitoring and protection of 36.5 kilometres of mangroves by a mangrove ranger unit, the planting of 420,000 black mangrove seedlings with community involvement, and the restoration of 5 kilometres of mangroves along the East Coast of Demerara, West Coast of Berbice, and Corentyne Coast.
In a missive from the US Embassy in Georgetown on Wednesday, it was noted that the United States would launch a range of new initiatives and partnerships with other countries and stakeholders at COP26, in order to mobilise concrete action in key areas related to both adaptation and mitigation, including methane, clean energy, forests, and industrial decarbonisation.
The United States has put forward a nationally- determined contribution (NDC) that aligns with keeping a 1.5-degree Celsius limit within reach, namely, to achieve an economy-wide target of reducing its emissions by 50 to 52 per cent below 2005 levels in 2030.