UN General Assembly hears of Guyana’s launch of Global Biodiversity Alliance

Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 September 2024, 21:25 by Writer

President Irfaan Ali on Wednesday announced the launch of a Global Biodiversity Alliance aimed at getting private companies to invest in forest restoration and conservation and mobilise funds for biodiversity conservation.

He told the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) being held at the UN Headquarters in New York that Guyana would convene the first Global Biodiversity Alliance Summit in 2025.

That event, he said, would 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.

“We do not make this announcement by mere words,” he said.

He told world leaders and their representatives that Guyana was also committed to doubling its protected areas by December 2025 and achieving the global biodiversity target of 30 percent by 2030.

The President said those were real solutions that Guyana was putting forward to address the global problem of biodiversity loss. “We do not lecture; we lead by example without arrogance,” he said.

The Jagdeo and Ali administrations had crafted Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030 through which the country had earned US$250 million from Norway to preserve the South American nation’s standing tropical forests that absorb carbon emissions.

American oil company, HESS Corporation, in 2023, agreed to purchase US$750 million worth of carbon credits between 2022 and 2032.