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Guyana to double legally protected areas within 18 months – Pres. Ali says at 2024 Concordia Amazonas Summit
President Irfaan Ali during his presentation at the opening of the Concordia Amazonas Summit
Kaieteur News – President Irfaan Ali on Wednesday pledged to double Guyana’s legally protected areas within 18 months to achieve the nation’s goal to protect 30 per cent of the country by 2030 as stated in the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
The Head of State made this commitment during a meeting with a diverse consortium of leaders on Guyana’s sustainability and climate agenda, at the opening of the 2024 Concordia Amazonas Summit.
The second edition of the Summit was opened at the Baganara Island Resort on the Essequibo River brought together leaders from different sectors and industries related to the Amazon rainforest and its wellbeing/future.
Environmental sustainability and financial inclusion are the core themes of the summit, which began on July 9 and will conclude on July 13.
The President gave a detailed presentation on Guyana’s current and planned environmental framework, speaking at length about forest loss and reforestation in relation to biodiversity.
“We are aligning ourselves to climate goals, and this is where our commitment to the 30 per cent by 2030 is in that, we are fully committed with that as part of the LCDS. In terms of gazetted area, by the first quarter in 2026 latest, we will be doubling that gazetted percentage of protected area that will constitute biodiversity areas,” Ali said.
According to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, approximately 9 per cent of Guyana is under protected and/or conservation status.
The Guyanese leader emphasized the need for a collective approach to ensuring climate, food, and energy security, saying “climate, energy, and food security must be a joint and shared agenda, we believe that you cannot speak about biodiversity and protecting the forests without speaking about food sustainability, energy sustainability because they are important components of the model.”
“We live in a world where people have needs and wants, so in building out the model we must acknowledge those needs and wants,” the President said.
President Ali also spoke about the country’s energy and climate future, in the context of the country’s burgeoning oil and gas sector.
“One thing is for sure, newer technology and more resources are going into alternative energy so by 2050 the composition of the global energy mix is going to be very different. Whether it will be 30 per cent coming from petroleum, 25 per cent or 35 per cent, but for sure, petroleum will still be in the mix long after 2050,” he said, speaking to the ongoing changes to the world’s energy framework.
He continued, pointing out “the real question is how would the world determine who produces that 30 per cent or that 35 per cent, and if climate is the biggest factor, it will be who can produce it in the least climate damaging environment, so we are keeping our eyes wide open, and that is why our strategy is very clear.”
The Guyanese leader also informed that Guyana is well equipped to contribute to that 30 per cent, due to the ability of its vast rainforest to extract carbon from the atmosphere.
“For every FPSO offshore, it [produces] about two million tonnes of carbon and throughout ten FPSOs, that’s twenty million tonnes of carbon annually. The rainforest sequestrates 155 million tonnes of carbon [per year]. So even operating at 10 FPSOs, we are well ahead— 20 million tonnes versus 155 million tonnes,” he said.
Additionally, both President Ali and former Colombian president, Ivan Duque informed of plans for Guyana to become a member of the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) in the near future.
“We are actively looking at joining CAF that is actually on the table,” Ali said.
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