Guyana to champion forest conservation at upcoming G20 Summit

– GS Jagdeo

Guyana has been invited to attend the upcoming Group of Twenty (G20) Summit in Brasilia, Brazil in October, and will champion forest conservation and greater incentives for forested-rich countries.

The G20 Summit is the meeting between the Heads of State or Governments of the member countries, who represent around 85 per cent of the world’s GDP, more than 75 per cent of world trade and around two-thirds of the world’s population

Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, General Secretary of the governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP), underscored that environmental diplomacy is an important pillar of the country’s foreign policy.

“Therefore, you will see a recurrent thread of similar positions taken at various fora,” he underlined.

Dr Jagdeo, who holds the vice presidency portfolio and who once received an award from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for his fight to preserve forests and combat climate change, will be representing Guyana at the summit.

“I probably will attend that to argue that this could be done in a manner that doesn’t burden the world, but provides enormous climate benefits to the entire world,” he detailed.

He continued, “And there could be, as I explained earlier, there would be various models from which to choose. So, a menu approach to what countries may want to choose. Some may choose a market mechanism for seeing the flow of funds from the sale of carbon credit and some may want to use public resources but all [are] designed for the same benefit.”

The G20 consists of 19 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Russia, Türkiye, UK and USA) and two regional bodies: the African Union and the European Union.

Earlier this month, Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat represented Guyana at the United Nations Forests Forum, which took place at the UN’s Headquarters in New York.

He joined world leaders as well as ministerial counterparts and other colleagues from around the world, to call for greater urgency in global efforts to maintain the world’s forests. 

Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS2030) was highlighted at the forum, a blueprint that sets out a model of how Guyana can balance economic development alongside conserving the country’s forest and biodiversity while being compensated.