Global Biodiversity Alliance to be launched this year

Guyana is advancing its Global Biodiversity Alliance, aimed at uniting biodiversity-rich countries to develop a scalable model for securing environmental protection.

This is according to Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, who spoke at a press conference that was also broadcast live on Thursday.

Highlighting positive discussions from this year’s Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo, Dr Jagdeo said the Biodiversity Alliance will be launched later this year.

“Guyana is one of the leading players in this. We’ve been very successful at getting our forest carbon traded. We have a reputation globally for having the best forest carbon in the market, and that’s reflected in the price we get per tonne of forest carbon, which is about ten times higher than voluntary market prices. We continue to have successes… and we believe we can replicate that success for biodiversity. The aim is to introduce instruments to the market that not only remunerate countries for preserving forests, with the associated climate benefits, but also incentivise biodiversity preservation,” Dr Jagdeo noted.

He added that there is a rapid loss of biodiversity globally, and if countries can be incentivised, this loss can be reduced.

Dr Jagdeo reassured that Guyana is currently working on pioneering financial instruments that can be placed on the market, similar to when the country launched its first Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) in 2009.

“Now, because of that early advantage, we’re already ahead of our time. We’re reaping the benefits today—not just as a country, but also in indigenous communities. As you know, we will now have around 1,700 projects financed purely from the 15 per cent LCDS funds allocated to these communities, which already amounts to $10B,” Dr Jagdeo said.

President Dr Irfaan Ali announced the Global Biodiversity Alliance initiative last year, utilising Guyana’s LCDS 2030 to develop financing instruments in support of biodiversity preservation.