“Helping the strategy of a country that has zero deforestation, with a tropical forest the equivalent of England and Scotland together, is something that you should have in your consideration for investment.”
By Abena Rockcliffe
If carbon neutrality and sustainable development are accepted as among the strongest challenges facing mankind, then investors must consider protection and conservation as major factors in their decision making. Therefore, Guyana, with all her assets, and valuable contribution to the fight against climate change, must be upheld as a strategic option for investment.
This much was put forward by former President of Columbia, Ivan Duque as he spoke this morning at the Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo being held at the Marriott Hotel in Kingston.
Duque said that Guyana must be recognized for her role in protecting the most valuable asset, the environment. The former president noted that the Amazon Forest captures 10 percent of global annual carbon emissions despite the fact that it has lost, over the last four decades, the equivalent in size of Germany and France together due to deforestation.
Being part of the Amazon, Guyana has a lesson to be taught to other Amazonian countries as Guyana continues to maintain her forest having the lowest deforestation rate, zero.
To put things into perspective, Duque said that if the western world does everything right environmentally, but Guyana and other Amazonian countries falter, the world would still be unable to attain Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). NDCs are at the heart of the Paris Agreement and the achievement of its long-term goals that are meant to contribute to the solving of the climate crisis.
Duque posited that companies investing in Guyana hardly think about the nature positive indicators, Nevertheless, he affirmed that every dollar invested in Guyana, a country that has 85 percent of its territory in tropical forest, is also effectively contributing to global sustainability.
He stressed, “Helping the strategy of a country that has zero deforestation with a tropical forest the equivalent of England and Scotland together is something that you should have in your consideration for investment.”
Duque said that the concept of zero deforestation will open the door to connect long term investment with the development of a voluntary carbon credit market. While the concept of a voluntary carbon market has mixed reviews, the former President was sure to point out that there are very successful cases around the world.
Duque also presented Guyana’s rich biodiversity as another major asset.
He acknowledged Guyana as one of the most biodiverse countries on the planet, as is Columbia, his homeland.
Duque said that with its zero deforestation, and connection to the voluntary carbon market, Guyana stands as promise land for the next chapter where biodiversity credit will rise to prominence.
He beckoned a future where biodiversity bonds are secured for long term financing of strategic projects. He said that this and similar strategies can also connect the work that corporations do in helping to conserve species to be able to exchange those policies in a monetizable way to effectively achieve biodiversity credit.
