President Irfaan Ali says the forest partnership between Guyana and the European Union (EU) underlines the strong commitment to continuing the innovative programme on climate, the environment and forests.
Ali made the point at State House on Tuesday during a virtual address, following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a Forest Partnership between the European Union and Guyana, a release from the Office of the President said.
The MoU has four key objectives: (1) increasing the area of protected, restored or sustainably managed forests, including mangroves; (2) increasing the number of forest-related jobs; (3) maintaining the close-to-zero annual rate of deforestation of natural forests and (4) looking for ways to facilitate investment and trade in legal and sustainable wood products between Guyana and the EU.
The signing was held on the sidelines of the climate change conference now underway in Egypt.
“This MoU demonstrates our shared values of sustainable forest management and the protection of the environment. It furthers the process of promoting the trade in legally produced timber and timber products”, the President said.
The MoU was signed between the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen and Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat on behalf of the Government of Guyana.
An initial €5m grant from the EU accompanied the signing of the MoU. The release said that immediate results are expected in supporting indigenous peoples and local communities, supporting small-scale producers, promoting sustainable trade in forest and agriculture commodities and building capacity to drive behaviour change.
Guyana, along with Mongolia, the Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Zambia, and the EU signed the forest partnerships.
Ali said that the partnership comes at a time when the world is concerned about the continuing adverse and devastating impacts of climate change and the alarming loss of biodiversity.
“It is fitting that this MoU is being signed during the hosting of the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27). The Forest Partnership is underpinned by the recognition of the role of Guyana’s pristine forest, to the health and well-being of the global environment”, he stated.
The President highlighted the value of Guyana’s forests.
“Guyana’s forests also provide critical environmental services, including carbon sequestration. They are mainly responsible for Guyana being among the handful of countries that are rated as net carbon sinks, with an estimated storage of 19.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalents. The economic value of the ecosystem services which our forests alone provide have been estimated at between US$40bn-US$54bn annually”, the release quoted him as saying.
The President added that Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030 commits it to complete and implement a Voluntary Partnership Agreement under the European Union Forest Law Enforcement Government and Trade process that would permit the trade in legally forested and certified timber. It would also enable the implementation of an assurance system for the certification of forest products and mangrove forests and the Protected Areas System.
In her remarks, von der Leyen elaborated on the objectives of the MoU.
“The first one is that we need to develop strategies for the sustainable development and management of forests. Management of forests, yes, we know how to do this. But we want a sustainable management of forests. It includes of course land restoration so that these forests can be restored and can be our best allies in the fight against climate change. And of course, this will also contribute to our European goal to ensure that 40 million hectares of forests are sustainably managed by 2027. That is our goal; that is what we are working for”, she said.
Secondly, she said that it is important that jobs are created around the forest value chains.
“We are convinced that with these Forest Partnerships we can create around one million jobs in the forest sector until 2027 – actually our goal is to create half of the jobs for women to preserve our forests”, she enthused.
Thirdly, she said that the EU wants to facilitate trade in wood products and this is a win-win situation for all sides.
“Because Europe is turning to more sustainably sourced and quality wood products to reach the objectives of our European Green Deal. So our demand for sustainably managed wood products will only grow. And that is where you are the specialists and where you will become the main source. Because if we agree on sustainable management of forests, what we are looking for are the sustainable products resulting from it. And therefore it is a win-win situation for both sides”, she said.
von der Leyen added: “All of this requires significant investments. And we are willing to invest EUR 450 million until 2024, so in the short term to make this happen. This is a part of our bigger global engagement with Global Gateway. An investment programme that invests EUR 7 billion in biodiversity until 2027. A large share of that is devoted to the forests. And if you speak about biodiversity and preserving the biodiversity of our planet, one of our main objectives is to really have a look at our green lungs, our forests”.
