– Dr. Singh tells GBA conference
-by NaAsia Bristol
Guyana is pushing for greater international recognition of the economic value of biodiversity, with countries that protect these natural resources being financially rewarded for the benefits they provide to the world.
Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh says lessons from Guyana’s experience with forest conservation could help shape new financing mechanisms for biodiversity protection.
Addressing the second Global Biodiversity Alliance Conference, Minister Singh reflected on Guyana’s journey to have its standing forests recognized as valuable assets in the fight against climate change.
He recalled that the idea of receiving payment for keeping forests standing was initially met with skepticism, but through years of technical work, international partnerships and certification, Guyana eventually secured payments for its forest carbon credits.Singh says the world must not take as long to recognize the economic value of biodiversity.
“The world cannot afford to take the same length of time to get to the point where we understand the importance of our biodiversity and the importance of its preservation, this vast and rich endowment of biodiversity assets that today’s generation has inherited, its value and the importance of its preservation and conservation, and even of equal importance, if not more importance, the importance of ensuring that its value, its economic value, is recognized, ultimately priced and remunerated,” he said.
Dr. Singh said countries must recognize and benefit financially from the economic value of their biodiversity, calling for governments, financial institutions and private-sector partners to work together to develop practical conservation financing solutions through the Global Biodiversity Alliance.
“A model that recognizes measures, as was said, that recognizes the value of our biodiversity endowment, that ensures that financing is mobilized at scale to protect and conserve that biodiversity endowment, and ultimately, but not a distant ultimately, a near ultimately, ensure that biodiversity assets are remunerated for the service, the valuable, indeed the invaluable, service that they provide to the rest of the world,” the minister said.
Singh urged participants to build on the discussions at the conference and commit to practical solutions that can accelerate financing for biodiversity conservation.
