2021 World Environment Day: Ecosystem Restoration

The world faces a triple planetary emergency – biodiversity loss, climate disruption and escalating pollution – and we are rapidly reaching the tipping point.  COVID 19’s global impacts have highlighted the scale of threats of pandemics that arise from the interconnectedness between nature, animals and humans. Preventive actions are an urgent imperative. The United Nations has declared a Decade for Ecosystem Restoration between 2021 and 2030 to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of our ecosystem.

Guyana’s strength is that it has relatively minimal eco-system restoration needed and can be a beacon for preserving intergenerational wealth. With 87% relatively intact forest cover, the good news is that Guyana can be forward looking in conserving its valuable eco-system as it pursues development ambitions and agenda, while restoring areas where environmental degradation is advancing. I would like to highlight four major types of eco-system conservation and restoration in the context of Guyana:

Coastal mangroves – With the impact of climate change intensifying, the threats to Guyana’s coastal areas are also higher than ever. Mangroves remain a critical buffer against rising tides and sea-levels, riverine flooding and seastorms, and to protect coastal lands from erosion and flooding. Mangroves have high biomass, absorb CO2 and improve the productivity of coastal areas. Mangroves also have a symbiotic relationship with indigenous, rural and agricultural communities. The integrated approach of community mangrove management in Region 1 led by the Guyana Marine Conservation Society is an excellent model to support and replicate.    

Hinterland forests - The conservation of the diverse and intact tropical forests has been at the center of Guyana’s cutting-edge initiatives in Environment and Climate actions such as Iwokrama’s world renowned research and community-based forest management. The forests are not only the planet’s lung and carbon sink. Forests are also the traditional habitat for Guyana’s indigenous peoples, who have been their guardians of this symbiotic, bio-diverse eco-system. The good environmental practices should continue while improving socio-economic opportunities for Amerindian and other communities in the hinterland. Regulating mining activities that have harmful social, environmental and health consequences would be important in eco-system restoration.

Farmlands - Agriculture is a lifeline for rural communities and the broader food system in Guyana and potentially the Caribbean. Careful planning of farmlands would reflect a range of actions e.g. the capacity of soils and land to support cropping, promoting good practices and inputs that do no harm to the natural resource base, and protecting areas of high biodiversity or social value such as the world renowned Rupununi.  Disaster risk reduction is an important consideration for farmlands to mitigate climate risks, particularly in coastland and riverain areas.

Ahead of the UN Food Systems Summit, Guyana has started a national dialogue and a leadership role in the regional dialogue with other Caribbean countries. The Food Systems Summit promotes optimal environmental resource use in food production, processing and distribution, thereby reducing biodiversity loss, pollution, water use, soil degradation and greenhouse gas emissions. It calls for deeper understanding of the constraints and opportunities facing smallholder farmers and small-scale enterprises along the food value chain, and creating an enabling environment that encourages innovation, product diversity and export trade. It will also strive to support food system governance that realigns incentives to reduce food losses and other negative environmental impacts.

Urban settlements - The Capital city of Georgetown was once regarded as the “Garden of Eden”, nourished by a vibrant canal system. The National Park – a green urban space -increasingly serves a growing pastime and preoccupation for good health and wellbeing. However, the city is in need of urban renewal – waste management, restoration of canals and redesign of streets for a safer pedestrian and urbane experience; renovation of historic and other buildings for which Georgetown is recognized; modernization for the growing and evolving needs of an urban society.  Outside the capital and in all regional towns, urban and peri-urban centers are expanding uncontrolled and somewhat chaotically. Urban planning that conserves and restores livable areas and green spaces, also caters to modern lifestyles and would align with Guyana’s long term development vision.   

Guyana has been a trail blazer in good practices of mitigating carbon emissions from forest loss and land degradation and innovating financing schemes under the Low Carbon Development Strategy and EU-FLEGT. Opportunities are expanding as are new challenges with the nascent but fast-evolving oil sector. The Government’s plan to invest in low-carbon development, economic diversification, job creation and human resources are critical drivers towards achieving the SDGs. The approach to expand the Low Carbon Development Strategy, adopt a system of payments for environmental and eco-system services and incentivize good environmental performance by the private sector, are innovative initiatives.          

At a recent Global Roundtable on Transforming Extractive Industries for Sustainable Development, the UN Secretary General highlighted that the extractives sector, which operates at the crucial juncture of resources, ecosystems and people, plays an essential role in advancing sustainability and equitability. He underlined the need to improve extractive resource governance through more effective rules and enforcement related to environmental sustainability, transparency, inclusive decision-making, accountability, access to information and respecting and protecting human rights.

The UN system is keen to work with the Government, civil society, private sector and other development partners to advance on Guyana’s sustainable development pathway. 

Guyana’s participation in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (to be agreed at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, China, October 2021) could also enhance the country’s reputation and progress, through greater visibility of the country’s progress on managing its natural wealth.

While many countries are entering the Decade facing costly and time-consuming restoration efforts, Guyana can look ahead to a thriving future, buoyed by the advantage of being able to deliver to its citizens the promise of good health and wellbeing through comparatively less costly investments in actions that promote and conserve healthy ecosystems, healthy people and communities.