Hon. Minister Ashni Singh, Minister of Finance;
Hon. Minister Vikram Bharatt, Minister of Natural Resources;
Vanessa Benn, Guyana Forest Commission Chairperson;
Pravindra Dave, CEO of the Demerara Bank;
Representatives of civil society, media;
Private sector representatives;
Members of the international development community and diplomatic corps.
Thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to join today’s observation in Guyana of the International Day of the Forest and the launch of the Forestry Revolving Fund.
The theme for today’s observation is "Forests and health."
This theme encourages us to think across multiple areas of development, to think across sectors and to reflect on the inter-connectedness of multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG3 Health; SDG15 Terrestrial Ecosystems; SDG13 Climate Action and others.
Allow me to reflect on this connectedness between forests and health for a few seconds.
- Forests are vital source of food and nutrition - globally and here in Guyana, many communities rely on the forest for their diets, for their daily protein needs.
- They are our natural pharmacies – the many species housed in our forests here in Guyana and elsewhere provide multiple natural remedies, which indigenous communities know and use well. They also provide inputs for the pharmaceutical sector from treatment of malaria to cancer.
- Healthy forests protect us from disease - Forests have traditionally served as a natural barrier to disease transmission between animals and humans.
This connectedness between forests and health finds form in the “One Health” approach for addressing health threats through solutions at the interface between people, animals and their environments. In Guyana, too, I am delighted to hear that the Ministry of Health is convening its One Health partners, including WHO, FAO and the World Bank, across different sectors next week to reintroduce and reinforce the One Health approach in Guyana.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The biggest health threat facing humanity today is climate change. Healthy forests keep global warming in check: they contain and sink carbon. They help buffer exposure to extreme weather events caused by climate change which in turn pose major global health challenges.
I need not explain to this audience the importance of forests in the efforts to combat climate change. Forests are an available, effective and cost-efficient key nature-based solution that provide up to a third of the mitigation required to keep global warming below 2°C. And that brings me of course to Guyana and its remarkable achievements in the conservation, protection and sustainable management of its forests.
Last week, I had the privilege to accompany representatives of the Government of Guyana and the European Union Delegation in a high-level visit. In their engagements, they spoke with pride about achievements in Guyana. They reminded us that Guyana is the first country, and so far, the only country to have reached two landmark agreements with the EU on forest partnerships. This huge vote of confidence in your forestry sector from one of the most robust regulatory regimes is in large part due to the remarkable work of the Guyana Forestry Commission and its partners over many years.
Further, Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy is a major enabler by providing the strategic underpinning to the many successes of Guyana in forest conservation and sustainable use. The broad-based community consultations on the Low Carbon Development Strategy led by Ms. Vanessa Benn here and the consequent issuance of the world’s first jurisdictional carbon credits to Guyana are Guyana’s remarkable achievements that all speak for themselves - on the global stage.
As I mark with you today the International Day of the Forest and congratulate you on the launch of this private – public sector partnership mechanisms for financing, you would be disappointed if I did not also make a Call to Action and this one is on SDG 5!
Ladies and Gentlemen, Ministers,
Women owned enterprises face outsized challenges in access to finance across the region. Going forward with this Revolving Fund, I encourage the private sector investors in this Fund, Demerara Bank, and its Government partners to establish the systems to target and track the loans that the Fund will be making to women. In so doing, I avail to you of course the technical assistance and support of the UN system.
Notably, I draw your attention to some recent analytical work FAO has been supporting on rural forest-dependent communities under the Gender and Forestry Group to establish gendered socio-economic baselines to create more opportunities for women in forestry. Drawing on your years of cooperation with FAO, you know well that FAO and the rest of the UN system stand ready to support.
Similarly, the UN’s entity for women, UNWOMEN is working with a growing number of private sector entities and enterprises in Guyana on Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). I encourage you to encourage the enterprises benefiting from this Revolving Fund and indeed for you to all to sign up to these principles which not only support you in becoming a women empowering enterprise but also a better one!
Once again, I thank you for the opportunity to associate myself and the UN with this event and wish you the best success in rolling out this Fund.
A happy and healthy International Day of the Forests!