If there was ever a perfect champion for biodiversity on the global stage, that champion is Guyana.
This is according to Kaveh Zahedi, Director of the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Speaking on the latest edition of United for Biodiversity: The Alliance Podcast earlier today, Zahedi said the world is in urgent need of sharp, solution-driven leadership, and Guyana is stepping up.
He praised the country’s strong record in safeguarding its green assets while pursuing economic development, calling it a model worth emulating.
He believes Guyana’s approach offers vital lessons for global partners and is confident the nation will help shape impactful dialogue at the upcoming Global Biodiversity Alliance Summit, slated for July 23 to 25.
“Guyana is already a leader, and it must be. It’s a biodiversity hotspot. It is the home of such a large part of the world’s known biodiversity — as you call it, the green assets, the green treasures that it is the custodian of,” Zahedi noted.
“So, to have Guyana stand up and lead this conversation about biodiversity is of course absolutely the right thing. And to have Guyana, a country with so much biodiversity assets, take this strong position of, ‘how can we deliver on our biodiversity commitments, framework included, and how can we find the means to do so including the financing means is critical’,” he added.
He said in addition to finding the financing means, the sustainable use of biodiversity is also critical and must work in symbiosis with development.
“I think this is what Guyana has been advocating for, including through its global leadership as a low carbon development country. The same approach is needed when it comes to biodiversity,” Zahedi emphasised.
Zahedi further stressed the importance of agriculture and its crucial link to the preservation of biodiversity.
“Biodiversity and agriculture are simply inseparable. Biodiversity is the basis of agricultural production, it’s essential for food security, for nutrition. The loss of biodiversity would lead to reduction of productivity, availability, quality of foods. So, these two issues are absolutely inseparable. Biodiversity is providing these sort of critical eco-system services for agricultural production,” he related.
The FAO has been a crucial partner in helping Guyana along the path of achieving its global biodiversity goals.
