United States (US) Secretary of State, Antony Blinken today underscored his country’s support for Guyana’s low carbon development agenda, along with other major areas of concern such as food security.
Blinken, who is currently on a visit to Guyana, was at the time speaking at a joint presser with the President, Dr. Irfaan Ali. He expressed that the country has been successfully pursuing its low-carbon development agenda simultaneously with oil and gas production. He said, “Guyana will be soon be the highest oil producing country per capita in the world but it is also a leader in forest conservation, demonstrating that is possible to prioritise climate mitigation and environmental protection while responsibly using oil and gas resources”.
Further, he said that 86 percent of Guyana’s territory is covered in forest, making it a natural carbon sink.
Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy is a framework intended to map the path of a new growth trajectory in a non-polluting way. It sets out four interlinked objectives for Guyana, which are; value for ecosystem services, investment in clean energy to stimulate low carbon growth, protection against climate change and biodiversity loss and alignment with global climate and biodiversity goals.
The Secretary of State was keen to note that areas like energy security and climate adaptation were “front and centre”.
He also announced the US support in areas of food security which will see Guyana benefitting from the continued provision of resources to boost production from small farmers and help the country adapt to the harsh effects of climate change. With this support he said, the countries can be able to feed themselves.
Yesterday during his address to the Heads of Government at CARICOM’s 45th special meeting, he revealed that the US has pledged some $5.5 million to help small farmers in the region. It falls under the US- Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis 2030 (PAC 2030) which was launched last year at the IX Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California.
