THIS column has been emphatic on the importance of environmental protection. Further, this publication has always supported sustainable environmental practices; mitigation of climate change; wildlife conservation; and the preservation of life, particularly in the local context including the Guiana Shield.

The Guiana Shield is an essential formation of the earth’s environment and a natural formation against the damage that humans have inflicted on our planet.
The Guiana Shield is recognised internationally as being 1.7 billion years old, making it one of the earth’s oldest geological formations. It is a geologically identifiable feature of the north-eastern tip of South America that is a distinguishing formation of the coast of the continent. The area covers a vast 2.7 square km of land extending from the Brazilian state of Amapa to Para, Roraima and Amazonias in the east. It has no political borders; as such, the governments of Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname, Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil must work together to preserve this unique part of the world.

The United Nations (UN) recognises the Guiana Shield as being integral to environmental development and sustainability, as it is the richest biosphere in the world. Scientists say that the oldest rocks in the area consist of archean imitica complex, composed of a quartz-feldspar set of rock formations; those formations mark the faultline between the southern boundary of the complex and the remainder of the continent.
The Guiana Shield contains highlands that include the majestic Kaieteur Falls, Angel Falls, and Kaquenen Falls. The shield underlies the whole of Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname, as well as parts of Venezuela and Colombia.

The Guiana Shield is one of the richest and most diverse biospheres in the world. That area alone has over 3,000 known vertebrate species; 1,168 species of fresh-water fish; 269 amphibians, of which 54 per cent are found nowhere else on earth; 295 reptilian species; 1,004 types of birds and 282 mammals. The variety of invertebrates is so large that scientists have not agreed on a number.
Almost 14,000 species of plants have been identified in the area, 40 per cent of which are unique thereto.

The Guiana Shield is the largest area of tropical forest in the world; and we must protect it, as it absorbs more carbon than our Region produces, making our Region a carbon sink and mitigating the effects of global climate change. The area is the only one of its kind in the world: it holds 15 percent of global freshwater reserves, and it must be protected.
Scientific studies have concluded that human activities have negatively affected the planet, resulting in climate change. Those activities include deforestation, agricultural expansion, overhunting, overfishing, carbon emissions and mineral extraction.

According to experts, about 60 per cent of the world’s flora and fauna are threatened with extinction under current conditions. More alarmingly, land abuse has resulted in the biodiversity falling below safe levels in over 60 per cent of the world’s landmass, straining the ability of ecosystems to support human life. Guyana, however, is taking action.
Guyana is part of the International Society for Biodiversity of the Guiana Shield (IBG).

Through international congresses, scientists, policy-makers, politicians, researchers, non-governmental organisations, community leaders and others will meet regularly to exchange ideas and implement programmes to protect our unique area. President Granger has stated his commitment to the administration’s determination to protection of the Guiana Shield. That commitment, articulated in his book, “The Green State,” gives hope to Guyanese and the world, that one of nature’s treasures will be preserved, and humanity can survive.