PRESIDENT Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has announced that Guyana will become the first country in the world to implement a fully standardised, border-to-border national biodiversity monitoring system by 2030.

The National Biodiversity Information System (NBIS), launched at the Global Biodiversity Alliance Summit, will collect and analyse data on the country’s plants, animals, and ecosystems and help guide decisions and policies that support sustainable development and conservation.

President Ali stated that the initiative shows Guyana’s commitment to protecting the environment and will create a new global standard for biodiversity accountability at the national level.

“Guyana is taking a bold step in being the first globally to adopt such a system, the development of the National Biodiversity Information System to serve as a digital backbone for conservation finance and policy,” the Head of State said while delivering closing remarks at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) at the Global Biodiversity Alliance (GBA) Summit.

The NBIS positions Guyana as a global leader in biodiversity stewardship and will serve as a roadmap to meet the 30×30 biodiversity goal – protecting 30 per cent of land and sea by the year 2030.

This is just one of the many outcomes from the GBA summit, which will bring practical solutions to address biodiversity loss.

“You now have before you a practical path to halt biodiversity loss and finance a nature-positive future. This summit marked not just admiration, but a turning point for our planet,” he noted.

This robust digital infrastructure will unify biodiversity data collection, analysis, and decision-making across Guyana. The strategy will be developed and led by an interagency coalition of government, local and indigenous peoples, academic institutions, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), building on decades of Guyanese-led conservation.

“We’re also hoping that we can have our own museum, because we have enough history and enough of an ecosystem to support such a museum and the development of an intensive park to showcase the richness of our biodiversity,” President Ali said.

The Head of State called on wealthier nations and private companies to step up and provide more funding to support countries like Guyana that are taking action.

He welcomed the launch of a new fund, Tropical Forest Forever (TFF), at the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, aimed at helping countries preserve their forests with long-term support.

“To this end, we support the expansion of high-integrity markets for jurisdictional approaches, and we also encourage potential investor countries to announce ambitious contributions to TFF. Further, we call on international organisations, NGOs and civil society to support the TFF worldwide.” (DPI)