NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE Magazine—one of the most influential and widely read American media outlets in the world—has placed a global spotlight on Guyana’s unique role as both a rising oil and gas power and one of the planet’s leading biodiversity strongholds. In an in-depth feature and companion video documentary on Newsweek.com presented by six-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, Arick Wierson, Guyana’s strategy of harnessing hydrocarbon wealth to reinvest in climate action and biodiversity protection was showcased as a model for the Global South.
Filmed partly on location in Guyana’s interior, the documentary included reporting from the summit of Turtle Mountain in the Iwokrama reserve, where Wierson contrasted the vast, pristine rainforest canopy with Guyana’s booming role in global energy markets. That paradox, the feature argued, is precisely what makes Guyana’s story so compelling: far from being a contradiction, it is the basis of a new approach to sustainability.

HARNESSING OIL TO PROTECT FORESTS
At last month’s Global Biodiversity Summit, hosted July 23–25 at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre in Georgetown, President Ali made the case for this model in his opening address: “We in the Global South cannot wait for others to determine our fate. Guyana will use its resources not to destroy, but to protect and to lead—for our people, for our region, and for the planet we all share.”
Wierson pressed the assembled leaders on whether the Global South is prepared to step up at a time when the United States and other industrialised powers appear to be retreating from climate commitments. The consensus was clear: dialogue with the Global North remains essential, but the Global South must now lead with its own ideas, strategies, and priorities.

REGIONAL VOICES BACK GUYANA’S APPROACH
The documentary featured exclusive interviews between Wierson and Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and former Colombian President, Iván Duque who were all in attendance at the summit.
Mottley emphasised that reframing climate policy in terms of efficiency and profitability may be the only way to engage skeptics in Washington and Europe. Duque, meanwhile, called for a new metric — Gross Biodiversity Product — to treat natural capital as a strategic asset, aligning with Guyana’s push to monetize and protect its forests.
Gonsalves put it most directly, telling Newsweek that some observers mistakenly view Guyana’s oil expansion and its biodiversity agenda as contradictory. In fact, he argued, President Ali’s strategy is exactly the opposite: “What President Ali is doing makes a great deal of sense. By using hydrocarbon revenues to protect forests and invest in sustainability, he is showing vision where others only see conflict. That is why his leadership is visionary.”

GUYANA AS PROTAGONIST OF THE GLOBAL SOUTH
The feature underscored that Guyana is no longer just participating in international climate conversations — it is helping to shape them. Ali’s stewardship of Guyana’s new oil wealth, combined with its vast intact rainforest, positions the country to lead a coalition of Global South nations unwilling to wait for the Global North to dictate terms.
As Wierson pointed out, the Georgetown summit was as much about diplomacy as policy, with Guyana signalling that it was ready to lead by example, rally the region, and insist on a stronger voice in shaping the world’s environmental future.

A GLOBAL VOICE
For Guyana, the Newsweek spotlight is more than recognition from mainstream U.S. media—it is powerful validation of the nation’s strategy on the international stage. By aligning energy production with biodiversity protection, Guyana is demonstrating a model that is both coherent and transformative.
And while dialogue with Washington and Brussels will continue, the broader message from Georgetown was unmistakable: the Global South is mobilising, innovating, and stepping into leadership.
As Prime Minister Gonsalves noted and President Duque affirmed, Ali’s leadership is both visionary and rooted in common sense—a combination that has put Guyana at the forefront of a global movement showing that nations on the front lines of climate change’s most severe impacts can safeguard the planet while securing sustainable prosperity for their peoples.