IN 2008, the idea that a country could prosper by leaving its forests standing was a proposition in search of proof.
Today, Guyana can point to hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, nearly 3,000 community projects and customers that include about 30 airlines. It now wants to extend the same logic from carbon to biodiversity itself.
The numbers trace a model that began under then President Bharrat Jagdeo, now Vice-President, who argued that countries protecting vast tropical forests should be paid for the climate and ecological benefits they deliver to the world. The proposal won an early champion in then Prince Charles. Now King Charles III, he is due to visit Guyana for the first time since 2000 as the country hosts the Global Biodiversity Alliance (GBA) Summit.
The first proof came through a results-based partnership with Norway. Between 2009 and 2015, Guyana earned US$227 million for protecting its forests. The agreement also funded a national system to monitor, report, and verify forest cover, which later underpinned the country’s entry into carbon markets.
The payments were spent in visible ways. They funded solar energy, the rehabilitation of the Cunha Canal for drainage and flood protection, Amerindian land titling and more than 200 solar-powered ICT hubs serving hinterland communities.
Under President Dr Irfaan Ali, the focus has turned to private finance. In December 2022, Guyana became the first country to issue jurisdictional forest carbon credits under the ART-TREES standard. Unlike credits tied to a single project, these measure forest performance across an entire jurisdiction, which allows revenue to be raised at national scale.
Days later, Guyana announced an agreement with Hess Corporation to buy 37.5 million credits, worth at least US$750 million over the life of the deal.
The market has since widened. Guyana’s credits are eligible under CORSIA, the aviation industry’s carbon-offsetting scheme, and about 30 airlines are reported to have bought them. The government projects carbon-credit sales of approximately US$100 million annually by the end of 2026.
A defining feature of the model is its commitment to share the proceeds. Under the Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030 (LCDS 2030), at least 15 per cent of forest-carbon revenue goes directly to Amerindian communities. The government says the share has exceeded 20 per cent in practice.
More than 240 villages and communities are benefitting, spending the money through locally determined Village Sustainability Plans.
By mid-2026, nearly 3,000 projects had been started in agriculture, tourism, transport, education, small business, and infrastructure, many aimed at creating opportunities for young people.
Carbon revenue also supports national priorities, including drainage and irrigation investment behind a target of at least 100,000 acres of agricultural expansion. The stated aim is to raise Guyana’s contribution to Caribbean food security by developing non-forested land, so that farming can grow without adding pressure on the forest.
The central test is whether revenue can be sustained. Questions remain about how forest credits are priced, how their environmental benefits are independently verified and whether demand will provide a dependable long-term income.
Guyana’s next step is harder still. The Global Biodiversity Alliance, led by President Ali, seeks ways to finance the protection of nature beyond its role in storing carbon, rewarding countries for ecosystems that markets rarely value. It had 141 members as of September 2026, drawn from governments, communities, and organisations.
Carbon markets work because they share a single unit, a tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent. Biodiversity spans species, habitats and ecological relationships that resist one common measure.
Any workable system would need credible monitoring, protection against misleading environmental claims and a fair share of benefits for local communities.
Guyana argues that its experience gives it a head start. Whether the lessons from carbon can be applied to something far harder to measure is the question the Georgetown summit is meant to begin answering.
