Georgetown, Guyana – (March 21, 2018) Today Guyana joins the rest of the world in celebrating International Day of Forests. This global celebration provides a platform to raise awareness on the importance of all types of woodlands and trees and celebrate the ways in which they sustain and protect us. Guyana embraces this year’s theme ‘Forests and Sustainable Cities.’
Forests and trees store carbon, which helps to mitigate the effects of climate change in and around urban areas. Guyana is the largest State in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Its forests cover more than 85 percent of its landmass. Guyana is a net carbon sink. More than 80 percent of our country is covered by forests, which are the habitat of some of world’s rarest and most unique flora and fauna.
Guyana, through its ‘green’ development agenda, will spare no effort to protect its natural patrimony and contribute to both a sustainable future and to an effective global response to climate change. Guyana with the world’s second highest percentage of tropical rainforest cover, is part of the Guiana Shield, an area spread over 2.7 million square kilometres. The ‘Shield’, described as the “lungs of the Earth” and the “greenhouse of the world” is a global resource because of the environmental services it provides.
Guyana remains committed to protecting its forests and to working with its neighbours to ensure the sustainable management of the natural resources of the Shield and is prepared to sustainably manage, conserve and protect our diverse eco-system and place our ecological resources at the service of humanity.
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