Guyana’s biodiversity could become major source of global finance – former Colombian President

Former Colombian President Iván Duque has called for greater use of financial instruments to turn Guyana’s biodiversity and natural assets into a sustainable source of investment, while ensuring that Indigenous communities play a leading role in conservation projects.
Duque made the remarks during a special edition of the Starting Point podcast, where he also praised President Dr Irfaan Ali’s leadership on biodiversity and the Global Biodiversity Alliance.

Later this week, more than 140 stakeholders from around the world will be in Georgetown for the second GBA Conference. Held from October 30 to 31 under the theme “Investing in Nature: Accelerating Biodiversity Finance for Sustainable Development”, the conference will bring together political leaders, Governments, financial institutions, development partners, private sector actors, researchers, civil society, and communities.

President Dr Irfaan Ali launched the Alliance in July 2025 with 17 founding members, spanning Governments, civil society, indigenous peoples, local organisations, and private entities. Over the past 15 months, the coalition’s membership has climbed to over 140.
Duque said Guyana’s growing energy sector should not overshadow what he described as the country’s greater long-term asset – its forests, biodiversity, and natural ecosystems.

He argued that Guyana has an opportunity to use revenues from its underground resources to address poverty and development needs while protecting the natural assets that will benefit future generations.

“As important as the energy revolution that Guyana has been experiencing, Guyana has a bigger treasure, which is its nature, its biodiversity,” Duque said.

He said the challenge now is to develop financial mechanisms that can attract international capital towards biodiversity conservation and nature-based solutions.

According to Duque, Guyana’s approach should move beyond discussions about the value of its natural resources and focus on creating financial products that can generate investment for conservation.

He pointed to instruments including debt swaps, guarantees, biodiversity bonds, biodiversity credits and impact bonds as potential mechanisms for mobilising additional capital.

“The most important is that we are passing from diagnostic to defining the right market-driven, nature-based solutions and now to action,” he said.

Guyana’s low deforestation rate

Duque also highlighted Guyana’s position within the Amazon Basin, noting its relatively low level of deforestation.
Guyana’s forests form part of the Amazon biome, and Duque said the country’s record on forest protection demonstrates the potential for biodiversity conservation to become part of its economic development strategy.

He said the country’s experience also showed the importance of maintaining a consistent policy on the protection of natural assets.
“I think Guyana has proven to be coherent since Guyana has established a low-carbon development strategy since 2009 until today,” Duque said.

He argued that Guyana’s development agenda has increasingly sought to connect the protection of natural assets with economic opportunities, including tourism and emerging markets for environmental and biodiversity-related assets.

Duque said this approach could allow Guyana to benefit from international efforts to channel resources from wealthier countries towards the protection of biodiversity in developing countries.

He said the country’s use of biodiversity as part of its national identity, alongside efforts to develop financial mechanisms around its natural assets, demonstrated that conservation has been treated as a long-term policy rather than a short-term initiative.

Call for more biodiversity financing

Duque said the next stage should involve international financial institutions and private investors playing a greater role in funding biodiversity conservation.

He identified the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) as institutions that could increase lending linked to biodiversity conservation.

“I would love to see more biodiversity bonds being placed into international markets with premiums that would allow investors to participate in these efforts of conservation,” he said.

He also called for the expansion of biodiversity credits, which could provide companies in developed countries with opportunities to support conservation through the purchase of biodiversity-related assets.

Duque said guarantees could also be used to encourage Private Sector participation through impact bonds and other financing mechanisms.
The former Colombian President said pension funds and other institutional investors could eventually include biodiversity-related investments as part of their portfolios.

He said the involvement of multilateral lending institutions, combined with market-based mechanisms, could help create financing that is both sustainable and scalable.

Indigenous communities

Duque also stressed the need for Indigenous communities to be directly involved in biodiversity projects.

He said Indigenous and Aboriginal groups should not simply be beneficiaries of conservation initiatives but should be partners in their development and implementation.

“And I think last but not least, having the indigenous communities as a very important part of all this equation by allowing them to be in the starting role in the projects that will take place,” he said.

For Duque, the combination of biodiversity financing, private investment, multilateral support and Indigenous participation could help move conservation efforts from planning to implementation.

He said the objective should be to develop financial products that can attract more capital while ensuring that the protection of biodiversity remains economically viable over the long term.

Duque also welcomed the involvement of Private Sector leaders, heads of Government, academics and non-Governmental organisations in efforts led by Guyana to advance the biodiversity agenda.

He said bringing these groups together was important to developing solutions that could be expanded beyond individual projects.
While Guyana’s oil and gas sector has rapidly increased the country’s revenues and economic prospects, Duque said the country’s natural wealth should remain central to its long-term development strategy.

He said the opportunity was to use the benefits of economic growth to protect the country’s forests and ecosystems, creating a model in which natural assets contribute to development while remaining protected for future generations.