Nearly two decades after King Charles III and former President, now current Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo championed an ambitious plan to make rainforest conservation economically viable, the British monarch is preparing to return to Guyana, as our country seeks to extend that model to biodiversity protection.
Charles is expected to attend the Global Biodiversity Alliance (GBA) Summit in Georgetown next week, underscoring Guyana’s growing international role in environmental financing and its longstanding relationship with the King.
The partnership dates to 2008, when Jagdeo proposed that countries preserving tropical forests should receive financial compensation for the environmental services those ecosystems provide to the world.
The proposal attracted the support of the then Prince of Wales, who was advocating for rainforest protection through his Prince’s Rainforests Project.
Speaking at Mansion House in London in September 2008, Charles praised Jagdeo’s leadership. He had said, Perhaps one of the most optimistic developments is the leadership on this issue shown by President Jagdeo of Guyana.”
He described Guyana’s emerging conservation strategy as a “truly innovative roadmap of national development” and urged wealthy countries to support it. He said, “The offer is there. The challenge is how we, in the developed world, respond to it.”
Their collaboration helped elevate tropical forest protection within international climate negotiations, including discussions surrounding the 2009 Group of 20 summit in London.
That year, Jagdeo launched Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy, which sought to preserve the country’s extensive rainforests while generating revenue for renewable energy, infrastructure and community development.
Guyana subsequently signed a landmark forest conservation agreement with Norway, earning $227 million in results-based payments between 2009 and 2015.
Now, under President Irfaan Ali, the strategy has expanded into international carbon markets.
In 2022, Guyana became the first country to issue jurisdictional forest carbon credits under the ART-TREES standard. It subsequently secured an agreement with American energy company Hess Corporation for the purchase of 37.5 million credits, valued at a minimum of $750 million.
The PPP/C government has directed a portion of carbon revenues towards Indigenous communities, with more than 240 Amerindian villages and communities benefiting from investments in agriculture, infrastructure, education and local enterprises.
President Ali is seeking to apply a similar financing approach to biodiversity conservation through the Global Biodiversity Alliance, an international initiative intended to attract investment in protecting ecosystems and the species they support.
The alliance, which reported 140 members by September 2026, aims to bring governments, scientists, businesses and Indigenous communities together to develop practical financing mechanisms for nature conservation.
The monarch’s forthcoming visit will also renew his longstanding association with Guyana’s Iwokrama rainforest, which he first visited in 2000. He renewed his patronage of the international conservation centre in 2024.
In April 2026, Jagdeo met the King at Dumfries House in Scotland, nearly 18 years after Charles publicly endorsed his proposal.
The royal visit comes as Guyana marks 60 years of independence from Britain, adding historical significance to an environmental partnership that has spanned successive governments.
For Guyana, the summit represents another opportunity to advance an argument first made nearly two decades ago: that countries safeguarding globally important ecosystems should be rewarded for doing so.