By Basant El-Faramawy
King Charles III called on countries to place greater value on nature during a visit to Guyana on Friday, praising the South American nation's efforts to protect its vast forests while generating millions of dollars from carbon credit sales.
Royal visit highlights Guyana's conservation success
The British monarch met with President Irfaan Ali in Georgetown, where he condemned what he described as endless deforestation, warning it was "totally prejudicing our future and other people's futures, and our health." Charles said finding ways to value nature remained a challenge, adding: "Everybody argues about how much. Well, it's priceless. That's the answer."
Carbon credit revenue funds Indigenous communities
Guyana has earned $353 million from carbon credit sales in recent years. In 2009, Norway agreed to provide $250 million to help protect the country's 18 million hectares of forest. In November 2022, Guyana became the first nation to issue such credits under a global standard aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The following month, U.S.-owned Hess Corporation agreed to purchase $750 million worth of carbon credits over the next decade. The government pledged to allocate 30% of proceeds to development projects in Indigenous Amerindian communities.
Historical context and regional tour
Earlier on Friday, Charles met veterans who served in the British Guiana defense forces before independence in 1966 and visited Independence Park, where enslaved people were publicly executed in the 1800s following a major slave revolt. Some Caribbean leaders have called on Britain to apologize and pay reparations for slavery, demands the British government has consistently rejected. The visit is part of a nine-day Caribbean tour that began in the Bahamas and continues to Antigua ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
